From: | Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org> |
Date: | Fri, 13 Sep 2013 18:52:34 -0700 (PDT) |
Reply: | cpeo-military |
Subject: | [CPEO-MEF] Fwd: JPG DU Environmental Report and Decommissioning Plan |
Begin forwarded message: From: Richard Hill <rhill@cinergymetro.net> Date: September 13, 2013 5:55:35 PM PDT FYI,On August 28, 2013 the U.S. Army submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) the final Environmental Report (ER) and Decommissioning Plan (DP) for the Depleted Uranium (DU) impact area at the former Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG) near Madison, Indiana. Between 1984 and 1994 armor-piercing DU rounds were tested for accuracy by being fired into soft targets (tarps stretched between tall poles). This testing left approximately 175,000 pounds of DU on and in the ground in the DU testing area at JPG. The area also contains a significant amount of unexploded conventional ordnance (UXO) as a result of prior testing of those types of weapons.The Environmental Report was prepared in support of the Army's Proposed Action to terminate its U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Materials License for the Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG) Materials License SUB-1435, Docket Number 40-08838, Amendment No. 17 allows for the possession only of up to 176,370 pounds (Ib) (80,000 [kilograms] kg) of depleted uranium (DU) metal, alloy, and/ or other forms in the DU Impact Area. This Environmental Report fulfills requirements specified in Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Parts 51.45 (Environmental Report) and 51.60 (Environmental Report-Materials Licenses). The Decommissioning Plan (U.S. Army 2013a) includes additional information related to the Army's Proposed Action to terminate NRC Materials License SUB-1435.This Decommissioning Plan was prepared in support of the Army's request to terminate its U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Materials License for Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG) located in Madison, Indiana, under restricted conditions. The U.S. Army is the organization responsible for this license. Colonel Elmer Speights, Jr., Garrison Commander, U.S. Army Garrison, Rock Island Arsenal (USAG-RIA). I Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Illinois 61299-5000 is the representative from the Army responsible for ensuring the completion of the license responsibilities. This Decommissioning Plan presents background information, assessments, and commitments to support this license termination request.The selected decommissioning objective is license termination with restrictions in compliance with the requirements of Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 20 Section 1403 (10 CFR 20.1403). The selection of this objective for decommissioning and license termination was made after considering decontamination and license termination without restrictions (10 CFR 20.1402). The Army maintains that the license termination with restrictions was selected for the following reasons:* It is compatible with current and future use plans for the JPG property, specifically the maintenance of the Big Oaks NWR and the use of portions of the JPG property for bombingpractice by Indiana Air National Guard.* The Army has proposed institutional controls that involve continued perpetual Army ownership and access and land use restrictions for the area north of the firing line, in general, because of the potential unexploded conventional ordnance hazards. * The Army has committed to request the necessary annual funding for the maintenance and implementation of institutional controls necessary to support license termination underrestricted conditions.* The proposed institutional controls are legally enforceable and provide reasonable assurance that the total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) from residual DU radioactivity distinguishable from background to the average member of the critical group will not exceed 25 millirems peryear (mrem/y) if the institutional controls remain in place.* Residual radioactivity at the site is such that if institutional controls were no longer in effect, there is reasonable assurance that the TEDE from residual radioactivity distinguishable from background to the average member of the critical group is as low as reasonably achievable(ALARA) and would not exceed 100 mrem/y.* The residual DU activity is consistent with ALARA because of the high costs of UXO and DU detection, removal, and disposal and the small benefit that would result from the cleanup of portions or all of the approximately 2,080-ac (8.4-kin 2) DU Impact Area inside the 50,950-ac (206-km2) portion of JPG where UXO is present and 1,038 ac are currently used for bombing practice. The ALARA analysis also indicates that decontamination of the DU Impact Area under lowest cost remediation scenario to meet the criteria for unrestricted use was determined to be prohibitively expensive.The NRC will have 90 days to evaluate the ER and DP. If the NRC finds issues with the ER or DP they will send those issues back to the Army for resolution. Barring any issues the NRC will decide whether to grant or deny the license termination.License Termination will mean no remediation, no monitoring, and use of institutional controls to secure the area.Richard Hill -- Lenny Siegel Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight a project of the Pacific Studies Center 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 <lsiegel@cpeo.org> http://www.cpeo.org _______________________________________________ Military mailing list Military@lists.cpeo.org http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/military-cpeo.org | |
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