Environment, Energy and Transportation Program
High-Level Radioactive Waste Newsletter
22-page document
Vol. 14, No. 4
April 1998
In This Issue
Federal Activity
DOE seeks $34 million increase in FY 1998 OCRWM funding
DOE requests $6.1 billion for site cleanup
DOE plan would double WIPP transportation budget
DOE files rehearing petition in Northern States case
State officials file federal motion regarding DOE spent fuel default
Yankee Atomic seeking $70 million in damages
Barrett: DOE committed to rapid spent fuel disposal, but must study sites
Yucca Mountain cross-drift tunnel under construction
DOE to continue receiving foreign spent nuclear fuel
Legislation
Personnel
Transportation
Transportation bills draw state legislatures’ attention
TEC meets
Nevada senators emphasize transportation risks
Caliente intermodal facility proposed
Routing report issues
State legislative briefings available
WIPP: Privatize TRU waste handling
DOE OEM planning emergency preparedness exercise
State/Local/Tribal
Nevada Governor Miller seeks CDC study of health risks from DOE activities
Personnel
In-Site Storage
Northern States Power will not need additional dry cask storage
Utah private spent fuel storage facility could face delays due to dry cask vendors
New Corporation plans feasibility study for Wyoming spent fuel facility
Utah reclaims Skull Valley Road from Tooele County
Nevada agency seeks $1.7 million for HLW oversight program
New Mexico to issue RCRA permit for WIPP
GAO Reports
Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Leaks prompt DOE to suspend low-level radioactive waste shipments to Nevada Test Site
DOE appealing decision on contractor licensing
Chem-Nuclear may postpone sale plans
Murkowski announces Ward Valley hearings
Nebraska senator proposes waste disposal site plan compromise
Connecticut issues report on waste generators
BLM: Unexploded Ward Valley ammo increases drilling risk
US Ecology returns site to Nevada
North Carolina authority halts siting activities
Interest Groups
Utilities petition DOE to suspend payments to Nuclear Waste Fund
Regional radioactive waste transit committees meet in Las Vegas
Publications
Meetings
Federal Activity
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that fiscal year (FY) 1999 will be a critical transition year for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM). The work at the Yucca Mountain, Nev., proposed site for a deep geologic repository will move from data collection to synthesis and analysis. DOE is requesting $380 million (a $34 million or 10 percent increase over FY 1998 funding) for OCRWM. Program priorities are completing environmental, design and review work in order to submit a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 2002 for the Yucca Mountain site. Of the $380 million, half would be general revenue funds to support the cost of disposing of defense-generated high-level radioactive waste and half would be from the Nuclear Waste Fund.
Approximately 78 percent ($297.8 million) of the appropriation request would be earmarked for repository work. DOE plans to use the viability assessment, scheduled for September 1998 completion, to determine whether the site’s technical aspects are worth further federal investment. DOE also plans to issue a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed repository by July 30, 1999. The final EIS, after public comment, will support a site recommendation to the president in 2001.
DOE is allocating $70 million for scientific work; $10. 5 million for waste acceptance, storage and transportation activities; and $69 million for operations and construction spending at Yucca Mountain. The local governments affected by the Yucca Mountain project would receive $5.5 million in oversight funds and Nevada would receive $4.9 million.
The NRC is requesting $15 million from the Nuclear Waste Fund in FY 1999 ($4 million more than requested in FY 1998) to support agency costs for reviewing the DOE repository program. The NRC will review the viability assessment for Yucca Mountain.
The Department of Energy is requesting $6.1 billion in FY 1999 for the cleanup of former DOE nuclear weapons sites, a $305 million increase over FY 1998. DOE will be implementing its plans for an accelerated cleanup program, and DOE plans to clean up as many sites as possible by 2006. The plan first will focus on and clean the most risky sites throughout the production complex.
DOE has requested $183.59 million for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in southern New Mexico—an increase of $9.7 million from the FY 1998 appropriation. More than half the total budget is earmarked for base operations. The request doubles the funds for the WIPP transportation program, based on the projected WIPP opening in May 1998. DOE hopes to accept defense transuranic (TRU) waste from six states—Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, New Mexico, Ohio and Washington—in FY 1999. DOE plans to complete all near-term TRU milestones in the settlement agreement with Idaho; this includes shipping 3,100 cubic meters of TRU waste from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory to WIPP by Dec. 31, 2002.
The Department of Energy filed a petition for rehearing and suggestion for rehearing en banc on December 29 in Northern States Power Company vs. U.S. Department of Energy. The department is seeking review by all 11 judges of the 3-judge opinion in the case. DOE also is arguing that its obligation is contractual, not statutory, and that the U.S. Court of Claims has proper jurisdiction over the case. The agency is arguing that the court’s workload will increase if it has to settle disputes with individual utilities over damages resulting from DOE’s failure to complete the contractual obligation. DOE also argues that substantially lowering the Nuclear Waste Fund fee for a few utilities that are affected by the delay will cause an increase in the fee paid by other utilities. (A fee of 1 mill per kilowatt-hour is deposited by utilities into the Nuclear Waste Fund to support the high-level radioactive waste program; more than $600 million is collected from ratepayers each year and deposited into the U.S. Treasury. The Nuclear Waste Fund, plus appropriations from the general revenue fund, supports activities related to the repository and transportation programs.)
