Committee Business Session
The CSG Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee has received six legislative appointments (3 in attendance at this meeting).

Committee staff produce a bi-weekly newsletter and track Midwestern state legislation.

Department of Energy's (DOE) Transportation External Coordination (TEC) Working Group topic updates:
Rail - Committee is finished with its rail inspections checklist work and would like to hand it off to the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) State Participation Program or some other group to move it forward.

Lessons Learned subgroup of Rail - Alex Thrower of DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management plans to combine his benchmarking study with the TEC Rail Topic Group's lessons learned into one report.  There is some disagreement as to what might be extrapolated from the lessons learned.

Security - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requested a matrix from states as to what types of information they are seeking regarding security.

Routing - Schedule for picking a preliminary suite of routes to Yucca Mountain has been extended.  No timeline adopted at this point.  Currently working on a definition of Suite of Routes.

180(c) - A federal register notice of proposed policy related to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act's Section 180(c) (requiring the federal government to pay states and tribes along potential transportation routes to Yucca Mountain for emergency preparedness) is expected soon, perhaps before the TEC meeting in late July.

Regional Roundtable:

IL:

• Tim Runyon is switching positions within the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety.
• Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) Level VI inspections are being required on all highway route controlled quantities shipped.
• Transuranic waste will be moved out of Argonne National Laboratory later this year.

IN:

• Held a transportation exercise using Department of Homeland Security money by using a terrorist scenario.  DOE's Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program (TEPP) and Radiological Assistance Program (RAP) contributed.
• Indiana now using belt-holstered dosimeters and radiation testing at weigh station portals.
• Ardent Sentry - the largest exercise of any kind in the US.  Involved 4,000 Army troops, 1,000 emergency responders, representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and states of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.  Scenario included a 10k nuclear blast and lasted over several days.  A draft after action report is due in late June.

KS:

• Conducted an exercise at the Kansas City racetrack, assisted by TEPP.  It was instructive in terms of understanding what resources are available.
• Wolf Creek nuclear reactor exercise planned for November.
• Working with the Department of Transportation on the continuation of their hazardous materials grant.
• State legislature starting the process of extending the life of Wolf Creek reactor.

MI:

• 80-90 percent of Nordion nuclear product shipments from Canada come through Michigan.  Inspection policy will now require all shipments be inspected instead of at random.
• Michigan is working to become an NRC agreement state (to allow for state authority of regulation of low-level waste).  Modeled after Wisconsin.

MN:

• License extension for Prairie Island process includes hearings.
• Two more casks expected for storage of spent nuclear fuel at Prairie Island next fall.
• Monticello reactor received approval for dry cask storage last winter.  In the construction phase now and expect to begin storage in the summer of 2008.
• State legislative session included four bills related to radioactive waste: view database of all state nuclear waste legislation online by clicking here.

MO:

• Callaway and Cooper nuclear reactor exercises later this year.
• Weldon Spring - DOE's Environmental Management waste remains onsite.
• Completed cleanup of radioactive waste near the St. Louis airport; was shipped to Idaho National Laboratory and EnergySolutions in Utah.  Also working on fuel fabrication cleanup and Westlake landfill cleanup.
• Seeking a common classification of safeguards among DOE, NRC, the military, and states.

NE:

• Completing comprehensive review of Fort Calhoun site.
• Cooper reactor will be applying for an operating license extension soon (expires in 2014).
• State legislature approved money for a calibration lab for instruments.

OH:

• The Portsmouth site is being considered for housing a spent nuclear fuel recycling facility under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.
• Ongoing Mound/Miamisburg shipments - 560 railcars of waste (soil and debris) to EnergySolutions in Utah.
• NRC demanding information from Davis-Besse reactor as to a boric acid hole in its reactor head in 2002.  Davis-Besse seeking $200 million from the insurance company; claims it took two years to bore through the head whereas the insurance company claims it took six weeks.  NRC could take away the plant license if the timing is not cleared up.

WI:

Trying to figure out how to integrate their civil support team into their emergency response capability.  The civil support team has chemical and biological experience, but not much with radioactive materials.  Conducting a three-day exercise to better understand the integration.

