Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Belair Quartz, Inc.'s Facility in Christiansted, St. Croix

AGENCY:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Notice of Availability.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Orysia Masnyk Bailey, Materials Security & Industrial Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, 19406, telephone (404) 562-4739, fax (404) 562-4955; or by e-mail: omm@nrc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is terminating Materials License No. 55-23732-02 issued to Belair Quartz, Inc. and authorizing release of its facility in Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands for unrestricted use. NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this action in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The license will be terminated following the publication of this notice.

II. EA Summary

The purpose of the action is to terminate the license and authorize the release of the licensee's Christiansted, St. Croix facility for unrestricted use. Belair Quartz, Inc. (Belair Quartz) was authorized by the NRC from April 27, 1995, to use watch dials and hands containing luminous paint activated with tritium for the manufacture and repair of timepieces. On October 31, 2001, Belair Quartz requested that the NRC release the facility for unrestricted use. Belair Quartz has conducted surveys of the facility and provided information to the NRC to demonstrate that the site meets the license termination criteria in Subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for unrestricted release.

The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the license amendment. The facility was remediated and surveyed prior to the licensee requesting the license termination. The NRC staff has reviewed the information and final status survey submitted by Belair Quartz and performed a confirmatory survey. Based on its review, the staff has determined that there are no additional remediation activities necessary to complete the proposed action. Therefore, the staff considered the impact of the residual radioactivity at the facility and concluded that since the residual radioactivity meets the requirements in Subpart E of 10 CFR part 20, a Finding of No Significant Impact is appropriate.

III. Finding of No Significant Impact

The staff has prepared the EA (summarized above) in support of the license amendment to terminate the license and release the facility for unrestricted use. The NRC staff has evaluated Belair Quartz, Inc.”s request and the results of the surveys and has concluded that the completed action complies with the criteria in Subpart E of 10 CFR part 20. The staff has found that the environmental impacts from the action are bounded by the impacts evaluated by NUREG-1496, Volumes 1-3, “Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Facilities' (ML042310492, ML042320379, and ML042330385). On the basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded that the environmental impacts from the action are expected to be insignificant and has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the action.

IV. Further Information

Documents related to this action, including the application for the license termination and supporting documentation, are available electronically in the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for the documents related to this Notice are: The Environmental Assessment (ML042720034), and the Letter dated October 31, 2001, transmitting the Final Status Survey Report (ML013120531). On October 25, 2004, the NRC terminated public access to ADAMS and initiated an additional security review of publicly available documents to ensure that potentially sensitive information is removed from the ADAMS database accessible through the NRC's web site. Interested members of the public may obtain copies of the referenced documents for review and/or copying by contacting the Public Document Room pending resumption of public access to ADAMS. The NRC Public Documents Room is located at NRC Headquarters in Rockville, MD, and can be contacted at (800) 397-4209, (301) 415-4737 or by e-mail at pdr@nrc.gov.

These documents may be viewed electronically at the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), O 1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, 20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee. The PDR is open from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.