A coalition of 51 state attorneys general and public utility commissions filed a motion in federal court on February 2, asking the court to take action because DOE defaulted on its scheduled January 31 acceptance of spent fuel, as required by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. The states are asking the court to bar DOE from using the Nuclear Waste Fund to pay damage claims for storing spent fuel on-site at nuclear power plants; to allow utilities to place future Nuclear Waste Fund payments into an escrow account; to order DOE to submit a plan to accept and dispose of spent fuel as soon as possible; and to appoint a court master to oversee DOE and ensure court-ordered remedies are followed. The states also seek an order from the court barring DOE from accepting and storing more foreign spent fuel until it develops a plan for the 30,000 metric tons of domestic spent fuel stored at nuclear power plants around the United States.
Forty power plants filed a lawsuit on February 19 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, asking the court to give DOE 30 days to develop a plan to accept their waste immediately. The utilities also asked the court to prohibit DOE from using the Nuclear Waste Fund to compensate utilities for missing the Jan. 31, 1998, deadline and to allow the utilities to withhold payments to the waste fund until DOE takes the spent fuel. The utilities also want to protect themselves from cancellation of the waste acceptance contracts on the ground that they withheld payments to the Nuclear Waste Fund, as well as secure protection from any penalty or interest fees for suspended payments.
DOE has stated its plan to use the Nuclear Waste Fund to compensate the utilities for any additional costs incurred from storing spent fuel on-site. If costs run too high, DOE would seek an increase in the waste fee to offset the payments. The petitioners in both lawsuits view this action by DOE as making the ratepayers and utilities pay for their own damages.
Yankee Atomic Electric Co. is seeking damages from DOE in a separate breach of contract lawsuit filed February 18 in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. Yankee Atomic wants more than $70 million in damages to cover the costs of additional spent fuel storage and decommissioning costs for its Yankee Rowe plant. The utility alleges that removing the spent fuel is the only activity remaining to fully decommission the plant.
Lake Barrett, acting director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, issued a statement about DOE’s obligation to accept waste. Barrett reiterated that the department is committed to fulfilling its obligation to dispose of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste as soon as possible, but that DOE will not begin that process until it has had the opportunity to study and understand the science of a permanent waste disposal site. DOE is working to complete the viability assessment of the Yucca Mountain, Nev., site by fall 1998, and then will begin work on the draft environmental impact statement in 1999. Although Barrett understands the utilities’ frustration, he believes it would be a mistake to divert resources and efforts to a temporary storage facility and undermine the focus on a permanent solution. Barrett noted that the contracts between the utilities and DOE contained language to address delays, and he believes the contracts are the appropriate means to address the delay. Barrett stated that DOE is willing to work with contract holders to address hardships associated with the delay in accepting spent fuel, and that the department will comply with any applicable court order. He stressed that the delay in accepting waste does not create safety problems either for the utilities or nearby residents.
On Dec. 8, DOE began to excavate the cross-drift tunnel at Yucca Mountain, Nev. The 5-meter wide, 2,820-meter long tunnel should be completed by September. The tunnel will provide more information about how the host rock fractures, potential faults, rock layers and hydrologic characteristics of the repository. DOE also began a drift scale heater test on Dec. 3 to study how thermal, mechanical, hydrological and chemical processes in the mountain’s geology could affect waste storage. The test will continue for 10 years. Wall rock temperatures reached 91 degrees Celsius in late January, about half of the goal of 200 degrees Celsius. Another test, begun in early January 1998, will study "coupled effects," such as the combined effect of water and chemicals on the repository.
The Department of Energy plans to continue to receive spent fuel from the Foreign Research Reactor Spent Nuclear Fuel Acceptance Program. The spent fuel is stored at the Savannah River Site (S.C.) and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Lawsuits have been filed regarding the East Coast port of entry—the Charleston (S.C.) Naval Weapons Station—and the West Coast port of entry—the Concord (Calif.) Naval Weapons Station.
The Charleston lawsuit focused on whether the receiving basins could meet the requirements for storing the spent fuel. In California, U.S. District Court Judge Fern Smith has rejected a claim by Contra Costa County that DOE did not conduct the proper environmental review before deciding to ship foreign research reactor spent fuel through the Concord Nuclear Weapons Station. The March 18 ruling noted that DOE did prepare an environmental impact statement for the fuel acceptance program that did evaluate the effect of using Concord and the risks associated with a number of overland routes. County officials are expected to file an appeal. Once unloaded at Concord, the spent fuel will be shipped by truck to the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, where it eventually will be disposed of in the high-level waste repository with commercial spent fuel and defense-generated high-level radioactive waste.
Through December 1997, DOE received four shipments under the foreign research reactor program. Each shipment contained five high-level radioactive waste containers from Chile, Columbia, Germany Sweden and Switzerland. Three shipments were delivered to Charleston and one to Concord. Five shipments are scheduled during 1998—one through Concord from Indonesia and South Korea and four through Charleston from Europe and South America. The first of the 1998 shipments arrived at the Savannah River Site in late January. During the next 12 years, the United States expects 120 shipments from 38 countries through Charleston and five or fewer shipments from Asia through Concord. Canada also may begin overland shipments in the future.
