Environment, Energy and Transportation Program
High-Level Radioactive Waste Newsletter
19-page document
Vol. 14, No. 3
January 1998
In This Issue
Chem-Nuclear unveils Barnwell disposal sales plan
Federal Activity
Appeals court rules on Northern States Power vs. DOE
Interim Storage bill update
Senators seek spent fuel dialogue
CBO: $3.1 billion to store spent fuel
Clinton line-item vetoes funds for NRC licensing of spent fuel canister
NWTRB to use boreholes to observe Yucca Mountain movement
DOE donates equipment
EPA approves MARSSIM
Baseline health study proposed for communities near Yucca Mountain
Personnel
Transportation
DOE finalizes WIPP transportation planning
DOE ships spent fuel to SRS
Transportation advisory group to meet
DOE issues revised transportation RFP
State/Local/Tribal
Peña to order Nevada audit
DOE, Nevada county negotiating payments-equal-to-taxes
GPU Inc. negotiating sale of Three Mile Island, Oyster Creek plants
NCAI nuclear committee meets
Personnel
On-Site Storage
Nevada nuclear waste chief in Utah storage battle
NRC seeks cask information
SNC: experts to review casks
BNFL purchases Sierra Nuclear
Transnuclear buys Vectra Technologies
NRC lifts CAL on NAC casks
DOE issues RFP for MOX
Low-Level Radioactive Waste
House approves radioactive waste compact bill
WCS gains Texas waste license
Court refuses DOI motion to dismiss California suit
DOE, Connecticut study plans for assured isolation storage
Nebraska challenges US Ecology disposal facility application
Arkansas panel discusses withdrawal from compact
Interest Groups
NEI: Nuclear Waste Fund assets exceed $13 billion
Publications
GAO Reports
Meetings
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board
Waste Management ‘98
8th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference
Chem-Nuclear introduced a plan on Oct. 8 to allow generators to buy large units of future disposal capacity at the Barnwell, S.C., disposal facility. This incentive will provide the company with the funds necessary to meet state surcharge requirements for its higher education scholarship fund. Chem-Nuclear hopes to sell about five million cubic feet or more of the remaining 7.8 million cubic feet of capacity at the South Carolina facility; this would provide $1 billion in cash to the education fund and also would encourage the state to allow the site to remain open for the duration of capacity. The offering period began Nov. 1; current permit holders are to have first choice on this disposal option. In January 1998, generators would indicate how much space they would like to purchase, with a $3 per cubic foot deposit. A minimum purchase of 100 cubic feet is required. Generators would pay the standard disposal rate at the time of disposal.
Federal Activity
Appeals court rules on Northern States Power vs. DOE
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an opinion Nov. 14 in Northern States Power vs. U.S. Department of Energy. The appeals court refused to compel DOE to accept spent fuel from nuclear power plants beginning Jan. 30, 1998, but did provide utilities with the opportunity to seek compensation for on-site storage. The utilities’ contracts with DOE include a damages provision if the deadline was not met. The court ordered DOE "to proceed with contractual remedies in a manner consistent with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act’s command that it undertake an unconditional obligation to begin disposal of the spent nuclear fuel by Jan. 31, 1998. More specifically, (the court) preclude DOE from concluding that its delay is unavoidable on the ground that it has not yet prepared a permanent repository or that it has no authority to provide storage in the interim…DOE (will) not implement any interpretation of the standard contract that excuses its failure to perform on the grounds of ‘acts of Government in either its Sovereign or contractual capacity.’" (Slip opinion, p. 13). The three-judge panel ruled that the utilities may seek payment of damages from the federal government for its failure to begin accepting waste on Jan. 30, 1998. DOE has not decided if it will appeal the court’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Oct. 30 the House of Representatives approved H.R. 1270 by a vote of 307 to 120. House and Senate conference committee members are expected to meet in February 1998 to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill to establish an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at the Nevada Test Site. According to the bill, the facility could store up to 40,000 metric tons of uranium, beginning in 2002. President Bill Clinton has promised to veto any bill establishing an interim storage site on the basis that the facility will shift focus from the nation’s longstanding policy to pursue permanent geologic disposal.
