ML19269C048
| ML19269C048 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07001308 |
| Issue date: | 12/22/1978 |
| From: | GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19269C046 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7901190242 | |
| Download: ML19269C048 (13) | |
Text
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9 Docket No. 70-1308 License No. SNM-1265 DECOMMISSIONIfiG PLAtl FOR MORRIS OPERATION MORRIS, ILLINDIS December 1973 GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.)ANY NUCLEAR ENERGY PROGRAftS DIVISION SAN JOSE, CALIFORtlIA 790119 o A YL
DECOMMISSIONING PLAN for MORRIS OPERATION MORRIS, ILLIN0IS 1.
Introduction
1.1 Purpose and Scope
of Plan General Electric Company owns and operates the Morris Operation, a facilisj eear Morris, Illinois, for the storage of irradiated nuclear fuel from light water reactors.
The Morris Operation is a part of General Electric's Nuclear Energy Programs Division (NEPD), with headquarters in San Jose, California. The facility is described in detail in NED0-21326, " Consolidated Safety Analysis Report for Morris Operation", submitted to the NRC on Docket No. 70-1308, January 28, 1977.
At the present time, General Electric is authorized to store irradiated fuel containing special nuclear, source and byproduct material under Materials License No. SNM-1265.
Although there is presently no regulatory requirement which addresses specifically the site dispo-sition at termination of the license, General Electric has prepared this Decommissioning Plan (Plan) pursuant to a request of the NRC dated March 30, 1978.
This Plan describes the method selected by GE for decommissioning of the site:
o The Plan covers the sequence of tasks from the time that a decision is made to terminate licensed operations to the NRC decision that licensing is no longer required by law.
The Plan applies to the entire Morris site and is independent o
of subsequent utilization of the property.
The Plan considers what is currently technically feasible, o
assuming present regulations and conditions.
. The Plan allows for revision or replacement of concepts as o
more data are obtained and improved technologies developed.
1.2 History of Operatiors The Morris Operatinn facility was originally constructed to reprocess spent nuclear fuel and was named Midriest Fuel Recovery Plant (MFRP). The MFRP configuration included two water-filled storage basins, one for spent fuel storage prior to reprocessing and one for storage of high level waste.
Startup testing operations pursuant to the then existing terms of SNM-1265 resulted in the contamination of certain process systems and canyon cells with unirradiated natural uranium and its daughter products.
Startup testing was discontinued in late 1974 and the terms of SNM-1265 were changed to allow " storage only" of irradiated fuel.
Irradiated fuel was first received in early 1972 and receipts con-tinued into 1978.
Fuel storage capacity was increased twice as the need arose.
First, the original waste storage basin was utilized by the addition of fuel storage racks in 1973.
In 1975, removal of the original storage baskets and racks and installation of higher density baskets with a supporting grid system in both basins expanded capacity from approximately 100 tonnes to over 700 tonnes.
The low activity waste vault, cladding vault, low level waste evaporator system and the plant ventilation system including the air tunnel, sand filter, exhaust blowers and stack are utilized in support of fuel storage operations. As a result, these systems contain varying levels of fission product and activation product contamination from fuel cladding leaks and reactor piping residue (crud) in addition to small quantities of unirradiated natural uranium and its daughter products from the startup testing operations.
. A layaway program was initiated in February 1975 to' place re-processing equipment, instruments and certain facilities in protective status to minimize deterioration.
Concurrent with fuel receipt and storage operations, procedures were developed and implemented to flush and purge vessels and piping and to " mothball" mechanical and electrical equipment. As of November 1978, all reprocessing equip-ment is in layaway status at the site except for the uncontaminated fluorine production equipment which was sold and has been removed (It will be seen in Section 3.3.2 how this layaway program will benefit subsequent decommissioning).
2.
Plan Assumptions and Bases 2.1 Site Status This Decommissioning Plan is based on the following assumptions re-garding the site as they appear to be the most realistic ones at this time:
Off-site transfer of stored fuel will be cumpleted by normal o
operating procedures rather than as a part of decommissioning efforts o The decision to terminate licensed operations at the t10 site will be made in the course of normal (not emergency) business considerations o There will be no plans for subsequent utilization of the site for nuclear activity requiring NRC licensing 2.2 Performance Objectives The primary objective of the Plan is to decontaminate the site to a point where continued NRC licensing is no longer required.
