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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 147 / Wednesday, August 4, 2021 / Notices airborne radioactivity gaseous and particulate. Airborne discharges are limited by the UMLRRs technical specifications to ensure that exposure to the general public will not exceed the limits of 10 CFR part 20, Standards for Protection against Radiation.
A detailed description of the reactor can be found in the UMLRR safety analysis report SAR submitted by the UML with its renewal application.
Identification of the Proposed Action The proposed action would renew Facility Operating License No. R125
for a period of 20 years from the date of issuance of the renewed license. The proposed action is in accordance with UMLs application dated October 20, 2015, as supplemented by letters dated March 16, 2016, November 30, 2016, March 31, 2017, July 11, 2017, August 7, 2017, September 13, 2017, January 6, 2018, February 1, 2018, March 5, 2019, April 10, 2019, October 18, 2019, October 24, 2019, December 19, 2019, December 20, 2019, February 24, 2020, September 30, 2020, January 30, 2021, February 16, 2021, April 5, 2021, and April 20, 2021 collectively referred to as the renewal application. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.109, Effect of timely renewal application, the existing license remains in effect until the NRC takes final action on the renewal application. As described in the renewal application, UML has also requested NRC review and approval of certain facility changes, and associated changes to the license, in conjunction with the renewal of the license. These include the use of uranium-aluminide fuel elements in addition to the similar uranium-silicide elements currently in use, instrumentation and control upgrades, and re-designation of the reactor containment building as a confinement building.

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Need for the Proposed Action The proposed action is needed to allow the continued operation of the UMLRR, which is used for teaching and research to support the mission of UML, for a period of 20 years from the date of issuance of the renewed license.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action UML has requested approval of certain facility and license changes in conjunction with license renewal, as previously discussed. However, the proposed action will not require any major physical changes to the facility, or any changes that would significantly affect the operation of the facility, and the operational impacts would be similar to those that have occurred
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during the current license term. As discussed further, the proposed action will not have a significant environmental impact.
Radiological Impacts Environmental Effects of Reactor Operations Gaseous radioactive effluents resulting from the routine operation of the UMLRR are Argon-41 Ar-41 and Nitrogen-16 N-16. These nuclides are released to the environment from the reactor building via an exhaust stack on the roof that combines the ventilation exhausts from both the reactor building interior and all attached systems. The UMLRR stack discharge length is 100
feet 30.5 meters and has an airflow rate of 15,000 cubic feet 7.1 cubic meters per minute. Because the half-life of N-16 is approximately 7 seconds, the release from the reactor stack is insignificant because most of the N-16
produced in the reactor coolant would decay before reaching the stack. Ar-41 is by far the most significant radionuclide released as a gaseous effluent during normal reactor operations. The maximum release of Ar-41 would occur from continuous operation at full power. UML measured the Ar-41
concentration to be 2.28 106
microcuries per milliliter exiting the exhaust stack under full power operations. The annual release of Ar-41
under these conditions would be 495
curies Ci per year. From this information, UML calculated the maximum annual dose to a member of the public using the ARCON96
computer code to be 14.5 millirem mrem. This meets the 100 mrem per year mrem/yr dose equivalent to the maximally exposed individual in 10
CFR 20.1301, Dose limits for individual members of the public.
UMLs annual reports for the 5 years of operation from 2015 through 2019 show that the maximum actual recorded release of Ar-41 was 6.27 Ci in 2015, which the report stated would result in a conservative estimated dose of 0.2
mrem/yr to a member of the public, which is well below the 100 mrem/yr limit specified in 10 CFR 20.1301. This radiation dose of 0.2 mrem/yr also demonstrates compliance with the as low as is reasonably achievable ALARA air emissions dose constraint of 10 mrem specified in 10 CFR 20.1101, Radiation protection programs, paragraph d.
Liquid radioactive wastes produced as part of the normal operation of the UMLRR are stored in the liquid radioactive waste storage room. From there they are released to the
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environment via the city of Lowell sanitary sewer system in accordance with 10 CFR 20.2003, Disposal by release into sanitary sewerage. The water is treated at the Lowell wastewater treatment facility, after which it is discharged to the Merrimack River. The annual reports for the 5 years of operation from 2015 through 2019
show that UML properly disposed of liquid radioactive waste by release into the sanitary sewer system. Based on information presented in the annual reports, radionuclide releases were within the allowable limits specified in 10 CFR part 20, Appendix B, Annual Limits on Intake ALIs and Derived Air Concentrations DACs of Radionuclides for Occupational Exposure; Effluent Concentrations; Concentrations for Release to Sewerage, for liquid effluents.
Low-level solid radioactive waste generated from reactor operations at the UMLRR are primarily demineralizer resins, paper, disposable clothing, gloves, and other miscellaneous contaminated items. These wastes are held to allow for decay and then released for disposal as regular solid wastes if they do not exceed background activity. Otherwise, the wastes are sent to a low-level radioactive waste broker for proper disposal of the wastes containing long-lived radionuclides.
The last low-level radioactive waste shipment offsite discussed in the UML
annual reports was in May 2017; the shipment consisted of 106 cubic feet 3
cubic meters of contaminated materials from the reactor as well as other UML
campus labs. Once transferred, the lowlevel waste broker ships and disposes of the waste in accordance with all applicable regulations for radioactive materials. To comply with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, UML has entered into a contract with the U.S.
Department of Energy DOE that provides that DOE retains title to the fuel utilized at UMLRR and that DOE is obligated to take the fuel from the site for final disposition.
As described in Chapter 11 of the UMLRR SAR, and verified through NRC
staff review of the UML annual reports for the 5 years of operation from 2015
through 2019, personnel exposures are well within the limits set by 10 CFR
20.1201, Occupational dose limits for adults, and are ALARA in accordance with 10 CFR 20.1101b. UML tracks exposures of personnel monitored with dosimeters, and the annual reports for the 5 years of operation from 2015
through 2019 show that the personnel doses were usually less than 10 percent of the occupational limit of 50
milliSieverts 5,000 mrem per year.

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