Environmental Management (EM) Update
William Spurgeon, DOE-EM Office of Transportation
An extensive effort is being made to clean up radioactive waste at federal EM sites (part of the former nuclear weapons complex) and transport the material to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.  This cleanup effort includes 114 sites in 31 states, and covers two million acres.

Current shipping campaigns:

• Low-level radioactive waste (LLW) and mixed low-level radioactive waste (MLLW) [a mix of radioactive and other hazardous materials] are being shipped from West Valley in New York, Oak Ridge in Tennessee, and Mound in Ohio to EnergySolutions in Utah and to the Nevada Test Site.
• Mixed Oxide (MOX) shipments from the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) in Hanford, WA are being transported to Idaho National Laboratory.
• Sodium bonded spent nuclear fuel (SNF) shipments from Hanford to Idaho are planned for the fall of 2007.

Future shipping campaign:

• DUF6 (uranium hexafluoride) conversion project at Portsmouth and Paducah (OH and KY).  Converting DUF6 to uranium oxide for low-level waste disposal.
  • Completion of construction of the two conversion facilities is expected this fall.
  • Operations are expected to begin in June 2008.
  • First waste shipment is slated for August 2008.
  • Disposal site has not yet been determined - perhaps the Nevada Test Site or EnergySolutions in Utah.
  • Shipments will go by rail - 11 railcars per week (each carrying up to six cylinders).  
• Spent nuclear fuel shipments from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to Idaho National Laboratory are planned to begin in 2009.  More information will be provided at the TEC meeting in Kansas City in July.
• Fernald silo waste in Ohio could be shipped to Waste Control Specialists (WCS) low-level waste disposal site in Texas.  Dependent upon WCS receiving its operating license - could be issued in October 2008.

Work on the EM project is ongoing, but shipments of radioactive waste have decreased in 2007 because of progress made at various sites in 2006.  Cleanup at three sites was completed in 2006 (Rocky Flats, Kansas City Plant, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - main site), and several more facilities are expected to be finished in 2007 and 2008. 

Following a low number of transportation incidents in FY 2005, there was a dramatic spike in FY 2006.  Half way through the current fiscal year, there have been just five incidents, compared to 27 the year before.  In 2005 and 2006, none of the incidents were serious enough to qualify as reportable under Department of Transportation (DOT) guidelines.  EM is currently looking at site operations to discover best practices. 

Incident Reporting Criteria Panel
Within DOE, there is an Occurrence Reporting and Processing System (ORPS), which tracks all transportation events.  Certain criteria determine whether an event is reported in ORPS (can be categorized as event, incident, accident).  A few years ago, it was decided that the criteria should be aligned with the Department of Transportation's (DOT) reporting criteria for HAZMAT incidents.  A current working group set up to review incident reporting is not expected to lower the criteria below DOT standards given that other federal agencies use ORPS as well.  Radiological shipments make up less than one percent of all hazardous material shipments (which are less than six percent of all traffic).

A decision on changes to the Radioactive Materials Transportation Practices Manual (DOE Manual 460.2-1) as recommended by the Transportation External Coordination (TEC) Working Group of stakeholders was expected in June 2007, but has been temporarily held by DOE to allow further review by their General Counsel's office. 

DOE is working with other levels of government to ensure first responders to a potential accident are as effective as possible.  DOE won the 2006 National TransCAER Chairman's Award (Transportation Community Awareness & Emergency Response).  EM-TransCAER perform commodity flow surveys along major transportation routes to inventory what types of hazardous wastes are being shipped along those routes. 

DOE is also taking steps to improve the safety of transporting radioactive materials by improving technology in trucks that can alert drivers of potential dangers, and enhancing awareness of factors that may cause accidents.  A University of Nevada, Las Vegas tracking technology study final report is expected in June 2007. 