The following are supporting objectives:
o Reduce levels of residual contamination on exposed surfaces of site structures and components to permit unrestricted use or:
- Remove the contaminated surface from the site for authorized disposition
- Entomb on-site if such action is supported by evaluation of potential risk exposure and accepted by regulatory authority
Apply surface covering (paint, etc.) _only if contamination levels are as low as can be obtained by reasonable effort or if such action is approved by regulatory authority Remove piping, ducting and vessels for authorized salvage o
or disposal, if their interior surfaces cannot be assured of meeting unrestricted release limits.
(Entomb on site if supported by evaluation of potential risk exposure and accepted by regulatory authority.)
Dispose of scrap, rubble and other waste materials from site o
clean-up operations in accordance with applicable provisions of the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 10, Chapter 1 2.3 Other Considerations Physical security requirements will be revised after the fuel has been shipped off-site. Access control and other protective measures will be maintained pursuant to regulatory requirements.
3.
Planned Tasks 3.1 Radiation Survey The first step in the Decorraissioning Plan will be to prepare a com-prehensive contamination survey of all site facilities, including the following:
o Main Building - all areas Low Activity Waste, Cladding and Dry Chemical Vaults o
Other Buildings, Utility Service, Fluorine, Shop / Warehouse, o
Cask Service Facility, Permanent Warehouse and Administration Grounds - walkways, asphalt driveways, gravel areas and ponds o
The survey will determine the presence or absence of contamination and where present, the level of smearable and fixed contamination for comparison to unrestricted release limits.
Samples of vault contents will be taken to determine bulk waste activity. The results of this survey will be analyzed to determine those structures, equipment, soil and bulk waste that are contaminated above unrestricted release limits and will establish the basis for preparing the final details of the Decommissioning Plan.
. 3.2 Supplementary Systems Supplementary systems and equipment with temporary or mobile fectures may be utilized for special functions, such as aggressive surface de-contamination, treatment of radioactive liquids, retrieval of bulk contaminated wastes and packaging of consolidated residues. The types, functions and amount of this equipment will be determined at the time of decommissioning.
3.3 Bulk Materials Removal 3.3.1 Waste Vault Contents The low activity waste vault contents will be concentrated using the low level waste evaporator system.
The remaining radioactive slurry will be solidified for packaging and shipping to an offsite disposal facility.
The dry chemical vault contains approximately 30,000 lbs of solid materials including alumina contaminated with the unit radiated natural uranium.
This material will be retrieved from the vault, packaged and shipped to an offsite disposal facility.
Any solution in the cladding vault will be transferred to the low activity waste vault for solidification and disposal.
3.3.2 Contaminated Equipment Preparation of the empty fuel storage baskets and grids for removal from the basin may include vacuum cleaning and rinsing with water.
After removal, cutting (with equipment such as a plasma torch) in a controlled area will be done as needed to facilitate fitting the components into cor. tainers for shipping to an offsite disposal facility.
General Electric has had experience at Morris Operation in basket and rack decontamination and disposal as part of a storage capacity expansion project undertaken in 1975.
Underwater cutting using divers is an alternative that will be reviewed.
Also anticipated in the removal of contamin:ted equipment is the dis-posal of canyon vessels.
Consideration will be given to selling equipment
. contaminated with natural uranium to licensed facilities or salvage operators.
Otherwise, the equipment will be cut into appropriate sizes for offsite burial. Most of the approximately 40 major canyon vessels were designed to be remotely removable.
Thus, the cutting operation for the vessels and equipment may be performed in place or in a convenient location such as on top of the mechanical cell covers.
Controlled ventilation and services are available in either case.
Advanced planning will be utilized to minimize equipment cutting.
Internal residual contamination of the canyon vessels is minimal due to the layaway flushing (described in Section 1.2) that they received.
3.4 Residual Contamination Survey / Assessment The contamination survey described in Section 3.1 will be updated following the removal of bulk materials. This survey update will determine the location, the level and the nature of the residual contamination. An assessment then will be made to determine where additional deconthmination is required.
Tests of the proposed decontamination methods at this time may indicate modifications needed in order to meet the performance objectives set forth in Section 2.2 above.
3.5 System Decontamination and Dismantling 3.5.1 Fuel Receipt and Storage Facilities The fuel receipt and storage facilities include the cask receiving area, the decontamination area, the cask unloading basin, fuel storage basins 1 and 2, the basin filter room, the basin pump room, the basin coolers and the associated structures. The Plan for these areas is to:
Remove basin water, remove stainless liner and piping and o
survey concrete surfaces for contamination levels.