Four Democratic senators—Ernest Hollings (S.C.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Patty Murray (Wash.) and Max Cleland (Ga.)—have asked President Clinton to "begin a dialogue with us and other members of Congress" regarding the interim storage of spent fuel. In their letter, the senators noted S.104 passed the Senate with Democratic member support. S.104 is the Senate version of a bill that includes provisions to establish a centralized interim storage facility near Yucca Mountain, Nev. An amendment added during floor debate prohibits DOE from using federal facilities at Hanford, Wash., or the Savannah (S.C.) River Site as interim storage sites for spent fuel.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has reported that it could cost $3.1 billion between fiscal year (FY) 1998 and FY 2002 for DOE to establish a spent fuel storage facility while it continues scientific investigations of the proposed repository site at Yucca Mountain. A CBO budget analysis of H.R. 1270 estimates the taxpayer share of the high-level radioactive waste program would be $1.9 billion through FY 2002. This amount would cover the costs associated with disposing of defense high-level waste in a civilian waste repository. CBO has analyzed the revised ratepayer fee structure proposed in H.R. 1270 and has determined that it would result in a decrease of revenues (the fee will be based on what DOE spent on the repository program during the previous fiscal year). The decrease in revenues would be offset by collecting a one-time fee (approximately $2.7 billion) in 2002 for spent fuel generated before Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1982. CBO raises the possibility that revenue reductions in later fiscal years could result in cuts to other federal programs.
As mandated by the FY 1997 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, the Department of Energy will submit the Yucca Mountain Viability Assessment for the proposed high-level waste repository to Congress in September 1998. DOE will not release the assessment for public comment before it is submitted to Congress.
President Bill Clinton signed into law the FY 1998 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act on Oct. 13. Clinton exercised his line-item veto to delete $4 million in funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing of a multi-purpose canister design for spent fuel, calling it an unwarranted corporate subsidy. The act provides $346 million for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), $30 million less than requested.
The Yucca Mountain Project will proceed with the recommendations of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) to construct an east/west drift in the repository block and two deep boreholes at Yucca Mountain, Nev.; both the drift and the boreholes will be used for testing and observation purposes. Construction of the east/west drift will begin in March 1998 and finish in September 1998. The tunnel will run across the top of the proposed block for the repository; this will allow access to the Solitario Canyon fault and provide a means to collect data. The NWTRB had recommended the east/west drift be placed in the block itself to study the movement of water from the surface to the repository area. The total estimated cost for new excavation is $20 million plus another $20 million for boreholes and scientific work.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) donated more than $5 million worth of computers and other excess government equipment to 40 local schools and other institutions in Georgia and South Carolina. OCRWM’s Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office has donated more than 800 IBM-compatible computer systems to school districts in Nevada and California.
Donated items include desks, overhead projectors, file cabinets, chairs, bookcases and office supplies. The SRS Math and Science Equipment Gift Program selected schools to receive equipment on the basis of a demonstrated need to improve math and science education. SRS expects to donate another 800 computer systems and additional office equipment to schools in early 1998.
An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) science review panel has approved the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM). The manual was prepared by the EPA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the departments of Energy and Defense to provide consistent guidance for planning and conducting radiation surveys in order to decommission contaminated sites. MARSSIM offers guidance about contaminated surface soils and building surfaces but does not discuss surveying subsurface soil, surface water or ground water.
A health studies program to collect baseline health data about area residents before any high-level waste is brought to any facility at Yucca Mountain is being developed with fiscal assistance from the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. The information would allow health effects to be assessed from any exposure to high-level waste at the facility. While epidemiological studies are not new to residents who live in the communities that surround the Nevada Test Site, the studies usually are based on retrospective data after the radiation exposure rather than on pre-exposure data, as would be the case in this new study.
The principal investigator for the project is Dr. Marie Boutte, a medical anthropologist with the University of Nevada. Dr. Boutte is confident the health studies program can be conducted through a collaboration of various state agencies and local communities. A pilot program has been formed in Lincoln County, Nev., where the health landscape will be described in communities likely to be affected by Yucca Mountain activities. To expand and fully implement the program, Boutte is seeking funding through one of the Department of Energy’s health studies advisory boards.
The Senate on Oct. 28 confirmed five of six nominees for Department of Energy positions. They include Ernest Moniz (undersecretary), Robert Gee (assistant secretary for policy and international affairs), Dan Reicher (assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy), John Angell (assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs) and Michael Telson (chief financial officer).
