Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Nuclear Facilities (NUREG-1496, Volume 3)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: July 1997
Date Published: July 1997

Division of Regulatory Applications
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555

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Abstract

The action being considered in this Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) is an amendment to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) regulations in 10 CFR Part 20 to include radiological criteria for decommissioning of lands and structures at nuclear facilities. Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), all Federal agencies must consider the effect of their actions on the environment. To fulfill NRC's responsibilities under NEPA, the Commission is preparing this GEIS which analyzes alternative courses of action and the costs and impacts associated with those alternatives.

In preparing the final GEIS, the following approach was taken: (1) a listing was developed of regulatory alternatives for establishing radiological criteria for decommissioning; (2) for each alternative, a detailed analysis and comparison of incremental impacts, both radiological and nonradiological, to workers, members of the public, and the environment, and costs were performed; and (3) based on the analysis of impacts and costs, conclusions on radiological criteria for decommissioning were provided. Contained in the GEIS are results and conclusions related to achieving, as an objective of decommissioning ALARA, reduction to preexisting background, the radiological criterion for unrestricted use, decommissioning ALARA analysis for soils and structures containing contamination, restricted use and alternative analysis for special site-specific situations and groundwater cleanup. In its analyses, the final GEIS includes consideration of comments made on the draft GEIS (NUREG-1496, August 1994) during the public comment period.