Southern States Energy Board
Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee and Transuranic Waste Transportation Working Group
Fall Meeting; Tampa, FL; November 13-14, 2007
~ MEETING SUMMARY ~
Spent Nuclear Fuel Transfer between Savannah River Site and Idaho National Laboratory
Scotty DeClue, PE, PMP, Federal Project Director; DOE-Savannah River Operations Center
In 1995, a Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Environmental Impact Statement Record of Decision was made to manage aluminum-clad SNF at Savannah River Site (SRS) and non-aluminum-clad SNF at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
In 2000, an SRS SNF Environmental Impact Statement Record of Decision included:
- Developing a melt and dilute process for 60 percent of the aluminum-clad SNF;
- Processing 40 percent of the aluminum-clad SNF at H-Canyon (Enriched Uranium Disposition Project); and
- Shipping non-aluminum-clad SNF to INL.
A supplemental analysis and amended record of decision is being developed to designate H-Canyon processing as the preferred option.
A Successful End State for the transfer will include the:
- Elimination of the need for SRS to build and operate a SNF packaging and dry storage facility (estimated life cycle savings of more than $1 billion);
- Elimination of the entire SNF inventory at SRS;
- Disposition of 4,000 aluminum-clad SNF assemblies at INL;
- Completion of the SRS SNF mission by closing all SNF facilities (annual savings of more than $35 million);
- Reduction of the number of shipments of SNF from DOE sites to the repository; and
- Recovery of a valuable national resource, useful fissile materials, for energy use.
Scope of Transportation:
- EM proposes to ship SNF between SRS and INL beginning in October 2009 and continuing through 2019.
- Approximately 30 shipments per year for ten years (20 shipments from INL to SRS, and 10 shipments from SRS to INL each year).
- Foreign Research Reactor and Domestic Research Reactor shipments will be coordinated with this campaign and are also expected to conclude in 2019.
- All transportation routes and systems will be evaluated for safety, security, and cost effectiveness.
- DOE proposes to use motor carrier transport (history of safety).
- Carriers will be selected from the approved Motor Carrier Evaluation Program list.
- The DOE TRANSCOM online tracking system will be used for all shipments.
- The SRS Operations Center will provide each corridor state, tribe, and DOE Regional Coordinating Office 24-hour emergency response point of contact with notification that the shipment has departed and then a two-hour "prior to entry" notification.
Strategy:
- Lessons learned from the DOE complex in shipping SNF will be reviewed to assist in planning process.
- DOE Radioactive Material Transportation Practices Manual (460.2-1) will be followed.
- Planning activities will follow the Foreign Research Reactor cross-country and other EM SNF shipments.
Schedule:
- Dec. 2007 - Publish supplemental analysis/amended Record of Decision.
- Dec. 2007 - Enriched Uranium Disposition Project Critical Decision 2/3 approval.
- Jan. 2008 - Publish Draft Transportation Plan for review (comment period). May not have routes at that point - would like several route options.
- Early 2008 - Potential meeting with state groups in March to revise plans based on state needs/experience, and to tour H-Canyon and L-Area facilities.
- April 2009 - Begin SRS SNF de-inventory shipments to H-Canyon.
- Oct. 2009 - Begin transfer between SRS and INL.
- May 2019 - End transfer.
Q&A
Have you considered state law/regulation requirements for safety/security?
- Would like to have that conversation in March 2008.
When will states know the chosen routes?
- The project is currently looking at options on the TRAGIS routing system. Could have some routes for review in March 2008.
- Routes could follow the strategy of the rolling WIPP shipments.
- Tracking will be available on TRANSCOM.
What about funding for emergency preparedness along routes?
- DOE-EM would need to determine whether that will happen. (Perhaps states should develop scope, schedule, and cost estimates.)
Comment: This transfer campaign could become a model for shipments to Yucca Mountain.
This is a significant campaign - and state laws will need to be complied with, i.e. requirements for CVSA inspections, fees/permits. This is an ambitious plan. Other campaigns involve three-year advanced planning with states, and one-year advanced funding.
- Funding is ongoing.
Comment: If you are referring to funding given for WIPP shipments, then the routes ought to follow the WIPP routes exactly. States with new routes will need more time for planning and training.
- The transportation plan is required to be provided to states three months out. State comments are being considered beforehand.
- Routes will change as conditions (construction, etc.) change.
NRC Comment: The shipments will be DOE-certified, not Nuclear Regulatory Commission certified, and will need to follow state regulations.
Comment: Foreign Research Reactor shipments are so few (1/year) that the expense can be absorbed by states, but 30/year will create additional burden requiring funding and planning.
Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) Level VI Inspection Program Peer Review Report
Larry Stern, CVSA Program Director; CVSA
A CVSA radioactive materials subgroup was created through a cooperative agreement with DOE in 2005 and 2006 to study states practices. The peer review project was conducted to find lessons learned and best practices. The study found that state requirements varied in terms of compliance, statutes mandating inspections, number of inspectors, types of inspections conducted, radiological instrumentation, escorts, etc.
Recommendations included: establishing safe havens for shipments, finding funding options for hospital personnel and first responder training, ensuring adequate inspector training and refresher courses, sharing the inspection program with the public through strong outreach efforts, etc.
The subgroup would like to explore how state practices and inspections of vehicle transport can translate to rail shipments.
CVSA is planning a meeting in Denver in March, where agency employees will talk about what technologies/instruments work best.
Q&A
Did you find much difference in the practices of states that require CVSA inspections at their borders (CO & IL) and others?
- No, except that they conduct more inspections (comparable to shipping states).
Some states have their Health Dept. employees conduct the inspections.
- Law enforcement must do the inspection to maintain certification, but it is certainly beneficial to involve the Health Dept.
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Update
William Mackie; WIPP-Carlsbad Field Office
A second carrier contract was awarded to Visionary Solutions in September. They and CAST Specialty Transportation will handle all TRU waste shipments (as of Nov. 26, 2007).
As of November 5, 2007, 6,231 shipments of contact-handled transuranic (TRU) waste and 87 shipments of remote-handled transuranic waste had been received at WIPP.
Over 7 million loaded miles have occurred without any material release. Several mechanical problems and traffic accidents have happened, but none have resulted in serious driver injuries or deaths.
WIPP is planning to receive approximately 17 shipments of TRU waste per week in the holiday months of November and December.
Remote-handled TRU waste near-term projections (next six months):
- Los Alamos National Lab - 16 shipments, 2/week
- Savannah River Site - 2 shipments of RH-72B, 1/week and 17 shipments of CNS 10-160B, 1/3 weeks
- Argonne National Lab - 24 shipments, 1-2/week
- Oak Ridge National Lab - 24 shipments, 1/week
As the federal government is operating under a continuing resolution through Nov. 16, and likely after that on an incremental basis, no new programs may be started.
Idaho National Lab (INL) inadvertently shipped an incorrect drum of radioactive waste to WIPP in June 2007, and it was emplaced underground. INL discovered their mistake in July - and operations were suspended at WIPP while a retrieval plan was developed. Immediate concern centered around the waste stream - there was a water-based liquid in the drum (about a half cup's worth). It was determined not to be a threat to human health or release, so the drum was left in place for the moment, and INL took corrective actions. In August, WIPP retrieved the drum since it was non-compliant with the specific types of waste allowed at the site, and shipped it back to INL.
The TRUPACTIII shipping container is being reviewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which may request additional information by Feb. 2008.
The WIPP training program is offering a new course for medical examiners, crime scene investigators, and coroners' on handling radiation deaths.
State Roundtable
Alabama
- DOE-Environmental Management budget is split between two state agencies in AL.
- Alabama responders recently found out they (and Tennessee) would need to be trained by the end of the year to comply with New Mexico and Environmental Protection Agency requirements in the transportation of remote-handled transuranic waste shipping from Oak Ridge to WIPP in June 2008.
Arkansas - State is planning an ingestion pathway exercise for May 2008.
Georgia
- Leadership in the General Assembly and governor's office have changed parties and agencies seem to be shifting around as a result.
- State has been involved in drills and meetings with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Domestic Nuclear Detection Office.
- State concerned about last-minute notification by DOE contractors of foreign shipments traveling through Georgia to Oak Ridge.
- Planning is already in place for shipments from Oak Ridge to SRS, through GA, occurring through mid-January.
- The WIPP road show that came through the south this year drew a large turnout and significant interest in Georgia.
Kentucky
- Want emergency responders to feel secure with equipment and would like EM's Modular Emergency Response Radiological Transportation Training (MERRTT) program to include a course on this.
- Law enforcement in the state escorts shipments through its borders.
- The state radiation agency has hired several new, former Naval Nuclear employees - who will bring much-valued experience to the program.
Louisiana
- Receiving many calls from customs to the state's radioactive emergency line. Wondering if these calls are a test or why they have increased.
- Emergency preparedness/response exercises have been conducted with nuclear power plants in the state, but most emergency planning is focused on hurricanes.
Maryland
- A Commodity Flow Survey along I-70 in Maryland was conducted by DOE-EM in September (see details in EM update below).
- Motor carriers being inspected to determine compliance with NRC Orders of July 2005 (see NRC presentation below).