DOE staff will visit research reactors in 35 countries to ensure that casks are available for shipment and to ensure the safety of the shipments. DOE is developing fuel acceptance criteria for the casks, such as transportation planning and emergency preparedness and data collection on the spent fuel.
For more information, contact Kenneth Chacey, Office of Spent Fuel (EM-67), DOE, 1000 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20585, (202) 586-9726.
H.R. 1270 and S. 104
Legislative efforts to proceed with House and Senate versions of bills to establish a centralized interim storage facility in Nevada are facing procedural problems. The House of Representative may send H.R. 1270 to the Senate for full consideration, a move that could kill the legislation at the end of the 1998 session. Representative John Ensign (Nev.) has raised the possibility of using a "blue slip"—a constitutional stipulation that all tax measures must originate in the House. Ensign argues that the Nuclear Waste Fund is a tax and any changes to the fund that originate in the Senate would be unconstitutional. If Ensign exercises the blue slip, all action on the House floor must stop while members support or reject the resolution. Should a House majority approve the blue slip, H.R. 1270 would be sent to the Senate for a floor vote. Senators Harry Reid and Richard Bryan (Nev.) would be expected to filibuster the bill to kill it. Congress is planning a short (130 day) session because of elections. It is uncertain whether a conference committee and both houses can approve a compromise version of the bill in the time remaining during the 1998 session.
H.R. 3000 (Oxley, Ohio, and 40 co-sponsors)—Allows states to apply for total or partial Superfund authority from the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate federal facilities. States with delegated authority would have the final decision about remedy selections at federal facilities.
S. 1621 (Grams, Minn.) The Federal Surplus Property Improvement Act of 1998 gives state agencies priority in receiving federal surplus property and allocates these items to eligible recipients for a nominal service charge.
The Senate has placed the Texas-Maine-Vermont compact on the calendar for floor action. Senator Paul Wellstone (Minn.), however, has argued that the siting process for the Sierra Blanca disposal facility ignores the concerns of the local minority population. He argues that the Texas Legislature selected Sierra Blanca in disregard for established site selection procedures and disregarded established scientific opinions. Wellstone plans to offer two amendments to the compact. One would prohibit additional states from joining the compact. The other will propose to allow local citizens to appeal the compact legislation in court.
NCSL has sent a letter to all senators urging passage of the compact and is attaching a copy of the NCSL federal facilities policy. For a copy of the letter and policy, contact Scott Liddell at (303) 364-7700.
Representatives Ron Dellums (Calif.), Vic Fazio (Calif.), Dan Schaefer (Colo.), and Joseph McDade (Penn.) have announced their retirement from Congress. Senator Frank Murkowski (Alaska) has announced his intention to seek re-election rather than run for governor.
Senator Strom Thurmond (S.C.) has announced that he will resign as chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee at the end of 1998; his Senate term extends until January 2003. Senator John Warner (Va.) is the next Republican senator in line to serve as committee chair.
Representative John Ensign (Nev.) has announced he will seek in the November 1998 election the Senate seat currently held by Senator Harry Reid. Ensign and Reid both oppose the use of Yucca Mountain as a deep geologic repository for the disposal of spent fuel and the Nevada Test Site as a host for an interim storage facility for spent fuel.
James Owendoff has been named acting assistant secretary for the Office of Environmental Management by Secretary of Energy Federico Peña.
Transportation
State legislation relating to radioactive materials transportation is under consideration in sixteen states.
California. Introduced on February 19, AB 2192 directs the state fire marshal to assemble information on high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel and to develop a statewide radiation safety training program for local fire fighters. Other provisions address the development of a model emergency response plan, full-scale physical testing of shipping casks and spent fuel shipment monitoring through a satellite tracking system.
Georgia. Two similar bills—SB 548 and HB 1289—mandate extensive requirements for high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel shipments, including a transportation permit, routing, carrier safety, emergency response, shipment information, driver training, convoys, notification, fees, inspections, and indemnity insurance. HB 1289 includes a definition of "elderly," and states in the preamble that the bill is for the protection of elderly Georgians. HB 1289 was reported unfavorably from the Human Relations and Aging Committee in the House on January 29.
Hawaii. HB 2346 drops the requirement of a knowledge test for commercial drivers except those who are seeking the hazardous materials endorsement.
Illinois. HB 3631 increases certain fees on nuclear operations in the state, including those for the transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
Indiana. Four similar bills are under consideration by the legislature (HB 1215, HB 1239, SB 55, SB 280). These bills would require notification to the state emergency management agency by anyone planning to transport high-level radioactive waste in Indiana. In addition, the two House bills require that a fee must be paid of $1,000 per container shipped by motor vehicle and $2,000 per container shipped by railroad car. HB 1215 also requires that whoever ships the waste must arrange for an inspection. The two Senate bills require a $1,000 fee per vehicle used for high-level waste transport. SB 55 further requires that the fees be deposited in a nuclear response fund to be used for education, training and equipment for local emergency management personnel and that the route, date and time of shipment be included in shipment notification.