Alvin Alm, DOE’s assistant secretary of energy for environmental management, has resigned effective Jan. 31, 1998. No candidate has been named to replace him.
Transportation
In a supplemental environmental impact statement for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in September, transuranic waste would be shipped by truck to WIPP for 35 years in containers called TRUPACT-IIs and RH-72B casks.
TRUPACTS are robust, two-layer stainless steel canisters that will hold 14 55-gallon drums of "contact-handled" transuranic waste from former nuclear weapons facilities. The RH-72B cask for "remote-handled" waste is awaiting certification by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. About 29,000 shipments of the less dangerous contact-handled waste and 9,000 shipments of the more radioactive remote-handled waste will be sent to WIPP from locations in 10 states. Each truck carrying contact-handled waste would transport as many as three TRUPACT-Iis, for a total load of 42 drums. A truck transporting remote-handled waste would carry a single canister holding as many as three drums.
To help ensure safety, DOE is implementing several transportation strategies along with use of rigorous shipping containers. Drivers must pass strict safety and emergency response exams, maintain good driving records and renew their certifications every year. Each shipment will have two drivers who will perform mechanical inspections every two hours or every 100 miles. Extensive emergency response training has occurred in 12 states, facilitated by the Western Governors’ Association and the Southern States Energy Board. A satellite tracking system will monitor every shipment. Waste sent to WIPP must meet strict characterization criteria. Finally, DOE will provide advance shipment notification to affected states and Indian tribes. These notifications will help coordinate response to emergencies, implement bad weather and road condition procedures, select safe parking when needed, schedule inspections and provide public information.
DOE will continue to study rail transportation of transuranic waste, although the department currently considers it impractical due to lack of interest by rail carriers, the unavailability of reliable transit times and the cost of acquiring the TRUPACT-II containers necessary for rail shipment. Waste shipments will travel through 22 states (see map). For more information about WIPP, call (800) 336-9477 or see the WIPP internet site at http://www.wipp.carlsbad.nm.us.
The U. S. Department of Energy has completed five shipments of spent fuel from the Brookhaven (N.Y.) National Laboratory to the Savannah River (S.C.) Site. The department shipped 1,050 spent fuel rods by barge and truck to South Carolina for interim storage. Eventually, the waste will be disposed of in the deep geologic repository. DOE used a satellite transportation tracking system to monitor the barges and trucks in transit. DOE decided to remove the spent fuel from its storage pool at the Brookhaven laboratory when tritium was discovered in groundwater wells south of the facility earlier this year. Spent fuel pool leakage resulted in a tritium plume. DOE will remove the storage racks and several pieces of reactor equipment from the pool and drain its 68,000 gallons of water, which will be stored in tanks onsite.
The Transportation External Coordination Working Group (TEC/WG) will meet Jan. 14-16, 1998, in Las Vegas, Nev. TEC/WG advises the U.S. Department of Energy on policy and technical issues relating to the transportation of DOE nuclear and hazardous materials. The group will address numerous issues, including routing, emergency response funding, training and rail issues. In addition, various offices within DOE will provide updates about recent activities, including the 2006 cleanup plan and the DOE National Transportation Program. Tours of the Yucca Mountain facility and the Nevada Test Site will be held after the meeting. For more information, contact Carolyn Gay at (202) 624-3621 or e-mail her at cgay@sso.org.
On Nov. 24 DOE issued a revised draft request for proposal (RFP) for waste acceptance and transportation services for commercial spent nuclear fuel. DOE seeks private companies to help DOE accomplish its objectives. DOE is accepting comments on the draft RFP. The request can be found at http:// www.rw.doe.gov/. To comment, phone (202) 426-0168.
State/Local/Tribal
DOE Secretary Federico Peña is expected to order an audit of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. In a Sept. 30 letter to Representative Joe Barton (Texas), Peña indicated that a private accounting firm will conduct the audit and that it will provide greater detail than the reports previously produced by the General Accounting Office. Peña also committed the department to review any means that might be available to recover funds auditors determine have been misused, even though the department has no authority to recover unlawful expenditures. Bob Loux, executive director of the state agency, maintains that the audit will show the agency has not misused funds.