Decontaminate concrete surfaces as required.
Backfill basins and provide a cover over them o Remove contaminated equipment and piping from the basin pump room and filter room and remove the exterior basin cooler units o Decontaminate imbedded piping and fill with grout
. Remove cranes and other equipment (the cask crane may be o
used for loading for offsite shipments and removal may be deferred until later in the decommissioning work period)
Decontaminate or raze the filter room and pump room structures o
Decontaminate the concrete floor pads and other surfaces or o
remove surfaces if necessary to achieve performance objectives Decontaminate the cask receiving and decontamination areas o
(these areas will be used for vehicle loading ar,a other needs during most of the decommissioning period and this work will therefore be late in the schedule)
Clean or package as necessary, other contaminated structural o
components, walls, ceilings, etc.
Package and ship contaminated waste to offsite disposal facilities o
3.5.2 Canyon The Plan for the canyon cells is to:
Remove all fixed piping (other than imbedded) and instrument o
and electric cables o Decontaminate all surfaces.
Remove stainless cell liners if the performance objectives (Section 2.2) cannot be met with them in place Decontaminate or package canyon cell covers and the canyon crane o
o Decontaminate imbedded piping and fill with grout Leave the main building concrete structure including the canyon o
area in place after decontamination Package and ship contaminated waste to offsita disposal facilitics o
3.5.3 Other Main Building Areas Several areas (listed in Table 1) are not used for fuel storage operations.
These areas are now clean and are kept clean as there is no means of contaminating them.
Other areas (shown in Table 2) are used during fuel storage operations and may be minimally contaminated. The Plan for these areas is to:
o Remove contaminated equipment
. o Remove and package other contaminated items such as instruments, piping ducts, services o Decontaminate area surfaces with techniques employed in the canyon cells Package and ship contaminated materials to offsite disposal o
facilities 3.5.4 Waste Storage Vaults The low activity waste vault, cladding vault and dry chemical vault will be emptied of bulk materials as described in Section 3.3.1.
Based upon past usage (unirradiated natural uranium) and the antici-pated minimal contamination levels, the dry chemical vault will be backfilled with dirt and sealed, leaving the concrete walls and liners intact.
The contamination levels of the low activity waste and cladding vaults will be determined after the waste is removed (Section 3.3.1).
The Plan for these vaults is to:
o Flush down the inner tank surface (if required) o Dispose of the flush via the low level waste evaporator o Investigate the feasibility of further decontamination of inner walls o Backfill and seal the maintenance pit, and off gas cell openings leaving the walls, inner tank and liners intact 3.5.5 Air Tunnel, Sand Filter and Stack These structures will be decommissioned last, thus permitting the use of Main Building ventilation for the majority of the decommissioning work. The Plan for these structures is to:
o Flush the floor of the air tunnel.
Route the flush solution to the low level waste evaporator o Fill the air tunnel with concrete over its entire length.
Seal the celi openings to the air tunnel o Remove the exhaust blowers and duct work located next to the sand filter Remove the contaminated sand and gravel 'from the sand filter o
as required.
Package it and ship to an offsite disposal facility Decontaminate and ba>;kfill the sand filter concrete structure o
and seal the filter openings Decontaminate and backfill or package tne horizontal du:t o
between the sand filter and the stack Decontaminate and cap (ground level and top) or dispose of the o
300 foot stack Package and ship contaminated materials to an offsite disposal o
facility 3.5.6 Final Waste Removal The remaining items to be considered are:
Decontaminate potentially contaminated underground piping and o
fill with grout or dig up and package for disposal Decontaminate special equipment used in the decomissioning work o
or package for disposal Package miscellaneous tools that are no longer useful for disposal o
3.6 Final Survey A comprehensive final survey similar to the initial one described in Section 3.1 will be performed.
The survey report will include:
Description of scope and general procedures used in the survey o
Description of remaining contamination o
Results of survey for comparison with performance objectives o
Surveillance recommendations and future use restrictions o
3.7 Inspection and Acceptance The final survey report will be submitted to the NRC.
It is anticipated that the NRC will terminate Materials License No. SNM-1265 and release the facility for unrestricted use following their review and inspection.
. 4.
Plan Environmental Effects 4.1 Balancing of Effects The Decommissioning Plan described in this document presents what is believed to be the most balanced approach to limiting environmental effects as they relate to potential risks to the public and site personnel.