Kansas. HB 2901 imposes new requirements on people who transport high-level radioactive waste in the state, including notification to the state adjutant general of the time, date and route of a highway or rail shipment and the payment of a transportation fee of $1,000 for each vehicle and $2,000 for each railroad car. The funds would be placed in a nuclear response fund established by the bill. The adjutant general is required to prepare a plan for emergency response to a high-level radioactive waste accident and to oversee highway routing designations for such waste. The bill is pending the House Transportation Committee.
Michigan. HB 5431 would establish route designation authority for spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste, require payment of fees by shippers and direct the preparation of a emergency response plan. It was referred to the House Committee on Conservation, Environment and recreation on December 10, 1997.
Minnesota. HF 2665 would continue the uniform permit and registration program and limit the fees of intrastate carriers. It also eliminates the requirement of fingerprinting for hazardous waste transport company management.
Four other bills (HB 2865, SB 2329, SB 2616 and SB 2617) require the commissioner of transportation to assess the state’s readiness for increased transportation of high-level radioactive waste.
New Hampshire. HB 1630 provides for the department of safety to coordinate and regulate the transportation of high-level radioactive waste by highway, water or rail. Included are provisions governing the operations of high-level waste transport, the issuance of permits, notification, fees, inspections, insurance and exceptions.
New Jersey. A 1537 prohibits motor carriers that transport hazardous materials from including "pay for performance" incentives in contracts with haulers and handlers. As defined in the act, a pay for performance incentive is any program, scheme or method that compensates or otherwise provides benefits to conveyors of hazardous materials based on minimizing the time taken for performance of their duties in the transport or handling of hazardous materials. Additionally, the bill explicitly bans the operation of any motor vehicle transporting hazardous material that would require the driver of the vehicle to speed or otherwise operate the vehicle in an unsafe manner.
New Mexico. HB 29 would have created an emergency response fund into which hazardous materials transportation permit fees would be deposited. It was withdrawn in favor of SB 92, which would accomplish the same purpose. SB 92 passed the Senate, but was not considered in the House.
New York. Several bills are pending in New York. AB 518 would provide for the state department of transportation to supervise and regulate transportation of route-controlled source of radiation within the state and monitor transportation accidents. Provisions also relate to fees, inspections and record keeping.
SB 2381 provides that, in the event that the governor does not designate an agency to supervise, coordinate, and provide highway routing designations for the transportation of hazardous materials by Jan. 1, 1998, the Department of Health shall be the agency responsible to supervise, coordinate, and approve highway routing designations for the transportation of hazardous materials.
SB 914 establishes a task force to develop and implement a statewide system for recording incidents and accidents involving common railroad carriers that are transporting hazardous waste. SB 923 provides for a uniform statewide system of recording hazardous materials incidents.
SB 996 requires common rail carriers that are transporting hazardous materials or hazardous waste to adopt and annually update their emergency preparedness plan with the New York State Disaster Preparedness Commission and the New York State departments of Transportation and Environmental Conservation.
Tennessee. SB 2159 and HB 2118 would establish additional requirements for the transportation of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste including a permit process, fees, routing, notification and insurance. Two sets of bills (SB 2874, HB 2712, SB 3252, HB 3117) were introduced to implement the uniform permit and registration system recommended by the Alliance for Uniform Hazmat Transportation Procedures.
Utah. SB 196 amends the state process for approving the placement of high-level nuclear waste by extending it to greater than class C waste and including the transfer, storage, decay in storage, treatment or disposal of such waste. The act is intended to address the siting of large, privately owned facilities that are not regulated by the Atomic Energy Act or the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The siting process requires a permit from the Department of Environmental Quality and approval by the governor and the Legislature. The permit application requires submission of a variety of information. Siting criteria is described and a $5 million application fee is required. A fund is established for the fee proceeds and would be available to state agencies that carry out duties under this act. Penalties for violations are proscribed. Signed into law on March 21, 1998.
Two House resolutions also passed—HCR 6 and HJR 17—that criticized the proposed siting of a spent fuel storage facility on land owned by the Skull Valley Goshute Tribe.
Washington. SB 6344 provides that counties affected by the transportation of mill tailings be given authority to recover reasonable fees to plan for and respond to the movement of such waste.
West Virginia. HB 2705 prohibits vehicles that are transporting hazardous materials from parking within 1,000 feet of educational or health care facilities.
The Transportation External Coordination (TEC) Working Group met in January in Las Vegas, Nev. Issues addressed included status of the Environmental Management program’s integration efforts, funding of state emergency response programs, rail routing of radioactive shipments, training issues, the year 2006 clean up plan, the market-driven transportation proposal, and the foreign research reactor shipments. A meeting summary soon will be available on the Internet at www.uetc.org or can be requested by calling Carolyn Gay at (703) 671-7051.
U.S. senators Richard Bryan and Harry Reid, Democrats from Nevada, are making a whistle stop tour of major cities through which spent nuclear would pass if proposed interim storage legislation were to pass. Stops include St. Louis, Denver, Indianapolis and Chicago. The senators’ main concern is that shipping the material—rather than leaving it at existing storage facilities—exposes it to potential acts of terrorism. Nuclear utilities are pressing for the interim storage legislation to encourage DOE to meet its obligation to take title to spent fuel. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has licensed on-site storage of the waste for up to 100 years. The U.S. Department of Energy counters that it has decades of experience shipping nuclear waste with no radiation leakage to date.