Cameron McRae, Nye County, Nev., commissioner, is meeting with the Department of Energy about payments-equal-to-taxes negotiations for the county. Yucca Mountain is located in Nye County and, under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the county can be paid an amount equal to the taxes it would receive if the repository program were being conducted by a private company. McRae has served as the county’s negotiator in the past; to date, Nye County has received $38 million from DOE. The last year of the current agreement expires in 1999 with a $6 million payment to the county, which may seek an increase of $7.5 million to $8 million per year, depending on the work conducted at Yucca Mountain.
GPU Inc., a Pennsylvania and New Jersey utility, announced Oct. 1 that it is negotiating with an unidentified company that wants to buy both the Three Mile Island (Pa.) and Oyster Creek (N.J.) nuclear power plants. Two utilities—Peco Energy Company and Duke Power Company—have been discussed as possible buyers. Peco and British Energy PLC have formed a joint venture (AmerGen Energy Company) to buy and operate nuclear power plants in the United States. Peco is interested in expanding its nuclear power plant holdings and has discussed possibly purchasing power plants in Louisiana and Maine. Only one of the Three Mile Island reactors is in operation; the second reactor suffered a loss of coolant on March 28, 1979. The book value of the Three Mile Island plant is $600 million.
The National Indian Nuclear Waste Policy Committee of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) met Nov. 18-19 in Santa Fe, N.M. The committee’s objective is to help ensure that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act is implemented within the clear context of the United States’ obligations and trust responsibilities to honor the rights and interests of Indian nations under treaties and other laws. The committee addressed several topics, including working cooperatively with states on nuclear waste transportation regulation, the effect of various Department of Energy programs on tribal lands, cultural preservation issues, risk assessment, lack of federal agency understanding of the federal trust responsibility to Indian tribes and issues of sovereignty. A report, Realistic Approaches to Rural and Frontier Hazardous Materials Risk Management, was distributed by Fred Cowie of the Montana Department of Disaster Services (contact Jim Reed at NCSL for a copy). For more information about NCAI activities, contact Robert Holden at (202) 466-7767.
Personnel
Maine—Senator Richard "Spike" Carey was elected chair of the Advisory Committee on Radioactive Waste, a state commission that advises the governor, the Legislature and state agencies about nuclear waste issues. Carey also co-chairs the Joint Standing Committee on Utilities and Energy and chairs the Joint Select Committee to Oversee Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company.
On-Site Storage
The Land and Water Fund of the Rockies (LWF), an environmental group, has hired Bob Halstead, head of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Office, as a consultant to assist them in opposing a spent fuel facility planned for the Skull Valley Goshute reservation southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah.
The storage facility was approved by the Goshute tribal council and would be a utility-Goshute venture. A limited liability corporation called Private Spent Fuel Storage (PFS) has been formed by nuclear utilities. The facility would meet the storage needs of PFS member utilities; any additional space then would be rented. The Skull Valley Goshutes would be paid for the use of their land.
A group of approximately 10 to 15 Goshutes—Ohngo Gaudedeh Devia, which means "timber setting community"—do not want the facility. Jean Belille, western community director for LWF, indicated that the contentions focus on the issues of health and safety, environmental justice, security and transportation. Halstead is assisting the LWF to craft contentions to file with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in which Ohngo Gaudedeh Devia seeks intervenor status.
The Skull Valley Goshute tribe has 170 members, 70 of whom are voting adults. Of the 170 members, only 35 members live on the reservation—the rest live in Salt Lake City. All Ohngo Gaudedeh Devia members live on the reservation.
PFS has indicated it would not oppose the stance of Ohngo Gaudedeh Devia, the state of Utah or nearby ranchers. Both PFS and NRC, however, have objected to a fourth petitioner—the Confederated Tribes of Goshutes, whose land on the Utah-Nevada border is so far from the proposed storage site that it does not meet NRC guidelines.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a demand for information to the Sierra Nuclear Corporation asking for justification of continued design and fabrication of VSC-24 spent-fuel dry-storage casks. This request comes in light of persistent alleged design and fabrication flaws in the VSC-24 casks. The NRC said, "Numerous NRC inspection findings indicate that, since 1992, Sierra Nuclear’s quality assurance and corrective action programs have failed to identify and correct design control and fabrication deficiencies." The NRC has demanded that Sierra Nuclear submit statements answering the following questions.
