ML17356A221

Enclosure 1 - NMFS Email with Questions

ML17356A221
Person / Time
Site:	Westinghouse
Issue date:	12/12/2017
From:	Furtak S US Dept of Commerce, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
To:	Briana Grange, Jessie Quintero Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Quintero J
References
Download: ML17356A221 (5)

Text

1 Quintero, Jessie From:

Sarah Furtak - NOAA Federal <sarah.furtak@noaa.gov>

Sent:

Tuesday, December 12, 2017 1:49 PM To:

Grange, Briana; Quintero, Jessie

Subject:

[External_Sender] Discussion questions: SER-2017-18839 (Columbia Fuel Fabrication)

Attachments:

Questions regarding SER-2017-18839 dec_12_2017.docx Good Afternoon Briana and Jessie, Thanks for setting up the call for tomorrow at 2 pm. I am attaching draft questions to guide our discussion.

Looking forward to it!

Sarah Sarah Furtak National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Southeast Regional Office - Protected Resources Division - Coral Conservation Branch 8000 North Ocean Drive, Suite 227 Dania Beach, FL 33004 Phone (954) 734-4713

---

Forwarded message ----------

From: Sarah Furtak - NOAA Federal <sarah.furtak@noaa.gov>

Date: Wed, Dec 6, 2017 at 4:46 PM

Subject:

Re: Re: SER-2017-18839 (Columbia Fuel Fabrication)

To: "Quintero, Jessie" <Jessie.Quintero@nrc.gov>

Cc: "Grange, Briana" <Briana.Grange@nrc.gov>

Greetings Jessie and Briana, Thanks for checking in with me, Jessie, on SER-2017-18839, and for proposing some dates and times to informally discuss our preliminary thinking, questions about the consultation, and timing on your end and our end. December 13 from 2-3 pm works for me as well as our Atlantic and short nose sturgeon species expert, Andrew Herndon, and my supervisor, Mark Lamb. Andrew and Mark would be interested in joining us. Please feel free to cc them at andrew.herndon@noaa.gov and mark.lamb@noaa.gov, or just include me, and I will ensure they have the call-in information.

Appreciatively, Sarah Sarah Furtak National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Southeast Regional Office - Protected Resources Division - Coral Conservation Branch

2 8000 North Ocean Drive, Suite 227 Dania Beach, FL 33004 Phone (954) 734-4713

StaffDraft-12/12/2017 Page1of3

QuestionsforNRCregardingSER201718839

1. HastheNuclearRegulatoryCommission(NRC)everconsultedwithNationalMarineFisheries Service(NMFS)orwiththeU.S.FishandWildlifeServiceonthissiteoronasimilarproject nationally?CanNRCprovideuswithpertinentconsultationperspectivesonthisrequest?

2. WhydoesNRConlyconsiderammonia,fluorides,anduraniuminthebiologicalevaluation, whenthereareotherdischargelimitsintheNationalPollutantDischargeEliminationSystem (NPDES)permit(e.g.,minimumdissolvedoxygen[DO])?

a. Whynowandwhythosecompounds?

b. WhyjustNPDESparameters?

c. ArethereaspectsofthisprojectthatNRCmadeanoeffectdeterminationforbesides AtlanticsturgeonspeciesandAtlanticsturgeoncriticalhabitat?

3. Thebiologicalevaluationstatesthatsturgeoncouldswimaroundtheeffluentplumetoavoid chemicalsandotherpollutants.Whatisthescientificbasisformakingsuchastatement?

a.WhatistheeffluenttemperaturerelativetotheCongareeRivertemperature?The ambienttemperatureinthelagoonandoutfallpipemaybehotascomparedtotheriver temperatureatthedischargepoint.Isthereathermalplume?Canthesizeandtheshape ofthethermalplumebeapproximatedandgraphicallydepictedovertimeusingisobar concentrationfiguresfromactualdata?

b.Istherea(shortnose)sturgeonspawningareanearby?

c.Whatisthebenthichabitatandwaterdepthintheactionarea?

4. IswaterqualityintheactionareawithintheCongareeRiversafefortheAtlanticsturgeonand shortnosesturgeon?ProvidetheNPDESpermit,too,please.

AmmoniaBaseduponcalculationsofununionizedammonialevelswithdischarge monitoringreport(DMR)dataforammonia,pH,andyearroundrivertemperatures (temperaturesfoundinnationalwaterqualitydatabase https://www.waterqualitydata.us/portal/),effluentconcentrationsofNitrogen,ammoniatotal (asN)appeartocorrespondwithunionizedammoniainconcentrationsthatexceedthe0.05 mg/Llevel,aleveloftoxictofish,(http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FA/FA03100.pdf);at2.0 mg/L,fishwilldie.

