ML19291A158
| ML19291A158 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | West Valley Demonstration Project |
| Issue date: | 03/30/1979 |
| From: | Rouse L NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | Lango J AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7904200424 | |
| Download: ML19291A158 (3) | |
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UNITED STATES f
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~' 4 NUCLEAR REGULATOKY COMMisslON WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555 MAR. 01973
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w Docket No. 50-201 Mr. James A. Lango 76 Mill Street Springville, New York 14141
Dear Mr. Lango:
Subject:
Letters dated December 16, 1978 and March 5, 1979 concerning liquid discharges from Nuclear Fuel Services Plant at West Valley, New York Please accept my apology for not having responded sooner to your first letter. We discussed your comments in that letter with the Department of Environmental Conservation of the State of New York.
It is our understanding that they will contact you on the matter of the sludge or silt at the Springville Dam.
We have discussed this matter, ourselves, with Mr. Lipoff of the Springville Electric Department, who informed us that there are no plans by the Department to remove any silt from behind the dam.
I would like you to know that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has several projects either underway or being initiated to assist in understanding the fate of liquid discharges from the plant at West Valley.
1.
Under a research contact, the Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory is studying the modeling of sediment /radionuclide transport in surface waters both on and off-site.
2.
We are currently studying two proposals, one from the New York State Geological Survey on groundwater flow and geomorphology of the site; the other from Dr. Vaughan Bowen of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Laboratory on sediment transport in Lakes Ontario and Erie and at the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek.
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' d.Q t t Mr. James A. Lango As far as the liquid discharges are concerned, they are permissible.
When the West Valley plant was initially licensed, the concentrates were to be controlled within the limits specified in tabular form in Appendix B to 10 CFR Part 20 -- Standards for Protection Against Radiation.
These limits were derived from a consensus of careful scientific study. The original Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) estimates of the liquid releases indicated that they would be a small fraction (about 0.1 percent or less of the limits described above). The actual releases were considerably greater than expected, but were always witnin these limits.
In present terms, it was not "as low as reasonably achievable." One of the principal reasons for NFS' proposed modification was to reduce the concentration of radioactivity in the liquid discharges.
The Department of. Environmental Conservation has analyzed samples of silt from the Springville Dam location for various individual radio-isotopes. The concentrations of radioactivity as determined by the analyses are detectable, but we do not consider these levels significant from a health and safety standpoint.
Information on liquid discharges submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commissicn is also distributed to local public document rooms in Buffalo and Springville, The information can be found in the quarterly reports or the semiannual environmental reports. The address for the local public document room in Springville is:
Town of Concord Public Library 23 North Buffalo Street Springville, New York 14141 I hope this letter and your discussions with the Department of Environmental Conservation are responsive to your comments.
Sincerely,
/Nw i,' Leland C. Rouse, Acting Chief Fuel Reprocessing and Recycle Branch Division of Fuel Cycle and Material Safety cc:
See attached list
A cc:
Me, T. Cushman Department of Environmental Conservation State of tieu York fir. G. Certel Department of Energy Mr. John Lipoff Springville Electric De.cartment Y
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