- Why the NRC should not issue an order requiring an independent entity to conduct a comprehensive review of the company’s quality assurance and corrective action programs;
- Why the NRC should not suspend all actions associated with the company’s application and amendment requests until the problems have been resolved to NRC’s satisfaction; and
- Why the NRC should not issue an order to suspend the company’s authority to fabricate the VSC-24 until problems have been resolved to the NRC’s satisfaction.
Sierra Nuclear was given 30 days to either comply with the demand for information or protest the issuance of the demand. Further information about this issue will be available via the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/reports/cask.htm. (See related story below)
Two teams led by independent industry experts will review whether the Sierra Nuclear Corporation (SNC) has made changes to improve the quality of its VSC-24 dry storage cask. The experts would use representatives from SNC’s current utility clients. One team would examine VSC-24 cask fabrication and the other would evaluate the effectiveness of the quality assurance (QA) and corrective actions (CA) programs SNC has implemented. SNC President John Massey pledged to use the finding to develop a plan for correcting any deficiencies that are identified.
SNC hopes this action will ward off a possible Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) order suspending SNC from fabricating the casks, a possibility that was raised in an early October demand for information letter from the NRC.
The company disagreed with the agency’s assessment that there have been "significant failures" with Sierra Nuclear’s QA and CA programs, but it conceded in a November 6 response to NRC that, "In light of recent events, particularly the events surrounding the discovery of the undocumented welds by March Metalfab Inc., that the NRC is questioning its confidence in SNC’s performance."
Massey urged the NRC not to suspend actions relating to pending applications and amendments that currently are being reviewed by the agency "because SNC has not had that many design and licensing related findings. In reviewing all NRC inspection reports and notices of nonconformances since 1992," he wrote, "there were only three related to design control." "Additionally, the program has been revamped" to keep current with applicable codes and standards and industry expectations and to reflect the results of both internal and external audits and surveillance.
British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) exercised an option to buy all of the privately held stock of its business partner, Sierra Nuclear Corporation. Buyout talks between Sierra Nuclear and BNFL began in November; if successful, they would put the British company in the U.S. dry storage market and would give it NRC-approved systems and an established customer base.
A 1995 agreement between Sierra Nuclear and BNFL gave BNFL an exclusive right to market Sierra Nuclear products overseas and to buy 100 percent of Sierra Nuclear’s stock. The agreement also gave BNFL a role in the development of Sierra Nuclear’s new TranStor dual-purpose casks.
According to BNFL spokesman David Campbell, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) order to suspend fabrication of the VSC casks might cause BNFL to reconsider its interest in Sierra Nuclear. Campbell indicated that BNFL planned immediately to infuse $500,000—in money and expertise—to address the NRC’s quality assurance concerns as they relate to Sierra Nuclear’s VSC casks.
BNFL is one of five vendors on the short list for a spent fuel storage project at the Chernobyl station in Ukraine. BNFL believes its link to Sierra Nuclear technology was key in its surviving the short list process. The project will involve construction of an on-site storage facility that would house more than 26,000 spent fuel assemblies for up to 100 years in either wet or dry storage. It is anticipated that the contract will be awarded during 1998.
Transnuclear edged out Chem-Nuclear Systems Inc. in its attempt to acquire dry storage vendor Vectra Technologies Inc. after Vectra’s early October Chapter 11 protection filing. Transnuclear, a business unit within the Cogema group, prevailed with a $4.5 million offer for the storage technology company. According to the agreement, $4 million is payable in cash at closing and $500,000—in a hold-back cash consideration—will be paid on the first anniversary after the closing. In addition, Transnuclear will pay $600,000 for certain employee-related expenses and will assume $985,000 in canister and storage module repair costs at GPU Nuclear Corporation’s Oyster Creek plant in Forked River, N.J.
Vectra filed for Chapter 11 to ensure continuing service for its existing clients and to obtain some possible financial recovery for its shareholders. According to Vectra, part of its problems are due to the NRC’s demand for information letter issued in January 1997 that "had the effect of putting on hold the company’s fabrication activities." The company said its inability to renegotiate contracts with existing and potential customers and several supplier claims added to its problems.