Officials at the Nevada Test Site have proposed a Caliente, Nev., transfer facility that could solve a major transportation concern of Nevada residents—keeping low-level radioactive waste shipments out of the Las Vegas Valley. The potential Caliente facility, 150 miles northeast of Las Vegas, would transfer low-level waste from trains on the Union Pacific line to trucks that would then travel to the Nevada Test Site disposal facility using a north and west route, avoiding Las Vegas and saving up to $750 in shipping costs per container.
Pending interim storage legislation in Congress would designate Caliente as a transfer site for high-level waste shipments. Such a facility has been proposed since 1995. Opponents of both interim storage in Nevada and the Yucca Mountain repository fear the low-level waste facility could become a de facto high-level waste transfer facility.
The Northeast High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Task Force has issued Transportation Routes: High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Routes in the Northeast. States included are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont. To obtain a copy of the report, call Phillip Paull, project manager, CSG/ERC, at (802) 223-4841.
NCSL is offering educational briefings about spent fuel transportation to interested state legislatures. The briefings can be tailored to the specific needs and interests of the requesting legislature. The briefing can occur during a committee meeting, an interim study session or any kind of meeting that involves state legislators or legislative staff. Two briefings have been held to date: in Colorado on January 8 and in Tennessee on March 3. The briefings involve a balanced cross-section of speakers who address the spectrum of viewpoints about and interests in spent fuel transportation. The briefings are underwritten with a grant from the Nuclear Energy Institute. Inquiries should be directed to Jim Reed, NCSL, 1560 Broadway, Suite 700, Denver, CO 80202; (303) 364-7700; jim.reed@ncsl.org.
DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) office has determined that the transportation system for contact-handled transuranic waste (CH-TRU) is well defined and can be opened to privatization, which could help DOE to save more than 20 percent of its shipping costs. CH-TRU waste will be shipped from 10 major and 13 smaller sites across the United States after the WIPP facility opens. DOE hopes to open WIPP for disposal of TRU waste in May 1998; 250 shipments are expected in 1998, and 850 shipments per year are projected by 2000.
DOE is selecting a vendor to procure and fabricate the packing, provide transportation services and support emergency response exercises. The vendor will be paid on a cost per service basis and will be responsible for meeting all regulatory requirements, including maintenance of NRC certification for the TRUPACT-II shipping containers. DOE currently has five truck sets (tractor, trailer and three TRUPACT-II shipping containers) ready for service, and will increase the fleet to 20 truck sets by 2000.
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is planning a full field Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program exercise in the Washington, D.C., area for September 1998. The state of Maryland, DOE’s environmental management and defense programs offices, the Savannah River Operations Office, Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response/Richland and Brookhaven National Laboratory will participate in planning for the exercise. For more information, contact James Cruickshank, EM-76, (301) 903-7272.
State/Local/Tribal
Nevada Governor Bob Miller has contacted the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to help study the past and potential health risks to his state’s citizens resulting from DOE’s low-level radioactive waste disposal activities at the Nevada Test Site, especially in light of the possibility that the state may become host to both an interim spent fuel storage facility and a high-level radioactive waste repository.
Nevada Governor Bob Miller has announced the withdrawal of his name for nomination as ambassador to Mexico.
On-Site Storage
Northern States Power will not need additional dry cask storage
In December 1997, Northern States Power Company (NSP) determined that it would not seek legislative approval for additional spent fuel storage casks at its Prairie Island Plant in Minnesota. In 1994, the state Legislature allowed NSP to accumulate up to 17 storage casks.
NSP will file a document with the Legislature this year that details its plan to operate Prairie Island into 2007 without additional casks. NSP’s two units have Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses to operate until 2013 and 2014. Improved fuel management practices will produce longer operating cycles and generate less waste than previously estimated.
The Prairie Island Mdewakanton Sioux Indian community said it welcomed NSP’s announcement not to seek additional casks; however, they want NSP to address the existing spent fuel that is still stored at the plant. According to the group, "NSP’s announcement does not solve the very real health and safety dangers facing our community. We still have seven casks filled with high-level nuclear waste sitting less than 600 yards from our homes and tribal business with authorization under current law for many more casks. All it takes is one minor accident at the power plant or with the storage casks and our community will be devastated."
NSP is the lead utility involved in the Private Spent Fuel LLC initiative to build a spent fuel storage facility in Utah.
Private Fuel Storage LLC (PFS), the eight-utility consortium that is trying to build a spent fuel storage facility on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation in Utah, would like to meet a 2000 schedule to accept spent fuel. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), PFS is at least two years from receiving a license to build the facility. The unpredictable performance of the dry cask vendors listed on PFS’s application could further delay the license.
Charlie Haughney, NRC Spent Fuel Project Office acting director, indicated that a major problem for PFS is the unpredictable performance of Holtec and Sierra Nuclear Corporation—PFS’s dry cask vendors. Haughney discussed the NRC’s daunting workload—which includes applications for dual transport-storage casks, storage casks, site-specific requests for reactor on-site dry storage and requests from other federal agencies—and its obligations to service existing licensees and certificate holders.
PFS’s schedule of December 2000 does not take into account any hearings or possible litigation. PFS acknowledges that a completion date of December 2002 may be more realistic, and PFS executives have promised Utah officials that they would not begin accepting any spent fuel until after the 2002 Winter Olympics.