Department of Energy (DOE) – Carlsbad Field Office, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)
Bill Mackie, Manager, Institutional Affairs
As of June 12, 2007, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) had accepted 5,820 shipments of contact-handled (CH) radioactive waste and 28 shipments of the more highly-radioactive remote-handled (RH) waste.  In July 2007, WIPP will begin accepting a slightly larger number of RH shipments from the Idaho National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Savannah River Site, and Hanford.  No new equipment is needed for shipping RH - outside cask radiation readings are similar to CH. 

Shipments from Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois to WIPP are expected to begin in November 2007 (States should get money for emergency preparedness in July).  The expected route is I-80 to I-25.  About two shipments per month will continue for eight months. 

DOE uses a satellite tracking and communications system called TRANSCOM to track shipments of waste being delivered to WIPP.  DOE is currently working to provide greater access to TRANSCOM training and improve features that make the system even more detailed.  Two percent of the TRANSCOM shipments tracked in 2007 have been spent nuclear fuel, up from one percent in 2006 (in dialogue now to pick up NRC licensee shipments on TRANSCOM).

The TRUPACT-III shipping container is working its way through the certification process.  Testing and examination of the containers were completed at the end of 2006, and a final Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decision is expected in March 2008.  If approved, the construction phase for the containers will begin.

WIPP Public Information Outreach - DOE will host informational sessions for the public upon request.  WIPP is exhibiting at NCSL's Annual Meeting this August in Boston and has planned about 56 tours.  (Can send trainers out as well.)

DOE will let states know ahead of time (hopefully at least six months out) when a transportation campaign is expected to begin.  Now doing characterization on waste in the northeast and expecting shipments in 2010 (some before).

Transportation Emergency Preparedness Program (TEPP) Update, DOE Office of Transportation
Ken Keaton; Technical Resources Group, Inc.
TEPP provides a Modular Emergency Response Radiological Transportation Training (MERRTT) course for first responders, and recently created a Radiation Specialist Training course for health physicists and others involved in long-term response.  The Radiation Specialist Training course is still in its early stages of design, but TEPP hopes to have all phases and pilot programs completed by June 2008.

TEPP also conducts exercises to test response training in the field.  Two upcoming exercises currently in the planning stages include:

• Sebastian County, AR
• Cibola County, NM with Laguna and Acoma Tribes

Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) Update
Jay Jones; DOE-OCRWM Office of Logistics Management
There are four strategic objectives under which OCRWM is operating (developed by director Ward Sproat):

• Submit a docketable license application (LA) by June 30, 2008;
• Establish a nuclear culture among its staff;
• Address the growing liability from DOE's inability to accept waste from generators; and
• Develop and implement a national transportation plan that takes state, tribal and local concerns into consideration. 

Part of the reformation of the program will require bringing in a younger generation to work on the project with a skill set different from the original scientific review phase toward the construction and operational phases of the project.

The U.S. House approved the full $494.5 million budget request for FY2008.  The Senate passed $446.1 million ($1.6 directed for additional NV funding).  The OCRWM budget is currently operating at this lower level of $444.5 million for fiscal year 2007 on a continuing resolution.

The Bush administration proposed legislation again this year to speed progress at the Yucca Mountain repository (similar to a bill introduced in 2006), which has not yet found a sponsor.  Key provisions of the legislation include:

• Land withdrawal around Yucca Mountain;
• Access to the Nuclear Waste Fund (fees paid by utility rate-payers for disposal of spent fuel); and
• Removal of the statutory limit on the amount of waste that can be buried at Yucca Mountain.

Sen. Domenici (NM) also reintroduced his Nuclear Waste Access to Yucca, or "NUWAY," bill with Sen. Craig (ID) and 9 cosponsors.  Similar to last year's bill, this one includes the provisions deemed most important to OCRWM – Nuclear Waste Fund access, land withdrawal, increased capacity at the repository - but does not include a transportation preemption that was controversial in the states.