Chem-Nuclear had signed an interim sale agreement providing Vectra with a $1 million cash infusion in exchange for buying the IF-300 spent fuel transportation cask system and the US-30 uranium hexafluoride transportation overpack. Shortly after the bankruptcy proceedings began in late October, however, the Cogema group/Transnuclear placed a bid that quickly won favor with most utilities that hold contracts with Vectra. Transnuclear offered to fulfill warranty repairs at cost and to purchase the assets subject to each customer’s rights to a license or technology Finally, the agreements with Vectra’s utility customers clinched the deal in bankruptcy court on November 4. Chem-Nuclear was unwilling to match Transnuclear’s offer to assume liabilities associated with Nuholms casks that had already been delivered.
Before the attempted Vectra deal, Chem-Nuclear had little involvement in the high-level waste business. As a division of Waste Management Inc., Chem-Nuclear has provided various radioactive waste services including processing and packaging; it also operates a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility near Barnwell, S.C.
Although unsuccessful in this attempt to enter into the high-level waste market, Chem-Nuclear has indicated that it will continue to pursue "other options." According to James Braun, Chem-Nuclear’s vice president of nuclear services, "We’re not out of the game. Hopefully, we’ll be a formidable competitor." Braun also noted that if Chem-Nuclear had acquired the Nuholms storage technology, it could have offered "turnkey services" to utilities that are preparing to decommission their nuclear power plants—and all at a lower cost than its competitors.
In November, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that NAC International Inc. has resolved maintenance issues surrounding some company-owned shipping packages, thus meeting requirements in the NRC’s confirmatory action letter (CAL). The letter, issued in October 1996, grounded five of NAC’s 18-cask transportation fleet. The NRC added, however, that NAC had reported that it had not performed the required maintenance on its NLI-1/2 and NAC-1 casks because they were not authorized for use at this time. It was noted that NAC had agreed to perform the required maintenance on those casks before their use.
The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) on Nov. 21 for mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication and reactor irradiation services. MOX fuel is one of two options DOE is pursuing to dispose of tons of excess plutonium that comes from dismantled nuclear weapons. The other disposal option is vitrification—encasing excess plutonium in ceramic or glass.
DOE will not announce whether it will allow fuel fabrication by a foreign consortium until the final RFP is issued in late February 1998. Using an existing European MOX facility to fabricate the test assemblies could significantly accelerate the schedule for full-scale use of MOX in commercial reactors.
The draft RFP states that any consortium or offeror must have between three and eight commercial reactors committed to use the MOX fuel. The MOX consortium would design and construct the facility on a base contract with three options or stages—the cost-plus fixed-fee contract for the base contract for design, licensing applications and fuel qualification activities.
Construction management services and continued licensing activities would be on a cost plus award fee or a similar type of incentive contract. The actual construction work would be subcontracted on a fixed-price basis. The start-up and progression to full facility operations would be on a cost plus fixed fee basis with the contractor responsible for full operations costs for the rest of the option. Additionally, the contractor would pay the government for the right to use government resources to fabricate MOX fuel. In the last option or stage, the government would pay the contractor a maximum of $10 million (in 1998 dollars) for decontamination and decommissioning activities.
An optional preproposal conference will be held on March 20. Final proposals are due May 29.
Low-Level Radioactive Waste
By a 309-107 vote, the House of Representatives on Oct. 7 approved the Texas-Maine-Vermont low-level radioactive waste compact bill (H.R. 629). A congressional consent language amendment offered by Representative Lloyd Doggett (Texas) ensures that only waste generated in these three states can be accepted by the host disposal facility. The proposed site for the regional disposal facility is near Sierra Blanca, Texas, approximately 90 miles east of El Paso. The facility’s design would allow annual disposal of 45,000 cubic feet to 50,000 cubic feet of waste during its 30-year lifespan.
The Senate is expected to consider the compact legislation immediately. If the Senate version differs from the House version, a conference committee will be appointed to resolve differences. A conference bill would be resubmitted to either or both chambers, depending on whether the language differs from that of one or both chambers.