A bill in the Utah Legislature, SB 196, would impose a $5 million licensing fee before construction of any facility and would require a $2 billion cash bond to be posted. Included in the bill is a $10,000 per day fine for violating the statute. Utah Governor Mike Leavitt is expected to sign the legislation, which essentially would stop the project.
The Fremont County (Wyo.) Association of Governments passed a resolution in early December to allow New Corporation to proceed with a feasibility study (FS) for a private spent fuel storage facility to be located about 24 miles from Riverton in Fremont County. New Corporation’s prime contractor, NAC International, expects to submit a FS to Wyoming officials soon.
The plan, called the Owl Creek Energy Project, would provide dry cask storage of spent fuel; there would be no handling of spent fuel at the facility. It is estimated that the facility would accept up to 40,000 metric tons of spent fuel. The proposed site is adjacent to the Burlington Northern Railway main line.
At the request of Governor Mike Leavitt, Utah state road commissioners voted in December to reclaim the Skull Valley Road from Tooele County, Utah. The move is perceived as an effort to stall the development of a spent fuel interim storage facility on the Skull Valley Band of the Goshutes’ reservation. Tooele County commissioners had considered supporting the spent fuel storage facility in exchange for funding from the utility consortium that is seeking to build the site. The state Department of Transportation now is responsible for all road maintenance, including snow removal.
Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, has told the state Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee that a $1.7 million annual appropriation for his agency would provide "base level funding" for state oversight of the high-level radioactive waste repository program. Loux’s office filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy, seeking additional funds from the Nuclear Waste Fund to support state oversight activities on the grounds that the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires state oversight and federal funding of oversight activities. Congress has not provided funding for Nevada in several recent appropriations to the Department of Energy. The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in January that DOE did not violate the Nuclear Waste Policy Act when it rejected the state’s request for fiscal year (FY) 1996 funds for oversight of DOE activities at the proposed repository site at Yucca Mountain. The court determined that the act neither requires DOE to give annual grants to the potential host state or that the department must comply with a state’s request for funding. The court noted that Nevada had $6.8 million available at the beginning of FY 1996; therefore, the secretary of energy’s decision not to provide funding was reasonable.
Officials at the New Mexico Department of Environment have acknowledged they plan to issue a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in the near future. The state is in the final stages of legal and technical review and should issue a draft permit in a matter of months. The final permit will be issued after a series of public hearings. DOE has stated that it plans to open WIPP in May, regardless of whether it has a state-issued RCRA permit for hazardous wastes.
Department of Energy: DOE Needs to Improve Controls over Foreign Visitors to Weapons Laboratories (GAO/RCED-97-229, September 1997).
Department of Energy: Clearer Missions and Better Management Are Needed at the National Laboratories (GAO/T-RCED-98-25, October 1997).
Department of Energy: Information on the Tritium Leak and Contractor Dismissal at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (GAO/RCED-98-26, November 1997).
Environmental Protection: EPA’s and States’ Efforts to "Reinvent" Environmental Regulation (GAO/T-RCED-98-33, November 1997).
National Laboratories: Information on the Tritium Leak and Contractor Dismissal at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (GAO/RCED-98-26), November 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.
Transportation Infrastructure: Highway Pavement Design Guide is Outdated (GAO/RCED-98-9, November 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.
Low-Level Radioactive Waste
The Department of Energy suspended a series of low-level radioactive waste shipments from the Fernald, Ohio, uranium processing plant to the Nevada Test Site on December 17, because several trucks were leaking radioactively contaminated liquid. The first leak (one to two gallons) was discovered December 14 at a truck stop near Kingman, Ariz.; four other leaks were discovered on three trucks that arrived at the Nevada Test Site on December 15 and 16. According to the manifest waste description entry, the materials being shipped were dry. DOE issued an investigation report on Jan. 31, 1998. For more information, contact Jack Craig, Ohio Operations Office, U.S. DOE, (513) 648-3101.
DOE is appealing an October U.S. District court decision (Waste Control Specialists vs. U.S. Department of Energy) that neither the state of Texas nor the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has authority to license a contractor to accept DOE-generated low-level radioactive or mixed (radioactive and hazardous) waste for disposal on private land. DOE’s appeal argues that the preliminary injunction was founded on errors of both law and fact. DOE is seeking a reversal of the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit under the federal Administrative Procedure Act. DOE is arguing that the district court had no jurisdiction to hear Waste Control Specialists’ (WCS) complaint because DOE’s original action denying WCS the right to bid on contracts was not a final agency action. Sixteen states have filed an amicus brief on behalf of DOE arguing that DOE has no authority under the Atomic Energy Act to assert regulatory authority over low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities that are licensed by federal or state agencies. The states assert that DOE would not be authorized to ship waste to a privately owned facility not licensed by applicable federal or state agencies.
For a timeline and a brief analysis of the WCS case, contact Scott Liddell at (303) 364-7700.