2007 Priorities for the Office of Logistics Management under OCRWM:

• Create a national transportation plan (draft expected in July before TEC, final in October/November);
• Complete the Supplemental Yucca Mountain Rail Environmental Impact Statement (draft in October, final in May 2008);
• Publish the method by which funds to states and tribes for emergency preparedness, required under Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, will be distributed (draft federal register notice expected in July before TEC);
• Work on routing criteria for a preliminary suite of routes;
• Expand benchmarking to identify best practices in previous shipping campaigns; and
• Coordinate the Transportation, Aging, and Disposal (TAD) canister system development effort.

The Nevada Transportation Project status has changed significantly.  The Mina Corridor has been removed from consideration as the Walker River Paiute Tribe has re-raised objections to analysis of the route which runs through their reservation.  Current plans project that the Nevada rail line will be operational in 2014.   

Tribal Workshop Update:
DOE hosted a Tribal Workshop in Denver in April for the 49 tribes potentially impacted by the transportation of radioactive waste through their reservations.  The purpose was to inform tribes on the transportation project and provide a venue for engaging tribes.  53 tribal members representing 33 tribes were in attendance.

National Transportation Plan development:
Creating a National Transportation Plan is one of Director Sproat’s priorities.  The plan will include: situation assessment, transportation system/infrastructure development, operations, organization (institutional outreach), outstanding issues and resolution process, and a schedule and cost baseline.  The goal is to produce a strategic plan identifying gaps in current plans (will draw from prior planning efforts).

The Office of Logistics Management expects to distribute a draft plan at TEC in Kansas City in July for comment.  Would like to issue the final OCRWM National Transportation Plan in Oct./Nov. 2008.

States and tribes have the opportunity to contribute in areas such as: assessment of transportation infrastructure, emergency preparedness, routing, operations planning, and identification of unresolved issues.

Group Discussion on State Shipment Fees
Illinois – One impetus for the fee came out of GE Morris emptying and refilling spent nuclear fuel supplies.  The fee amount is based on cost recovery, and therefore was upheld under Interstate Commerce consideration in court (should tie fee to a specific function or activity, rather than “general use”).  Encounter about 70 shipments per year, resulting in about $175,000 per year.  180(c) funds paid by the federal government to states will limit use to training, and not allow use for escorting or inspections.  The State-Regional Groups recommended expanding the 180(c) definition, which could render certain state fees duplicative and therefore not necessary; will check the draft federal register notice to see if this suggestion was incorporated when it comes out in July.  IL pulls information on shipments monthly and bills the shipper (which sometimes requests the state bill the carrier).  WIPP currently supports state efforts toward safe, routine transportation.

Indiana – First considered only higher-level radioactive wastes, but as EM/WIPP has slowed shipments through Indiana, the state has focused on low-level radioactive waste (LLW) shipments.  This does not result in much funding – about $65,000 total at $100 per shipment.  There are no nuclear reactors in Indiana, so all shippers are located outside of the state (a relatively small network).  The fee does not include escorting shipments (if requested that cost would be separately recovered); the small amount collected supports training and equipment.

Minnesota – Assesses a fee for escorts, as the state wanted additional security for high-level radioactive waste (HLW) shipments.  MN did not experience any shipments this year, and has therefore received zero dollars from fees.

Nebraska – The state patrol originally opposed this fee, but saw how other states were implementing it and negotiated to $2,000 per cask shipped.  Have only encountered about three shipments of five casks in the last two years, for a total of about $10,000.

Iowa – Fees go directly into their Department of Transportation fund.

Kansas – Does not assess a fee.  The governor is against a fee, as it is seen as hurtful to truckers.  How do you justify the fee to motor carriers?  (Many states bill the shipper, not the carrier.)

Ohio – Does not assess a fee.  It would not generate sufficient funding to cover administrative costs.  The fee would have to be so high to do so that it would be considered extravagant.

Missouri – Once again tried to pass a fee bill in the 2007 legislative session.  The bill was loaded down with so many exceptions (medical, naturally occurring, etc.) that it became daunting and cumbersome.  The fee didn’t pass this year largely due to political reasons; it passed through the House rules committee, but was not given floor time due to other priorities.

DOE stated its willingness to pay all reasonable fees.