The Texas Department of Health issued a license to Waste Control Specialists (WCS) on Nov. 3, allowing the company to treat, store and process commercial low-level radioactive waste (Classes A, B and C) at its Andrews County, Texas, facility. The Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission also issued a naturally-occurring radioactive materials (NORM) disposal authorization to WCS, which allows WCS to dispose of NORM wastes that are exempt from state or federal licensing requirements. The licenses allow WCS only to store, not provide disposal capacity for, DOE-generated low-level or mixed waste.
Under Texas law, state regulatory agencies can license only a disposal facility developed by the Texas Low-Level Waste Disposal Authority for commercial low-level radioactive waste to serve the proposed Texas-Maine-Vermont compact.
The U.S. Court of Claims has refused a Department of Interior (DOI) motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by US Ecology Inc. and the California Department of Health Services to require DOI to transfer the Ward Valley (Calif.) site to California for use as a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. The court also dismissed a DOI motion to stay discovery. Judge Robert Hodges Jr., stated, "We expect full cooperation from all parties so that this case may be resolved promptly."
A 1996 memorandum from Deputy Secretary of Interior John Garamendi to Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt, disclosed during a Freedom of Information Act request from Senator Frank Murkowski (Alaska), refers to Governor Pete Wilson (Calif.) as "the venal toady of special interests (radiation business)." Senator Murkowski is still considering whether to move forward with Ward Valley land transfer legislation.
Senator Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) has criticized the Department of Interior for waiting more than a year to carry out supplemental environmental impact statement tests at the Ward Valley site. In a Sept. 4 memo, Feinstein noted that it has been 19 months since DOI stated it would test the site to determine if tritium could travel from the site to the Colorado River. Representative George Miller (Calif.) has stated that there is no need for a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility at Ward Valley. Miller referred to a report by Prof. Gregory Hayden, Nebraska commissioner to the Central Interstate Compact Commission, that calls for a complete review of the compact system because less waste is being generated than was originally predicted when the compact system was established.
Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management in Connecticut—1996 is a report published by the Connecticut low-level waste program. The report states that, in 1996, 34 low-level radioactive waste generators in Connecticut shipped a total of 11,770 cubic feet of waste off-site; the report also provides information about waste stored on-site by generators. Copies of the report are available from the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Program, Attn.: Draft LLRW Management Report, Connecticut Hazardous Waste Management Service, 50 Columbus Blvd., 4th Floor, Hartford, Conn. 06106, (860) 244-2007.
The Department of Energy and the Connecticut Low-Level Radioactive Waste Program are studying the issue of assured isolation (above-ground storage). The study indicates that the total cost to Connecticut of assured isolation or disposal would be between $310 million and $400 million. Ron Gingerich, director of the Connecticut program, indicates there is little difference between the designs for an assured isolation facility and a disposal facility. There would be a cost savings for assured isolation because it would not require site characterization studies; the facility will not close after receiving waste. At the request of six states, DOE’s National Low-Level Waste Program is sponsoring a study to examine regulatory requirements for licensing such a facility. In addition to the technical details of assured isolation, Connecticut is studying the legal and liability issues associated with this method. The final report, Life Cycle Costs for Disposal and Assured Isolation of Low-Level Radioactive Waste in Connecticut, will be available in March and can be obtained by calling (860) 244-2007.
The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality’s Low-Level Waste Program issued a draft environmental impact statement and safety analysis report regarding US Ecology’s application for a disposal facility in Boyd County, Neb. The state listed questions about waste receipt and inspection, verification of waste classification and characterization, remediation of damaged packages, the inadequacy of the number of groundwater monitoring wells around the site, site closure and stabilization plans and other related issues. The state will hold public hearings beginning in February. A proposed license decision will be made after the release of additional documents and another round of public comments and hearings.
The Arkansas Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee met Nov. 20 to discuss the possibility of withdrawing from the Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact. The reason cited for the meeting was the "decrease in volume of low-level radioactive waste produced in the compact states, the increased costs of constructing sites and the number of other alternatives available." At the meeting, Senator James C. Scott suggested that Arkansas should remain in the compact while it encourages halting the siting process in Nebraska.
Interest Groups
The Nuclear Energy Institute reports that financial commitments to the Nuclear Waste Fund exceeded $13.6 billion as of June 30, 1997. The amount includes $11.4 billion in payments by ratepayers, plus interest income. The Nuclear Waste Fund was established by Congress through the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1982; its sole purpose is to pay for federal management of spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants. The Department of Energy has spent less than $5.2 billion on the high-level radioactive waste program and Congress has used the remaining cash balance to help offset the federal budget deficit.