Chem-Nuclear Systems may postpone its plan to sell 5 million cubic feet of future low-level radioactive waste disposal capacity to generators at the Barnwell, S.C., facility. Chem-Nuclear has developed a new proposal and is seeking commitments from low-level radioactive waste generators for disposal capacity through June 30, 1998—the end of the 1998 fiscal year for the state of South Carolina. Chem-Nuclear must receive 343,400 cubic feet of waste through June 30 in order to collect enough fees to pay the state surcharge for the higher education scholarship program. If Chem-Nuclear does not dispose of a sufficient amount of low-level radioactive waste to collect the allotted surcharge amount, the company must pay any shortfall. If Chem-Nuclear receives a sufficient commitment for 1998 disposal, it may defer seeking legislative changes needed for its long-term plan.
The long-term plan is expected to raise $1 billion to meet the state’s surcharge requirements and cover Chem-Nuclear’s fixed costs for the next 25 years. Chem-Nuclear may present the proposal to state legislators during the 1998 legislative session.
Senator Frank Murkowski, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has announced he will hold hearings into the Department of Interior’s handling of the Ward Valley, Calif., land transfer to establish a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility.
State Senator Chris Beutler (Neb.) has proposed a compromise plan regarding the siting of a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Boyd County, Neb. Beutler’s plan calls for the continuation of licensing work by state regulatory agencies. However, even if a license were to be issued, construction would be postponed for 10 years to determine whether it is still economically feasible to build several regional compact disposal facilities.
Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management in Connecticut—1996 is a report of the 34 Connecticut low-level radioactive waste generators who shipped 11,770 cubic feet of waste out of state during 1996. The report is available from the Connecticut Hazardous Waste Management Service, (800) 244-2007, or e-mail CTLLRW@aol.com.
A December 19 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) supplemental environmental analysis of the Ward Valley, Calif., site indicated that unexploded ordnance from 20 years of military training exercises in the California desert increases the risk for drilling in the area. The BLM has issued a warning to tourists who visit public lands throughout southern California not to pick up or handle any devices resembling a military explosive. Instead, any find should be reported as soon as possible to the BLM or the local sheriff. A FUZE M1 antitank practice land mine was discovered on October 28 in the southern portion of Ward Valley; three additional mines were found in the same area in mid-November. The proposed facility is in the northern portion of the 45-mile-long Ward Valley. The practice mine has a bursting charge, not an exploding charge. The BLM has asked the Army to survey Ward Valley and dispose of any unexploded ordnance or land mines. The December report is available on the Internet (http://www.ca.blm.gov). To obtain more information, contact Ward Valley Project Office, BLM, 2135 Butano Dr., Sacramento, CA 95825; (916) 978-4630.
US Ecology has returned the Beatty, Nev., low-level radioactive waste site to the state of Nevada. US Ecology is the first company to successfully close and return a commercial disposal facility to a state. The Beatty facility began operation in 1962 and closed in December 1992 under an executive order by Gov. Bob Miller. The order was consistent with implementation of the Low-Level Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985, which allowed Nevada—the previous host state—to close its facility at the end of 1992. The site closed permanently in October 1993 under an agreement with the state that allowed expansion of the hazardous waste disposal component of the site in return for closing the low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. The five-year waiting period for the transfer allowed sufficient time to determine that there were no obvious public health problems at the site. The state has not yet determined the future use of the facility.
The North Carolina Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority has begun taking steps to shut down site investigation activities at the proposed Wake County site. Discussions continue, in the meantime, among the authority, other state agencies, the Southeast Compact Commission and waste generators to resolve the impasse over funding to complete the project. If the funding impasse is not resolved, the authority could cease to exist at the end of the fiscal year, June 30.
Interest Groups
Twenty-seven utilities petitioned the Department of Energy on December 11 to suspend payments into the Nuclear Waste Fund, effective Feb. 1, 1998, or the day after DOE would default on the contractual obligation to begin accepting spent fuel from the utilities. Payments would resume after DOE begins moving the spent fuel. In addition to refusing to forward ratepayers’ payments to the U.S. Treasury, the utilities also could seek monetary damages for DOE’s failure to act. The Nuclear Energy Institute estimates that utilities’ damages could reach $56 billion. DOE rejected the utility petition on January 12, stating, "(T)he department has determined that the utilities’ obligation to make further fee payments into the Nuclear Waste Fund continues notwithstanding the department’s delay."
Mike McCarty of the Minnesota Department of Public Service has calculated that the Nuclear Waste Fund is growing at a rate of $1 billion per year. This includes $600 million in fees from ratepayers, plus interest on the fund’s investments.
The Western Interstate Energy Board, the Midwestern and Northeastern offices of the Council of State Governments and the Southern States Energy Board held a joint meeting of the regional radioactive waste transportation committees in Las Vegas, Nev., Dec. 9-11, 1997. Discussed at the meeting were issues related to the transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The committees were attempting to develop consensus on shared regional policy priorities with regard to spent fuel and high-level waste transportation.
Letters were mailed to Secretary of Energy Peña and Acting OCRWM Director Lake Barrett, outlining three primary areas where the regions could identify common radioactive waste transportation policies: transportation planning; privatization of transportation services; and routing issues. For more information, contact the WIEB web site at http://www.westgov.org/wieb/news/latest98.htm.