- NRC no longer charging states for training; two MD inspectors attended a one-week training in Chattanooga.
- A bi-annual exercise was conducted at Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant.
- The NRC audits state licensing every four years, and did so for MD in Baltimore in August. MD passed and the report listed no areas for improvement, nor any recommendations - extremely rare and commendable.
Mississippi
- The state has conducted four MERRTT courses, and plans to conduct a specialized training next year.
- The state underwent a national disaster simulation drill and an NRC exercise as well.
- The WIPP road show through the south was considered very informative by Mississippi law enforcement.
Missouri
- State fee legislation (for the transport of radioactive materials through or within the state) failed again this year. Have gotten assurances that the legislation will be sponsored again next year, and the governor supports it.
- Shippers are choosing to go through Missouri instead of Illinois to save thousands of dollars, but transportation decisions ought to be made according to safety reasons, not economic ones.
North Carolina
- An emergency response/preparedness exercise was conducted at McGuire nuclear power plant in the state.
- A derailment of a SNF shipment occurred at a site in NC (buffer car, caboose), but there was no resulting release of material.
Oklahoma
- The state has no existing CVSA Level VI inspection program, but hope to get trained in 2008.
- Similar to Louisiana, Oklahoma has received customs calls with questions about radioactive materials licenses. Perhaps a GAO sting?
- Transportation incident occurred with radio-pharmaceuticals, no rad issues resulted.
- DOE Office of Source Recovery recovered a pacemaker from a deceased human in TN that contained plutonium 238 (had been implanted in the 1970s).
South Carolina
- An increase to five shipments/week (from two) of transuranic waste from SRS will require more CVSA inspections.
- Trainings for Foreign Research Reactor and TRANSCOM have been conducted.
- Barnwell low-level radioactive waste disposal facility will be closing its doors to all states but SC, CT, and NJ as of June 2008. Transportation permits are coming in early from other states to ensure acceptance before closure.
- Tritium tests have occurred near nuclear facilities and a public meeting is scheduled for December 6 on the issue.
- Five nuclear companies in SC are working with the state on emergency planning. Some are looking to construct new nuclear reactors at existing sites. They are receiving help with their combined license applications to the NRC and want to be in the first lot of new power plants approved in order to secure the limited, early federal financial perks.
Tennessee
- State has tied its MERRTT and Hazmat training together.
- A traffic accident occurred involving a radioactive materials shipment, but no rad issues resulted.
- SSEB should recommend to DOE's Transportation External Coordination Working Group that they focus on how material will get from power plants to rail spurs enroute to Yucca Mountain (inter-modal considerations will be significant).
Texas - Volunteer exercise occurred in rural west Texas. The current procedure is for volunteers to test for radiation before assisting injured people at an accident scene - and only go in if the radiation level is safe. Believe responders should go in immediately.
Virginia - Working on evacuations planning.
DOE Environmental Management (EM) Office of Transportation Update
William Spurgeon, Office of Transportation; DOE-EM 63
Current EM Shipments:
- Low-level radioactive waste (LLW) and mixed low-level (MLLW) shipments continue from West Valley, Oak Ridge, and Mound.
- Sodium Bonded Fuel is being shipped from Hanford to Idaho National Lab.
- Brookhaven National Lab will begin radiological shipments to the Nevada Test Site and EnergySolutions in Clive, Utah.
The uranium oxide transfer from Portsmouth (OH) and Paducah (KY) is still being planned and there is no decision yet on a disposal facility. Plans include 11 railcar shipments per week (five-six railcars from each site), with six cylinders per rail car.
Prospective Shipment Reports:
- States have voiced concern about materials/campaigns that are not included on these biannual reports. The Office of Transportation is working with the Waste Disposal Office in EM, which has a comprehensive online system [Waste Information Management System (WIMS)], to be more comprehensive. Plan to tie transportation information to the disposition report at: http://wims.arc.fiu.edu/wims.
- Will continue to send the Prospective Shipment Report twice a year as well, but it will not include spent nuclear fuel shipments. Those can be viewed on the secured TRANSCOM online system.
A formal review of the Radioactive Material Transportation Practices Manual (DOE Manual 460.2-1) was completed in April 2007 and changes to the manual are now in formal concurrence.
Revised Event Reporting Criteria - A working group was established in January 2007 to define what constitutes a transportation "event, incident, accident." States indicated they were more interested in immediate notification of an event, rather than in how the incidents are reported.
Latest transportation event: A September 19 shipment to the Nevada Test Site did not follow the preferred route.
