ML19337A816

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Responds to FOIA Request for Listing of Locations Where Nuclear Matls Are Stored,User or Dumped in Us.Forwards Documents Listed in App a & Discusses Four Categories of Nuclear Waste.Listing of Agreement States Only Encl
ML19337A816
Person / Time
Issue date: 09/23/1980
From: Felton J
NRC OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION (ADM)
To: Bosworth G
AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED
References
FOIA-80-473 NUDOCS 8009300284
Download: ML19337A816 (4)


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September 23, 1980 Mr. G. R. Bosworth P. O. Box 66577 IN RESPONSE REFER Los Angeles, CA 90066 TO F01A-80-473

Dear Mr. Bosworth:

This is in response to your letter of August 20, 1980, in which you requested, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, a listing of places where nuclear materials are stored, used, or dumped in the United

  • States.

Please find enclosed the documents listed on Appendix A, which are subject to your request.

In r.ddition, the following discusses four categories of nuclear waste:,

a.

Commercial High-Level Waste (including spent fuel)

Currently there are no commercial high-level waste repositories

- for disposal or commercial chemical reprocessing plants for fuel reprocessing. Spent fuel is principally held in long-term storage at operating reactors.

The General Electric Corporation facilities at Morris, Illinois, and the Nuclear Fuel Services Corporation facilities at West Valley', New York, also have commercial spent fuel in storage.

The latter facility has reprocessed fuels in the past and also has high-level liquid radioactive waste in storage.

b.

Commercial Low-level Waste These wastes have been disposed of in six locations throughout the country--West Valley, New York; Morehead (Maxey Flats),

Kentucky; Sheffield, Illinois; Beatty, Nevada; Hanford, Washington; and Barnwell, South Carolina.

Of the six locations, only three are currently receiving waste--Beatty, Nevada; Hanford, Washington; and Barnwell, South Carolina.

In addition, current NRC regulations permit small amounts of radioactive waste to be disposed into sanitary sewerage systems as per 20.303 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 10.

Disposal of certain quantities of radioactive waste is permitted in water or air, commonly known as effluent releases, up to the limits given in Appendix B, Part 20, Title 10, CFR. NRC does not require a specific license for the above disposals and therefore does not have a listing of all such disposals.

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c.

Uranium Mill Tailings Large quantities of uranium mill tailings have also been disposed of.

The bulk of these radioactively contaminated materials have been at uranium milling facilities. A complete list of NRC licensed milling facilities is attached, d.

_0cean Disposal of Radioactive Waste The United States' activities involving ocean disposal occurred between 1946 and 1962.

These activities were phased down beginning in 1963, and the last disposal occurred in 1970. A list of authorized sites in the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean is attached for your reference.

We are aware that radioactive waste long-term storage and disposal facilities are also operated by the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE).

This information may be requested from DOE by writing to Mr. Milton Jordan, Director, Division of F0i & PA Activities, Department of Ene gy, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20585.

In addition, some of NRC's licensing and regulatory authority has been turned over to Agreement States as per Part 150, Title 10, CFR.

Those states, listed on Appendix B, are responsible for low-level waste storage and disposal and uranium milling disposal within the Agreement States Program.

They may also license the disposal of naturally occurring or accelerator produced nuclear materials.

These materials are not under NRC's authority or NRC's delegated authority.

This kind of information must be requested directly from the states.

Finally, lists indicating licensees for source, special nuclear, and byproduct materials have already been placed in the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) for public viewing and copying.

These lists are referred to as the "B, C, and D Lists." Copies of these documents can be purchased by writing directly to the PDR, 1717 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20555. The charge for reproducing records located in the PDR is five cents ($0.05) per page, as specified in 10 CFR 9.14(a).

Upon your agreement to pay the reproduction charges, the PDR will arrange for the records to be reproduced by Literature Research Company, a private reproduction contractor servicing the PDR.

You will be billed by Literature Research Company for the reproduction charges, plus tax and postage.

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. Felton, Director Division of Rules and Records i

Office of Administration

Enclosures:

As stated

RE: FOIA-80-473 APPENDIX A 1.

April 25,1980 Excerpt from NUREG-0380, Section III-Nuclear Materials (14 pages) 2.

1980 Excerpt from USNRC 1979 Annual Report, Chapter 6 (Waste Management) (8 pages) 3.

1980 Excerpt from USNRC 1979 Annual Report, Append'x 6 (Nuclear Electric Generating Units in Operation, Under Construction or Planned) (11 pages) 4.

August 30, 1977 U. S. AEC Authorized LLW Disposal Sites in Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean (3 pages) 5.

Undated Licensed Uranium Recovery Facilities - Uranium Mills (4 pages) 4 9

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RE: FOIA-80-473 APPENDIX B h eement States Al abama Nebraska Arizona Nevada Arkansas New Hampshire Cali fornia New Mexico Colorado New York Florida North Carolina Georgia North Dakota Idaho Oregon Kansas Rhode Island Kentucky South Carolina Louisiana Tennessee Maryland Texas Mississippi Washington i

Source:

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,1979 Annual Report,

p. 173.