4 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has released its Strategic Plan: Fiscal Year 1997-Fiscal Year 2002. The report establishes a strategic framework that will guide future decisionmaking; its development and implementation fulfills the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act. Copies of the report—NUREG-1614, Vol. 1—may be ordered from the NRC Public Document Room, 2120 L Street, N.W., Lower Level, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001, or from the superintendent of documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 37082, Washington, D.C. 20402-9328.
4 The Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects has produced a report, The Risk of Terrorism and Sabotage Against Repository Shipments, regarding the consequences of a terrorist attack on spent fuel shipments. Authors Robert Halstead and James David Ballard contend that the current safeguards to prevent terrorist attacks are inadequate. The report recommends that DOE consider the effects of terrorism and sabotage against spent fuel and high-level waste shipments in the Yucca Mountain, Nev., environmental impact statement and in any EIS prepared for an interim storage facility. Contact the Nuclear Waste Project Office, Capitol Complex, Carson City, Nev. 89710 (702) 885-3744 for copies of the report.
Financial Management: Factors to Consider in Estimating Environmental Liabilities for Removing Hazardous Materials in Nuclear Submarines and Ships (GAO/AIMD-97-135R), August 1997.
National Laboratories: Information on the Tritium Leak and Contractor Dismissal at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (GAO/RCED-98-26), November 1997.
National Laboratories: Clearer Missions and Better Management Are Needed at the National Laboratories, by Victor S. Rezendes, Director of Energy, Resources and Science Issues, before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Commerce (GAO/T-RCED-98-25), October 1997. (Congressional Testimony)
Nuclear Nonproliferation: Implementation of the U.S./North Korean Agreed Framework on Nuclear Issues (GAO/RCED/NSIAD-97-165), July 1997.
Nuclear Waste: Hazardous Waste: Remediation Waste Requirements Can Increase the Time and Cost of Cleanups (GAO/RCED-98-4), October 1997.
Nuclear Waste: Hazardous Waste: Progress Under the Corrective Action Program is Limited, but New Initiatives May Accelerate Cleanups (GAO/RCED-98-3), October 1997.
Nuclear Waste: Department of Energy’s Project to Clean Up Pit 9 at Idaho Falls is Experiencing Problems (GAO/RCED-97-180), July 1997.
Radioactive Waste: Interior’s Continuing Review of the Proposed Transfer of the Ward Valley Waste Site (GAO/RCED-97-184), July 1997.
Radioactive Waste: Interior’s Review of the Proposed Ward Valley Waste Site (GAO/T-RCED-97-212), July 1997.
Results Act: Comments on Selected Aspects of the Draft Strategic Plans of the Department of Energy and Interior (GAO/T-RCED-97-213), July 1997.
Weapons Laboratories: DOE Needs to Improve Controls Over Foreign Visitors to Weapons Laboratories (GAO/RCED-97-229), September 1997.
The first copy of each GAO report and testimony is free. Additional copies are $2 each. To request copies of these reports, contact the General Accounting Office, P.O. Box 6015, Gaithersburg, Md. 20884-6015, (202) 512-6000, or fax your order to (301) 258-4066. GAO reports also are available on the Internet at www.gao.gov.
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board
1998 Sessions
Jan. 20-21 Full Board Meeting
Long Street Inn & Casino, HCR 70, Box 559, Amargosa Valley, Nev. 89020, (800) 508-9493, (702) 372-1777, fax (702) 372-1280. Technical contact: Victor Palciauskas
June 23-24 Full Board Meeting
Crowne Plaza Hotel, 4255 S. Paradise Road, Las Vegas, Nev. 89109, (702) 369-4400, fax (702) 369-3770. Technical contact: to be determined
March 1-5, 1998, Tucson, Ariz. For more information, contact WM Symposia Inc., 245 S. Plumer, Suite 19, Tucson, Ariz. 85719, (520) 624-8573, fax (520) 792-3993.
May 11-15, 1998, Las Vegas, Nev. For more information, contact the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office (702) 794-1368 or the American Nuclear Society (708) 579-8253.
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