Upcoming radioactive waste meetings:

• July 24-25, Kansas City: DOE Transportation External Coordination Working Group.
• August 27 (week of): National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) High-Level Radioactive Waste Working Group.
• Sept. 25-27, Santa Fe: Western Governors' Association (WGA) and Western Interstate Energy Board (WIEB).  TRANSCOM (shipment tracking program) training will likely occur before and/or after the WGA/WIEB meetings.
• October 15 (week of): Southern States Energy Board (SSEB).
• October 21-27, Miami: The 15th International Symposium on Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials (PATRAM).  Each state-regional group and NCSL will receive two free registrations through the NRC and DOE.

Question about DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) actions under different, unfavorable funding scenarios for fiscal year 2008. 

OCRWM will determine plans under three possible scenarios:

        1)     Same funding as requested in the budget.
        2)     $50 million less.
        3)     $100 million less.

Director Ward Sproat has emphasized the importance of stakeholder communication, and the cooperative agreements with the states and tribes are a relatively small portion of the budget, so they don't see any diminution of funding for these groups.

Future priorities of the CSG-NE radioactive task force:

• Expand the northeast compact for radiological health partnerships (NECRHP).  Allows states to immediately/efficiently assist one another with radiation incidences.  Pennsylvania would like to join, but states must be contiguous to one another in the compact; will need New York to join before PA can.
• Track state shipment fees: PA working on extensive policy in this area.
• Hold trainings on responder specialists and shipment tracking.

CSG-NE projects have been somewhat halted awaiting DOE decision on routing.  As DOE now seeks to extend its routing timeline, CSG-NE may move ahead with rail routing ID, barge study, website renovation to include links to other sites, and public outreach.

State Reports:

CT

• Connecticut Yankee storage at the on-site independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) is nearly completed.
• A dock at the Millstone reactor was recently finished (owned by the state of CT).
• Held a surprise exercise in Long Island Sound to test security response.

PA

• Holding security exercises - next at Limerick.  Will hold five exercises over the next few years.
• Limerick is siting an ISFSI (Peach Bottom and Susquehanna already have them).
• Would like NY to join the NE radiological compact so that PA can.

DE

• No nuclear power plants (share with Jew Jersey).
• A couple of shipments of radioactive waste from Oyster Creek reactor in NJ traveled through DE on their way to Barnwell disposal facility in SC.  No incidents.
• Salem 1 reactor in NJ planning for an ISFSI in 2010, Salem 2 in 2014.
• Potassium iodide being distributed by the state.
• Provided the NRC (through Earl Easton) with state policies related to radioactive waste.

RI

Held a radioactive waste exercise over the weekend, including a release and need for medical response.  Included the three state organizations which work on these issues: Health, Environmental Management, and Emergency Management.

NH

• Seabrook Station is now constructing on-site dry cask storage; fuel loading in late 2008.  Will load 6 canisters, each holding 32 fuel assemblies.
• Exercises: hurricane exercise with FEMA; and Vermont Yankee exercise with Vermont this month.

ME

• The state nuclear inspector is in the final months of clean up review at the shutdown Maine Yankee reactor.
• There is a new state bill for assessment of fees against Maine Yankee for oversight of onsite waste storage.
• Charles Pray continuing to inform Congress of need to act on removal of waste from states.  The state's attorney general is also looking at lawsuits against the federal government for removal.

MA

• Yankee Rowe is decommissioned, but maintains an ISFSI.
• Pilgrim is an operational reactor with spent fuel stored in a pool.
• The MA attorney general joined her counterparts in other states for an NRC ruling on capacity in fuel pools.
• Some shipments of radioactive waste have occurred from research reactors in the state.
• Concerned about access to Barnwell closing in June 2008.  Onsite storage is viable in the midterm.  Hope that long-range there will be a storage facility to take their Class B and C low-level wastes.
• Problem with radiation programs not getting any of the Homeland Security dollars since they are often housed under environment and health offices.

VT

• Still looking for a candidate to fill their state's nuclear engineer position.
• ISFSI is being completed at Vermont Yankee reactor.  No full core discharge at this point because the spent fuel pools are the only current storage.
• The state legislature will have an up or down vote next year on the future of Vermont Yankee, whose license application is up in 2012.

NY

• Upcoming exercise at Indian Point reactor.
• Potassium iodide available to schools and daycares (free NRC doses).
• Indian Point reactors licenses to operate are expiring soon.  Questions about groundwater contamination (tritium) and the new siren warning system ($15 million, has been delayed).  Dry cask storage has faced inquiries from the governor.

NJ

• Oyster Creek reactor's operating license expires in 2009 (public and press meeting in September).
• Salem and Hope Creek reactors will also pursue license renewal.
• New Jersey has passed state law on limiting greenhouse gas emissions, so wonder how this will play into the nuclear reactor renewal debate.
• Transportation: Port Elizabeth inspects highway route controlled quantities.
• NJ's current suit with the NRC - involves the rejection of the NRC to consider terrorist attacks on ISFSI under the National Environmental Protection Act.
  

