ML19269E169
| ML19269E169 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07109305 |
| Issue date: | 09/23/2019 |
| From: | Pierre Saverot Division of Spent Fuel Management |
| To: | Sandra Rodriguez State of NM |
| References | |
| Download: ML19269E169 (1) | |
Text
From: Saverot, Pierre To: "Santiago.Rodriguez1@state.nm.us"
Subject:
Comments to be provided on draft EA Date: Monday, September 23, 2019 4:16:00 PM Attachments: 2019draftEA OGC NLO TRUPACT EXEMPTION NMDE.pdf
Dear Bureau Chief,
In 2014, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff received a request from Nuclear Waste Partnership, LLC (NWP) for an exemption in accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 71.12 for the one-time transport of transuranic (TRU) waste in two standard large boxes in the Model No. TRUPACT-III package and increase in both the A2 quantity and decay heat limit in TRUPACT-III Certificate of Compliance No. 9305, Revision No. 9. The two TRUPACT-III packages were to be used to transport TRU waste (a decommissioned Pu-238 processing tank that was cut in half) from Savannah River Site (SRS), near Aiken, South Carolina to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico.
The exemption was granted in 2016 and, in July 2019, NWP submitted a request to the NRC for a 24-month extension of the exemption because it had not yet shipped the two subject TRUPACT-III packages. Under the NRCs regulatory framework, NWPs exemption request must be reinitiated for the new time period, which requires a new Environmental Assessment (EA). Inasmuch as the environmental impact of the two shipments has already been analyzed in the original exemption, the EA from the original exemption did not make any reference to a 24-month limit, and the two authorized shipments did not take place, the EA analysis from the original exemption remains applicable for this exemption request and is included in the attachment to this email.
The enclosed draft EA contains pre-decisional information and is limited to use by the staff of New Mexico Department of Environment, and should not be disclosed without prior NRC permission. We request that your office provide any comments on this Draft EA within 30 days of the receipt of this letter to the NRC, ATTN: Pierre Saverot, Mail Stop T4-B34, Washington, DC 20555. If you have any questions, please contact me by email at pierre.saverot@nrc.gov.
Thank you for your assistance. The NRC staff will consider your timely comments and will revise the EA, as appropriate, before its final issuance and publication.
Please acknowledge receipt of this email and I will send you the password necessary to open the pdf file.
Sincerely, Pierre Saverot Project Manager Spent Fuel Licensing Branch Division of Spent Fuel Management