[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 126 (Friday, June 29, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38789-38790]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-15986]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Notice of Availability of Draft Waste Incidental to Reprocessing
Evaluation for the Concentrator Feed Makeup Tank and Melter Feed Hold
Tank at the West Valley Demonstration Project for West Valley, NY
AGENCY: Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of a
draft evaluation which shows that the concentrator feed makeup tank and
melter feed hold tank (the vessels) which were used in conjunction with
vitrifying waste from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and certain
treatment material at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP),
located at the Western New York Service Center in West Valley, New
York, are waste incidental to reprocessing and thus are not high-level
radioactive waste (HLW) and may be managed and disposed of offsite as
low-level waste (LLW). DOE prepared the draft evaluation pursuant to
DOE Manual 435.1-1, Radioactive Waste Management Manual. DOE is
consulting with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) before
finalizing this evaluation. Although it is not required by DOE Manual
435.1-1, DOE is making the draft evaluation available for public and
state review and comment during the NRC consultative review period. DOE
will make its final evaluation and determination as to whether the
vessels are HLW, or are waste incidental to reprocessing which can be
managed and disposed of as LLW, after consideration of any public,
state, and NRC comments on this draft evaluation.
DATES: The comment period will end August 13, 2012. Comments received
after that time will be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: The draft waste evaluation is available on the Internet at
http://www.wv.doe.gov/Document_Index/vessels.pdf, and is publicly
available for review at the following location: U.S. Department of
Energy, West Valley Demonstration Project Public Reading Room located
at the Ashford Office Complex, 9030 US Route 219, Ashford, NY 14171-
9799, during the office hours of Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m.-
5:00 p.m., phone: (716) 942-4601. Written comments should be submitted
to: Mr. Daniel Sullivan, U.S. Department of Energy, West Valley
Demonstration Project, 10282 Rock Springs Road, West Valley, New York
14171-9799. Alternatively, comments may also be filed electronically by
email to [email protected] or by fax at (716) 942-4703.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about this
draft waste evaluation, please contact Mr. Daniel Sullivan at the
mailing address or Web site listed in ADDRESSES.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The vessels were used in the vitrification
process to prepare and temporarily store pre-treated HLW slurry
supplied to the vitrification melter. They were used as part of the
process to solidify the HLW which had been generated by commercial
reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel at the Western New York Nuclear
Service Center in West Valley, New York, by Nuclear Fuel Services,
Inc., from 1966 through 1972. DOE undertook the solidification
activities pursuant to DOE's responsibilities under the WVDP Act. To
solidify the waste, DOE vitrified the waste (combined it at a high
temperature with borosilicate glass) and transferred the molten glass-
waste mixture into specially developed stainless steel canisters where
the mixture hardened into a solid glass waste form.
DOE operated the vitrification system between 1996 and 2002. In
2002, prior to shut down, the vessels were flushed with high pressure
demineralized water so as to remove key radionuclides to the maximum
extent technically and economically practical. The vessels with their
remaining residual waste were characterized for radioactivity and
determined to have radionuclide concentrations that do not exceed
concentration limits for Class C LLW. They were removed from the
vitrification cell in 2004 and are presently safely stored at the WVDP
in transportation containers that meet Department of Transportation
Industrial Package 2 requirements. The vessels were further stabilized
by filling them with cement grout. As explained in the draft
evaluation, they would be disposed of at a suitable off-site LLW waste
disposal facility, either the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site
at DOE's Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) in Nevada or the Waste
Control Specialists Federal Facility Waste Disposal Facility near
Andrews, Texas. DOE would dispose of the vessel waste packages in
accordance with applicable waste acceptance criteria using specific
waste profile documentation.
DOE Manual 435.1-1, which implements DOE Order 435.1, Radioactive
Waste Management, contains a rigorous evaluation process
[[Page 38790]]
which DOE uses to determine whether or not certain waste from the
reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel is incidental to reprocessing and
therefore is not HLW and can be managed as LLW. This process, in
relevant part, requires demonstrating that:
(1) Key radionuclides have been removed to the maximum extent that
is technically and economically practical;
(2) The waste will be managed to meet safety requirements
comparable to the performance objectives set out in 10 Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) part 61, subpart C, Performance Objectives; and
(3) The waste will be managed, pursuant to DOE's authority under
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and in accordance with the
provisions of Chapter IV of DOE Manual 435.1-1, provided the waste will
be incorporated in a solid physical form at a concentration that does
not exceed the applicable concentration limits for Class C LLW as set
out in 10 CFR 61.55, Waste Classification.
The draft waste-incidental-to-reprocessing evaluation summarizes
DOE's analysis and shows that the vessels:
(1) Have had key radionuclides removed to the maximum extent
technically and economically practical;
(2) Will be managed to meet safety requirements comparable to the
NRC performance objectives at 10 CFR part 61, subpart C; and
(3) Will be in a solid physical form that does not exceed
concentration limits for Class C LLW and will be managed and disposed
of pursuant to DOE's authority under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as
amended, and in accordance with applicable provisions of Chapter IV of
DOE Manual 435.1-1.
Accordingly, the draft evaluation demonstrates using the waste-
incidental-to-reprocessing evaluation process that the West Valley
vessel waste packages may be managed and disposed of as LLW. The vessel
waste packages will meet the applicable waste acceptance criteria for
the selected offsite LLW disposal facility, either the NNSS Area 5
Radioactive Waste Management Site or the Waste Control Specialists
Federal Facility Waste Disposal Facility in Texas. The vessel waste
packages have been approved for disposal by the NNSS in case a final
decision is made to send the waste package to that site for disposal.
DOE is consulting with the NRC before finalizing this evaluation.
Although not required by DOE Manual 435.1-1, DOE is making the draft
evaluation available for public and state review and comment during the
NRC consultative review period. DOE plans to issue a final
determination as to whether the vessels are HLW or can be managed and
disposed of as LLW following review and consultation with the NRC and
consideration of public and state comments.
DOE's decision on the disposal site to be used is not within the
scope of this draft evaluation. Any DOE decision on the facility to
which the vessel waste packages would be sent would be made after the
final DOE evaluation and determination, following consideration of NRC
and public comments on this draft evaluation, and after DOE confers
with appropriate State officials in the state where the waste packages
may be disposed.
Issued in Washington, DC, on June 20, 2012.
Frank Marcinowski,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Waste Management, Office of
Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 2012-15986 Filed 6-28-12; 8:45 am]
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