4 Accelerating Cleanup: Paths to Closure is a March 1998 publication from DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. The book offers project-by-project cost, schedule and scope of work projections for 353 projects at 53 DOE sites across the United States. Paths to Closure is the most recent version of Accelerating Cleanup: Focus on 2006, released in June 1997. Copies of the report are available from the Center for Environmental Management Information, (800) 637-3282, and through DOE’s internet site at http://www.em.doe.gov. Comments on the report are due by May 1, 1998, to Gene Schmitt, DOE, P.O. Box 44818, Washington, D.C., 20026-4481.
4 The Environmental Evaluation Group (EEG) of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, which provides independent technical analysis of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), recently has released three reports that address various issues regarding that site. Individual Radiation Doses from Transuranic Waste Brought to the Surface by Human Intrusion at the WIPP (EEG-66) evaluates the potential radiation exposure to humans after closure of the repository and an inadvertent intrusion occurring sometime in the next 10,000 years. A second report, Probability of Failure of the Waste Hoist Brake System at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) by Moses A. Greenfield and Thomas J. Sargent (EEG-65, January 1998) provides an independent technical analysis of WIPP. The third report, Preoperational Radiation Surveillance of the WIPP Project by EEG during 1993 Through 1995 (EEG-67, March 1998), concludes that the EEG monitoring program is capable of measuring radionuclide emissions at levels one-tenth of the 25 millirem per year public dose limit. Copies of all three reports are available from EEG, 7007 Wyoming Boulevard, N.E., Suite F-2, Albuquerque, NM 87109; (505) 828-1003, fax (505) 838-1062.
4 The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board submitted its second report of 1997 to Congress and the Department of Energy on Dec. 23, 1997. In addition, the board indicated it would focus its efforts on the following three areas for 1998: repository and waste package designs, total system performance assessment, and enhanced characterization of the repository block. Copies of the report are available from NWTRB, 2300 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 1300, Arlington, VA 22201-3367; (703) 235-4473, fax (703) 235-4495.
4 The November 1997 issue of DOE This Month focuses on the 20th anniversary of the Department of Energy. It includes a message from Secretary Federico Peña and highlights from the past 20 years. Copies are available from the Department of Energy (PA-40), Washington, D.C. 20585; (202) 586-4670.
4 The January-February 1998 issue of Nuclear Plant Journal contains two articles of interest: "Future Perspectives on Nuclear Issues," by Senator Pete V. Domenici (N.M.), and "Status of the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program," by Lake H. Barrett, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. Copies of the periodical are available at no charge to "qualified" readers from Nuclear Plant Journal, 799 Roosevelt Road, Building 6, Suite 208, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137-5925; (630) 858-6161, ext. 19; fax (630) 858-8787.
4 The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has issued its report to Congress, 1996 Annual Report on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Progress, (DOE/EM-0332, November 1997). The report documents the progress of the states and regional compacts in establishing disposal facilities for commercially generated low-level radioactive waste. Copies of the report are available from the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161; (703) 487-4650.
4 Sia Davis and Linda Sikkema have produced the NCSL Legisbrief "Mixed-Oxide Fuel," (Vol. 6, No. 5, January 1988). Sia Davis also has produced the Legisbrief "Irradiated Foods: A Solution to Food Poisoning?," (Vol. 6, No. 16, March 1988). To obtain copies of either or 4Cheryl Runyon, director of NCSL’s High-Level Radioactive Waste project, summarized the U.S. Court of Appeals decision in the spent fuel storage case Northern States Power Company vs. U.S. Department of Energy, in the February 1998 issue of NCSL’s State Legislatures magazine. The summary noted that the appeals court agreed with utility industry plaintiffs that they had fulfilled their financial obligations and that DOE did not arrive at the appointed time to load spent nuclear fuel for shipment to repositories. The court’s final decision regarding DOE remedies, including a possible financial settlement with the affected utilities, will be announced later in 1998. To obtain a copy of the summary, call the NCSL Marketing Department at (303) 364-7700. Copies are free to state legislators and legislative staff; it is available for $5 to all others.
4 NCSL has produced Emergency Management Proposed Legislation: A Framework for Action. The publication provides background information about disasters and proposes model state legislation for consideration to establish an emergency management trust fund to supplement existing state and local government emergency management budgets. The publication, item no. 4348, is available to non-legislators for $15 from the NCSL Marketing Department, (303) 364-7700.
4 The 1998 NCSL Directory of Legislative Leaders (item no. 7163) lists all presiding officers, as well as majority and minority leaders. The directory is available from the NCSL Marketing Department (303) 364-7700; cost to non-legislators is $20.
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board
1998 Sessions
April 23-24: Panel on Performance Assessment
Albuquerque, N.M. Technical contact is Leon Reiter. For information, call (505) 881-0000, fax (505) 881-3736.
May 19-20: Panel on the Repository
Washington, D.C., area. Technical contact is Carl Di Bella. (tentative)
June 23-24: Full Board Meeting
Las Vegas, Nev. Technical contact is Dan Metlay. For information, call (702) 369-4400, fax (702) 369-3770.
The 9th Annual International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference
May 11-14, 1998, Las Vegas, Nev., contact: American Nuclear Society Meetings Department, (708) 352-6611.
NCSL Annual Meeting and Exhibition
July 20-23, 1998, Las Vegas, Nev. For complete program information, call NCSL’s Fax on Demand at (800) 380-7280. For other information, call the NCSL Meetings Department at (303) 364-7700 or fax (303) 860-8057.
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