U.S. Department of Transportation: Briefing on Routing Rulemaking
Kevin Blackwell; Federal Railroad Administration
Department of Transportation (DOT) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) new rulemakings should be finalized by September.  Amendments could be made thereafter.

The DOT rulemaking would require certain rail carriers shipping highway route controlled quantities of radioactive materials (or certain other hazardous wastes), to:

• Collect annual data on routes
• Analyze safety and security
• Communicate and address transit delays
• Address en-route storage
• Perform security as well as safety inspections

The DHS rulemaking clarifies the Transportation Security Administration’s authority and would require all rail carriers and fixed facilities that ship specific hazardous materials to designate a Rail Security Coordinator and report significant security concerns to DHS.

The Safety Compliance Oversight Plan (SCOP) for high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel shipments will not be out this year due to a lack of available employee time and lack of urgency.  The security section of the SCOP is delaying progress due to continuous new rulemaking requiring review and inclusion.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Activities Update
L. Raynard Wharton; Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The approval process of the TRUPACT III shipping package has taken longer than expected; is one of the few shipping packages to undergo large-scale testing. 

TRUPACT III did not pass the leak test after multiple drops.  Some of the bolts were bent and/or loosened.  DOE believes the package only needs four bolts and will not likely run more tests.

Petitions for the NRC to redraft environmental assessments for license renewals to take into consideration potential terrorist attacks have been denied by NRC for any site outside of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (where it was required). 

The required redraft for Diablo Canyon's independent spent fuel storage installation in California was completed in May and is available online.

The Oyster Creek reactor in New Jersey is seeking a similar redraft for their operating license renewal.  NRC will not comply unless required by a court in their jurisdiction as it is seen as unnecessary due to security assessments already performed at nuclear reactors after Sept. 11, 2001.

NRC is considering licenses for 19 new reactors (combined licenses to construct and operate), to be housed in the southeast, Maryland, and New York.

NRC will also need to certify transportation casks when the TAD design (Transportation, Aging, and Disposal) is complete.

NRC is currently studying the San Francisco bridge fire and collapse (temperatures, etc.), to gauge potential impacts on a spent fuel cask if it were involved in a similar incident.

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) Program Overview
James C. Bresee, Office of Fuel Cycle Research and Development; DOE Office of Nuclear Energy
The main purpose of GNEP is to secure the expansion of nuclear energy.

The fiscal year 2007 budget request was $250 million, and the project received $167.5 million.  The fiscal year 2008 budget request was $405 million – so far the House has passed $120 million and the Senate $240 million.  DOE is expecting to get something in between these figures, about $180 million.

In June 2008, Energy Secretary Bodman will determine the ultimate fate of the GNEP project.

Technology
U.S. has fast reactor technology (Los Alamos, NM in 1946 and the Fast Flux Test Facility at Hanford, WA), but fast reactors that can burn the transuranics that would result from a new recycling process would need to be developed.

All countries that are currently recycling use a PUREX process (plutonium extraction), which separates out pure plutonium, then mixes a bit of uranium back in – resulting in two final products: uranium, and a uranium-plutonium mix.  The U.S. originally developed this process to create weapons grade plutonium.  Development of new technology, such as the UREX process (uranium extraction), would separate out uranium and a transuranic mixture (to be burned in the new fast reactors).

This concept would reduce the volume, thermal level, and radiotoxicity of the waste.

The project is currently seeking conceptual designs from industry, including costs and timetables for separation/recycling plants and fast reactors.  DOE expects that these two new technologies could be brought to commercial scale by 2020 or 2025.

Work is currently centered around a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for GNEP and consideration of eleven locations as potential future sites to host recycling/fast reactor facilities.  DOE expects the draft PEIS out in November and the final by May 2008.

The U.S. and five other nuclear fuel supplier nations proposed a reliable fuel supply initiative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in September 2006.  China, France, Japan, Russia and the U.S. (with the U.K. and IAEA as observers) met in Washington, D.C. in May 2007 to state their commitment to GNEP.  The UK may not be involved in the future of the project since they are looking to get out of the separation/recycling business.

(Additional Q&A available online by clicking here.)