DOE – Office of Environmental Management (EM)
William Spurgeon, Office of Transportation; DOE-EM
Extensive effort is being put forth 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.

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.  Looking at site operations to discover best practices. 

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

DOE is also working with other levels of government to ensure first responders to a potential accident are as effective as possible.

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).

DUF6 (uranium hexafluoride) conversion project at Portsmouth and Paducah.
Completion of construction of the two conversion facilities expected this fall.
Operations expected to begin in June 2008.
First waste shipment expected in August 2008.
Disposal site not determined yet - perhaps the Nevada Test Site or EnergySolutions in Utah.
Shipments will go by rail - 11 railcars per week (each carrying up to six cylinders).  

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

Department of Energy (DOE) – Carlsbad Field Office, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)
Bill Mackie, Manager, Institutional Affairs
As of May 15, 2007, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) had accepted 5,741 shipments of contact-handled (CH) radioactive waste and 20 shipments of the more highly-radioactive remote-handled (RH) waste.  In July 2007, WIPP will begin accepting a slightly larger number of shipments of RH waste from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Savannah River Site (SRS), and Hanford.  No new equipment is needed for shipping RH - outside cask temperature readings are similar to CH.

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.  WIPP is exhibiting at NCSL's Annual Meeting this August in Boston and have 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).

Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) Update
Corinne Macaluso, Transportation Specialist; 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 focus on needed skill sets moving past 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 has not yet taken up the appropriation bill, but Sen. John Ensign (NV) has suggested cutting the budget by $50 million.  The OCRWM budget is currently 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).  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 - NWF 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:

• Draft a national transportation plan;
• Complete the Supplemental Rail Environmental Impact Statement;
• Publish the method by which funds for emergency preparedness to states and tribes, required under Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, will be handled;
• Expand benchmarking to identify best practices in previous shipping campaigns;
• Coordinate the TAD canister system development effort; and
• Work on routing criteria for a preliminary suite of routes.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act's Section 180(c) provides funding to states and tribes along transportation corridors for emergency preparedness of spent fuel shipments.  The Office of Management and Budget is currently reviewing 180(c) to determine whether amounts of $100,000 or $200,000 to affected states and tribes may be put into policy.  Will engage the public in a discussion on the routing of shipments, and from there determine which states and tribes are eligible for 180(c) funds.

If DOE requires waste be shipped in TAD containers (transportation, aging, and disposal), will need to negotiate with industry as to the transfer of fuel from its current storage in dry casks into TADs.

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.   

Transportation External Coordination (TEC) Working Group updates:

Tribal Topic Group - would like to dispense with this topic group and have tribal members and their issues incorporated into all other subject-specific topic groups.  DOE held a Tribal Workshop in Denver in April to build tribal involvement in the program and find successful and appropriate ways to better the communication and consultation between DOE and tribes.

Security Topic Group - no current action.

Rail Topic Group - subgroups had been active in '06, but slowing down in '07 as work products get completed.  New subgroups to include: radiation monitoring and intermodal shipments.

Routing Topic Group - the ambitious year-long schedule to have a preliminary suite of routes chosen by the end of 2007 has been extended with an uncertain timeline.

National Transportation Plan development:

Creating a National Transportation Plan is one of Director Sproat’s priorities.  The plan includes operations, transportation system/infrastructure development, institutional outreach, a situation assessment, and a schedule and cost baseline.

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

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

Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Earl Easton, Senior Scientist for Transportation Issues; 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 design is complete.

NRC 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.

Federal Railroad Administration update
Mel Massaro, RAM/HazMat Materials Inspector; FRA
Safety compliance oversight plan (SCOP) - a guide for radioactive waste shipments by rail.

Routing criteria ought to weigh quality of the track (very different near reactors versus main lines).  Do we fix/upgrade track or pick a different mode?  If chose to upgrade track, will need two to five years of lead time to implement.

Department of Transportation and Department of Homeland Security new rulemakings should be finalized by September.  Amendments could be made thereafter. 

Dark Territory:

This indicates area on the track which is not ruled by signals (which notify of track occupancy, condition, speed), but rather by track warrant rules (radio/cell phone calls into engineers and use of booklets).

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board
Tony Dimond, WI State Legislative Board Chairman
The Wisconsin Brotherhood supports choosing the shortest rail route for radiological shipments.  They do not favor avoiding large population centers if it means more time in transit (and more radiation exposure to the crew).  Limits to exposure rates should be the same for the shipping crew as it is for the public, and dosimeters should be provided to monitor this.

Congressman James Oberstar (MN) introduced HR 2095 this year - a sweeping rail safety improvement act to prevent fatalities, injuries, and hazardous materials releases.  Has yet to reach the House floor.