A Commodity Flow Survey was conducted in Maryland in September. In a 24-hour period, 338 HAZMAT vehicles (3.8 percent of 8,900 vehicles) passed through the weigh station - equally split between east and westbound. 7.7 million pounds of HAZMAT was recorded, 80 percent of which was westbound. Petroleum products constituted 70 percent of the weight. Ninety-six species of HAZMAT were observed, including two radioactive waste shipments, both of which were DOE shipments.
EM is benchmarking metrics for Department of Transportation (DOT) reportable highway accident frequencies for HAZMAT, in partnership with TransCAER (a national community awareness and emergency response consortium). TransCAER maintains a database of HAZMAT shipments covering more than 3 billion miles per year. Frequency rate for 2006 was approximately .5 accidents per million miles driven.
DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) Update
Priscilla Bumbaca, Office of Logistics Management; DOE-OCRWM
OCRWM four programmatic strategic objectives:
- Yucca Mountain license application - Submit to the NRC by June 2008.
- Staffing culture - Ensure the staff makeup, expertise, and philosophy matches the evolving needs of the project.
- Liability - Address the federal government's contractual obligations to pick up spent nuclear fuel from utilities. The financial burdens to taxpayers of not doing so are mounting.
- Transportation - Develop and begin implementation of a comprehensive National Transportation Plan (see detail below) that accommodates state/tribal/local concerns and input to the greatest extent practicable.
The Licensing Support Network (LSN) is an online database of millions of documents supporting DOE's work on the Yucca Mountain license application (the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has already opened its hearing facility in Las Vegas and offers LSN search training.)
Transportation Priorities:
- National Transportation Plan - The NTP brings the capital projects, operational planning efforts, and stakeholder collaboration together into one living document. Plan to release the second revision (currently under review) this fall.
- Draft EISs - Progress on rail line construction will be dependent on congressional appropriation. The draft supplemental environmental impact statements for Yucca Mountain and Rail were recently released and open for public comment. DOE plans to release final versions in June 2008.
- Routing Criteria - Working with the TEC Routing Topic Group to determine criteria and routes; process will provide information to support 180(c) decisions (see below). DOE is trying to address recommendations in the National Academies study on the safe transportation of radioactive waste, Going the Distance?, such as involving states and tribes and identifying a suite of routes as soon as practicable to support planning. Need to understand actual rail options and not force flexibility where there is none. The Federal Railroad Administration is undertaking a survey of routes for hazards.
- Benchmarking Study - The initial study produced a best practices report from a review of successful nuclear waste transportation campaigns such as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, Foreign Research Reactor, and AREVA shipments in France. Later phases will evaluate integrated domestic and international commercial radioactive operations. May expand search to other high quantity hazardous materials shipments.
- Transportation, Aging, and Disposal canisters (TADs) - Working with industry on this multi-purpose canister concept. DOE is currently reviewing design proposals from vendors. TAD specifications are available on the OCRWM website, www.ocrwm.doe.gov/receiving/wat.shtml.
- 180(c) - Section 180(c) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires payments to states and tribes along Yucca Mountain transportation routes for emergency preparedness. DOE released a Federal Register Notice detailing eligibility, state allocation, etc., and the comment period has been extended. DOE plans to work on the tribal allocation early next year (probably based on a needs assessment rather than a standard formula).
DOE - Savannah River Site Program Update
Bert Crapse; DOE-Savannah River Operations Office
Fiscal year 2008 plans include: disposition of 3,000 drums of waste, two-five shipments per week to WIPP (19 remote-handled TRU waste shipments to begin in February), complete phase II large box x-ray an Assay systems, remove all TRU waste off of Pads 7-13 (30 percent storage reduction).
Current transuranic (TRU) waste inventory:
- Approximately 6,000 drums
- Buried drums and boxes under TRU Pad 1
- 4,000 cubic meters of boxed waste (more than half need repackaging).
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) -Enhanced Security for Transportation of Radioactive Material Quantities of Concern
Earl Easton; U.S. NRC
No significant differences in the threat environment since Sept. 11. Rouge parties are still interested in procuring radioactive materials, but are not necessarily aware of the locations of viable sources.
Staff has conducted comprehensive reviews of existing transport security regulations and has issued safeguards advisories. Most licensees have complied voluntarily with the enhanced security measures on transport.
NRC issued Orders to 202 licensees transporting Radioactive Materials Quantities of Concern (RAMQC) in July 2005. The Commission directed staff to proceed toward a rulemaking. A technical basis is underway and stakeholder meetings are scheduled for January 2008 (IL, CA, DC). These meetings will only apply to NRC materials. Would like states to become a party to the rulemakings.
NRC will provide more information on their website (http://www.nrc.gov/) when the rulemaking roll out occurs in the Federal Register.
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