In sumary, the approach involves evaluating each task of the Plan at the time of implementation, and making the final decision for disposition based on a comparison of the alternatives below:
Decontamination to unrestricted limits o
o Removal to offsite disposal facilities o Fixation and isolation This approach assures an optimization of effects.
4.2 Conclusions Dispersal of significant radioactivity as a result of the implementation of this Plan is not possible. The Itain Building ventilation system will be operated to provide normal filtration of particulate and aerosol matter. There are no radioactive liquid effluents from the site during normai licensed operations and there will not be during de-commissioning activities.
Radioactive wastes will be disposed of by transporting to licensed repositories in approved containers, following approved shipping practices and thereby creating no significant impact on the environment.
After the pe, armance objectives of the Plan have been attained, the site will be available for unrestricted use with no impact on the environment.
5.
Resource Requirements 5.1 Maniower Estimates General Electric will carry out the specific tasks defined in Section 3, utilizing Company personnel, contracter personnel or a combination of both. Table 3 shows cost estimates for the various tasks using General Electric 1978 Manpower rates for the onsite work. The removal of vault bulk materials was assumed to be carried out by subcontractors.
. In estimating manpower requirements it is anticipat d that total implementation of the Decommissioning Plan will take threr years.
Some tasks will be performed in parallel but the general sequence of tasks is that described in Section 3.
5.2 Shipping and Disposal Costs Shipping and burial cost estimates include the 1978 costs of shipping containers (nonreusable), transportation fees, and burial charges at a low level waste disposal site.
The cost estimate includes weights and volumes of materials based on past experience of the Morris Operation.
The transportation costs assume that the waste will be transported to the Hanford Reservation near Richland, Washington.
Disposal of " clean" materials is not included in the costs shown in Table 3 since noncontaminated items are not addressed in this Plan (see Section 2.2).
A contingency of 25 percent of the decommissioning cost (Tabie 3, Task 1 through 4) was included in the total cost shown.
5.3 Financial Assurance The decommissioning costs for General Electric's irradiated nuclear fuel storage facilities near Morris, Illinois, estimated to be $6,033,000, are small compared to the total assets of the General Electric Company.
Therefore, it is unlikely that General Electric would be unable to meet the financial commitments generally associated with the decommissioning activities as outlined and estimated.
After General Electric has developed a more detailed decommissioning plan and associated cost estimate, an appropriate corporate officer of the General Electric Company will certify to the Commission that, at the time of any required decommissioning of the facility General Electric will comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations.
DECOMMISSI0t11NG PLAN Table 1 INACTIVE AREAS Ifl MAlti BUILDING 1.
37' Level East Room 2.
Aqueous Makeup Area 3.
Pu/tip Concentration /Loadout Room 4.
UF Loadout Area 6
5.
Cold Trap Room 6.
F2 Disposal Room 7.
F2 Compressor Room (60' Level) 8.
Upper and Lower Crane Maintenance Area (next to canyon west end) 9.
Lab Solid Sample Room DEC0tV11SSIONIt4G PLAN Table 2 C0t1TAMIt. ATED ACTIVE AREAS III MAIN BUILDING (Other Than Canyon And Basin Area) 1.
Hydraulic Equipment Room - 37' Level 2.
Manipulator Cleaning Room 3.
Equipment Transfer Area 4.
Building Vent Filter Room - 65' Level (Inside Ducts)
Survey and reassessment at the time of decommissioning may change the content of this table.
DECOMMISSIONING PLAN TABLE 3 COST ESTIMATE Dollars in Thousands (1978)
Total 5$
- 1. Survey Work (Initial, Interim and Final) 64.
- 2. Bulk Materials Removal (Includes Shipping and Disposal)*
1466.
- Vaults 763.
- Basin Baskets and Grids 494.
- Canyon Equipment 209.
- 3. Systen Decontamination / Dismantling 1998.
- Fuel Receipt and Storage Facilities 375.
- Canyon Cells 392.
- Other Process Building Area 328.
- Vaults 632.
- Air Tunn:1, Sand Filte, Stack 271.
- 4. Waste Packaging, Shipping and Disposal *
'298.
(For Task 3 Above) 5.
SUB TOTAL 4826.
- 6. 25% Contingency (Same As Used In NUREG 0278) 1207.
- 7. Total Cost
$6033.
- Costs based on current charges for burial