StaffDraft-12/12/2017 Page2of3

a.Whataretheunionizedammoniaconcentrationsintheactionarea?Isthereanun ionizedammoniaconcentrationplumeintheriver?Canthesizeandtheshapeoftheun ionizedammoniaplumebeapproximatedandgraphicallydepictedovertimeusingisobar concentrationfiguresfromactualdata?

FluoridesEffluentconcentrationsDMRdataforfluoridesappearNLAAforsturgeonbased uponavailable,limitedtoxicologydata(forSiberiansturgeon).

b.Whatarethefluorideconcentrationsintheactionarea?Isthereafluoride concentrationplumeintheriver?Canthesizeandtheshapeofthefluorideplumebe approximatedandgraphicallydepictedovertimeusingisobarconcentrationfiguresfrom actualdata?

UraniumAccordingtoNRC(JessieQuintero)on12/6/2017,fishsampleshaveshownno uraniumandsedimentsamplesmeasure<2pCi/g.

c.Whataretheuraniumconcentrationsintheactionarea?Isthereauranium concentrationplumeintheriver?Canthesizeandtheshapeoftheuraniumplumebe approximatedandgraphicallydepictedovertimeusingisobarconcentrationfiguresfrom actualdata?

d.WerethereadingsJessiementionedtakenintheactionarea?

e.Inthosereadings,werefishanappropriatesizeforbioaccumulationextrapolationto sturgeon?Whatfishspecieswerestudied?Where?

f.Wehaverecentdataonuraniumconcentrationsinliquideffluent(e.g.,ppm,uCi,pCi/L).

Howdotheseunitscompare/convert-ifatalltothe1rad/dayDOEguidelinethatNRC usestoassessaffectstoaquaticbiota(i.e.,with1rad/daybeingthelevelatwhichDOE expectsnonegativepopulationleveleffects)?

g.WhydoesNRCuseaguidelineof1rad/daytoassessimpactstosturgeonwhen1 rad/daycorrelateswithsignificanthistologicaleffectsonthegonadsofsmalltropicalfish?

Weneedtobeabletocompareunitstomakedeterminations.

DOEffluentconcentrationsDMRdataforDOappearNLAAforsturgeon(generally,DO concentrationsbelow4.5mg/Larecauseforworryand6.0mg/Lorgreateraregood).

h.AretheDMRdatamonthlyaverages?Ifso,whatweeklyDOdata(requiredbythe NPDESpermit)doyouhavefortheoutfall?

E.coliWaterqualityintheCongareeRiversegmentattheoutfall001isimpairedforE.coli.

StaffDraft-12/12/2017 Page3of3

i.Isthislikelytoadverselyaffectsturgeon?

5. Istheoutfallpipe(001)submerged,orgoingthroughopenair?Ifinthewatercolumn,where?

Canwegetamapoftheoutfall(actionarea)?

6. AccordingtoNRCs10/2/2017responsetoNMFSs9/22/2017questions,theeffluentflow (0.161cubicfeetpersecond[cfs])is<0.001%oftheriverflow(8,652cfs).NRCsbiological evaluationstatesthateggsandlarvae,ifpresent,arenotasmobile;however,theareaand durationofexposurewouldbelimitedbecausethevolumeofliquideffluentdischargedfrom CFFFrepresentsaverysmallpercentageoftheoverallflowoftheriver.Howdomonthly(or seasonal)variationsindischargeflowandriverflowchangetheconcentrationsofpollutants andpotentialtoxicitytosturgeon(e.g.,spawningandlifehistory)?[Collecthistoricalflowdata andestimateconcentrationsbasedonDMRdatamatchedtoflow]

7. Whatothercontaminantsmightbeaffectingthemarineenvironment(andultimately threatenedandendangeredspecies)?IsthisaSuperfundsite?RCRAcorrectionactionsite?

a. Itappearsthereislegacygroundwatercontaminationbynitrates,fluorides,andvolatile organiccompounds(andaremediationsystem),accordingtothe2014TetraTech environmentalreport.Cangroundwatercontaminationfromthefacilitybeaffecting themarineenvironmentandourspecies?

[WestinghouseNuclearFuelFabricationFacilitybordersaSuperfundsiteontheeast.

TheSuperfundsite,SCRDIBluffRoad,includesanareawherestorage,recyclingand disposaloperationstookplaceuntil1982.EPAplacedthesiteontheSuperfund programsNationalPrioritiesList(NPL)in1983becauseofcontaminatedgroundwater andsoilresultingfromoperationsatthesite.

(https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.Cleanup

&id=0403212#bkground)WestinghousedoesnotappeartobeaRCRAcorrectiveaction site(https://www.epa.gov/cleanups/cleanupsmycommunity).]

8. Thefacilityappearstobecoveredbyastormwatergeneralpermit(SCR003391).

a. IsthispermitdifferentthantheNPDESPermit?Ifso,whatandwherearetheoutfalls?

b. Whatarethemonitoringrequirements?

c. Canstormwaterdischarges(includingnonpointsourcedischarges)affectsturgeon?