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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 87 / Friday, May 7, 2021 / Notices
wastewater containing byproduct material from the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station VY located in Vernon, Vermont. Additionally, the NRC is considering the related action of approving an exemption to US Ecology Idaho USEI from licensing to allow USEI to receive and possess the byproduct radioactive materials from VY without an NRC license. The NRC
staff is issuing an environmental assessment EA and finding of no significant impact FONSI associated with the proposed approvals.
DATES: The EA and FONSI in this document are available on May 7, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID
NRC20210103 when contacting the NRC about the availability of information regarding this document.
You may obtain publicly available information related to this document using any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Website: Go to https www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC20210103. Address questions about Docket IDs in Regulations.gov to Stacy Schumann;
telephone: 3014150624; email:
Stacy.Schumann@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this document.
NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management System ADAMS: You may obtain publicly available documents online in the ADAMS Public Documents collection at https www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html. To begin the search, select https www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/
adams.html and then select Begin Web-based ADAMS Search. For problems with ADAMS, please contact the NRCs Public Document Room PDR
reference staff at 18003974209, 301
4154737, or by email to pdr.resource@
nrc.gov. For the convenience of the reader, instructions about obtaining materials referenced in this document are provided in the Availability of Documents section.
Attention: The PDR, where you may examine and order copies of public documents, is currently closed. You may submit your request to the PDR via email at pdr.resource@nrc.gov or call 1
8003974209 or 3014154737, between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack D. Parrott, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 2055500001; telephone: 301415
6634, email: Jack.Parrott@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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I. Introduction The NRC is considering a request by NorthStar, dated May 20, 2020, as supplemented by letter dated September 21, 2020, and email dated March 15, 2021, for alternate disposal of approximately 7.57 million liters 2,000,000 gallons of low-activity radioactive wastewater containing byproduct material, from activities associated with the decommissioning process at VY, to the USEI Resource Conservation and Recovery Act RCRA
Subtitle C hazardous and low-activity radioactive waste treatment and disposal facility located near Grand View, Idaho. Additionally, USEI
requested, by letter dated May 4, 2020, an exemption from the licensing requirements of 30.3 of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations 10 CFR to allow USEI to receive, process, and dispose of byproduct radioactive material from VY without an NRC
license. These requests were made under the alternate disposal provision contained in 10 CFR 20.2002 and the exemption provisions in 10 CFR 30.11.
This EA has been developed in accordance with the requirements of 10
CFR 51.30.
II. Environmental Assessment Description of Proposed Action The proposed action consists of NRC
approval of NorthStars alternate disposal request under 10 CFR 20.2002
and USEIs exemption request under 10
CFR 30.11. The proposed action arises from the decommissioning of the shutdown VY reactor facility. By letter dated January 12, 2015, Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. ENOthe previous VY
licensee certified that VY had permanently ceased power operations and that all fuel had been permanently removed from the reactor vessel and placed in the spent fuel pool, thus beginning the decommissioning phase for VY.
In its May 20, 2020 letter, NorthStar requested approval for the alternative waste disposal of certain low-activity radioactive wastewater containing byproduct material wastewater resulting from activities associated with the VY decommissioning process.
NorthStars May 20, 2020 letter transmitted its application for alternative waste disposal, which was submitted in accordance with 10 CFR
20.2002. NorthStars application described the processing and disposal of the wastewater at the USEI facility.
In its May 4, 2020 letter, USEI also requested an exemption from the licensing requirements of 10 CFR 30.3, pursuant to 10 CFR 30.11, for the USEI

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facility in Grand View, Idaho, to allow for the disposal of VY wastewater.
Because the USEI facility is not licensed by the NRC, this proposed action would require the NRC to exempt USEI from the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended AEA and NRC licensing requirements in 10 CFR part 30 with respect to the low-activity material authorized for disposal.
This request is similar to the previous VY request for alternate disposal of 757,082 liters 200,000 gal of lowactivity radioactive wastewater to the same USEI facility in 2016 that was approved by the NRC in 2017. The primary difference between the previous request and the request described in this EA/FONSI is the increased volume of the material to be disposed.
The USEI facility is a RCRA Subtitle C hazardous waste disposal facility permitted by the State of Idaho. The USEI site has both natural and engineered features that limit the release of any stored radioactive material into the environment. The natural features include an arid climate with an annual precipitation rate of 18.4 cm 7.4 in/
year, and an average vertical distance to groundwater below the disposal zone of 61 m 203 ft. The engineered features include the waste disposal facility covers, the liners, and the leachate monitoring systems. The wastewater would be transported by rail tanker from the VY facility in Vernon, Vermont to the USEI rail transfer facility located in Mayfield, Idaho. Upon receipt of the water at the rail transfer facility, the wastewater will be transferred to tanker trucks and transported by roadway to the stabilization facility on the USEI site where it will be solidified by mixing with clay prior to disposal.
The wastewater to be disposed consists of approximately 7.57 million liters 2,000,000 gal of plant process and infiltration water associated with the decommissioning of VY. This water will include fission and activation products resulting from VY operations.
The radionuclide concentrations in the wastewater, are described in NorthStars submittal, and are of low activity consistent with ongoing demolition activities including reactor vessel segmentation and removal. For conservatism, the radiological concentrations in the water to be solidified are assumed by the licensee to be above the measured amount for any radionuclide that was detected and above the minimum detectable concentration for any radionuclide that was not detected.

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