ML19341C930

Furnishes Info Requested in 801003 & 0904 Ltrs Re Slightly Irradiated Scrap Fuel Matl Shipped to United Nuclear Plant for Recovery

ML19341C930
Person / Time
Site:	Wood River Junction
Issue date:	11/13/1980
From:	Hart R ENERGY, DEPT. OF
To:	Grier B NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION I)
Shared Package
ML19341C923	List: ML19341C922 ML19341C924 ML19341C925 ML19341C927 ML19341C928 ML19341C930 ML19341C931
References
NUDOCS 8103040551
Download: ML19341C930 (6)

Text

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Exhibit 3.

DOE Oak Ridge I

i

{V vg Operations Letter to Region I g

(Page 1 of 6)

Department of Energy Oak RidgeOperations P.O. Box E Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830 Nousnber 13, 1980 Mr. Boyce H. Grier, Director Regicn I, U. S. Nuclear Regulatory &=4=mion King of Prussia, PA 19406

Dear Mr. Grier:

In response to your letter of October 3,1980, to me, and your Septaber 4, 1980, lecter to Mr. B. M. Erickson of the Schenectady Naval Reactors Office, we are fmmiching the information which you requested concerning slightly irradiated (less than 100 milliren/ hour on contact) scrap fuel sterial shipped to the United Nuclear Plant at Wood River Junction, Rhode Island, for recovery under contracts adminiatered by the Oak Ridge Operaticms Office.

'Ibe majority of this information is contained in Mr. Ericken's mmrandum to me, dated Septenber 29, 1980.

Mr. Erickson's mmrandum rather empletely discusses the history of enriched uraniun scrap declared by the Naval Reactors Laboratories which was subsequently processed at Wood River Junction.

It separates the material into that used in low power critical facilities and that resulting fran other activities. For those mtenals used in critical fncilities, an educated estimate of fission product generation (SR-90 and CS-137 only) is presented. A m - ry of the data for slightly irradiated scrap fuel mterials is presented below:

SR-90 Content PWR History (M1111 curies)

Period QU_

KW - Hrs Best Estimate Upper Limit 1964 - 1975 403 8.0 15776 - 19'79 34 2.5 0.12 0.8 1980 360 19.8 1.89 9.5 CS-137 content esti m ted to be about the same.

Although the quantity of critical fuel shipped to United Nuclear since 1976 is nearly 400 kgs of uraniun contninir a best esti= ate of about 4 millicuries of CS-137 and SR-90, the mjority of the sterial was shipped in 1980.

We understand that fission products were first detected prior to 1980.

As pointed out in Mr. Erickscn's me:ornnehm, critical fuel naterials have i

been handled both within the Naval Reactors cceplex and GRO as unirradiated in accordance with DOE policy which provides that for recovery purposes, 810304015/

Exhibit 3.

Continued l

(Page 2 of 6) i Mr. Boyce H. Grier 2-Nownbar 13, 1980 i

i slightly irradiated (less than 100 millim1/bour on contact) scrap can be considered as unirradiated. Accordingly, the scrap declarations to CBD and the scrap descriptions in the acovery contracts did not always in_ dicate i

that the material had been irradiated. However, almost all the material delivered to UNC in 1980 was clearly identified as having been used in critical amammhlies. None of the material delivered to UNC during 1978 l

or 1979 was described as being critical naasehly fuel.

'Ibe personnel directly associated with the enriched uranim recovery i

- contracting efforts here in Oak Ridge were not aware of the fact that the UNC license did not allow the proc MT of material containi5 microcurie quantities of fission products. DOE's contracts with UNC required the con-tractor to have all necessary licenses to possess and process the sterial.

Most parties to enriched uranium recovery efforts are aware of the less than 100 millim tigosbcld and routinely treat this material as unirradiated.

i As indicated in your menorandum, there may have been other materials recovered 3

at UNC which had been used in critical experiments. We have identified some l

potential candidates based on scrap descriptions available to us. We will j

make inquiries to the responsible DOE offices and advise you of our findings.

t 4

I As you probably know, this incident is the subject of a recent Freedom of 1

Information request frm the Concerned Citizens of Rhode Island. This memorandun and enclosure will serve as the bulk of the response to this ICIA 1

inquiry.

i If you need further information or nore details on this informatica do not 4

besitate to contact us.

Inquiries may be directed to Malcolm 'Ibetsen of 3

this office (ETS Telephone 626-0754).

i i

Sincerely, l

i h1C/ W 6

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,/

R. J. Hart l

MS:312-MRT Manageri I

i

Enclosure:

Memo, Erickson to Hart, j

dated 9/29/80 cc:

E. L. Keller, MS-35, w/ encl.

J. L. Foutch, CC-10, w/ encl.

B. M. Erickson, SNR, w/ enc 1.

C. K. Gaddis, PNR, w/ encl.

W. P. Engel, NR, w/ encl.

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Exhibit 3.

Continued C-Y 4

j (Page 3 of 6)

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T ?j Department of Energy g[/9 Schenectady Naval Reactors Office M:BME Post Office Box 1069

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Schenectady, New York 12301 SEP 2915M

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$NS W,1 R. J. Hart, Manager 8903 4;g Oak Ridge Operations Office

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NAVAL REACTORS URANIUM SCRAP w.

e.=.v.

50 Attached is a letter received from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

~.Tf3 requesting information concerning KAPL scrap fuel material shipped to the United Nuclear plant at Wood River Junction, Rhode Island.

The specific

" ~~9 information requested concerned scrap fuel material from low power critical Vi assemblies shipped from KAPL to Oak Ridge or directly from KAPL for. recovery

.W J at the NRC-licensed Wood River Junction facility.

The NRC letter is the F~5 first notification to SNR that Wood River Junction was not licensed to handle fuel material slightly irradiated in low power critical assemblies after T.h July 1976.

3 l@C Since Oak Ridge contracted with Wood River Junction for all scrap declared

.f by KAPL (and the Bettis Laboratory (BAPL)) pursuant to DOE Appendix 7452, 4

the necessary information for KAPL/BAPL material is being forwarded herewith

$s.~4 32

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for Oak Ridge to respond to NRC.

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In accordance with DOE procedures, scrap nuclear material from the NR program Q~. )

has been reported to the Oak Ridge Central Scrap Management Office (OR-CSM0)

.c_ca for evaluction and disposition.

All materials identified to Oak Ridae and F

subsaquently shipped to Wood River Junction, as directed by(Oak Ridge, met the criteria of either unirradiated or slightly irradiated radiation level

..;-A-less than 100 millirem per hour on contact) scrap material as defined by ERDA Appendix 7452.

It should be noted that Appendix 7452 states that for recovery p e.

purposes, slightly irradiated scrap can be considered as unirradiated scrap if the radiation levels are less than 100 millirem per hour on contact.

3.3 A review of the records by SNR and PNR indicate NR program scrap nuclear 1

material was shipped to Wood River Junction from both KAPL and Bettis in M

accordance with disposition instructions from OR-CSM0 between December 1964 m

and April 1980.

Table 1 contains a summary of the material shipped.

All

..i material shipped met the criteria of either unirradiated or slightly irradiated

_i scrap material as defined by ERDA Appendix 7452.

In order to assist in fully J,

evaluating the amount of fission products in liquid wastes from UNC recovery operation, the records were reviewed to determine the maximum total amounts e

A of fission products that could have been present in NR program scrap material.

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Exhibit 3.

Continued d.is (Page 4 of 6)

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.E R. J. Hart, Oak Ridge SEP 291930 j

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}.C The slightly irradiated uranium listed in column 2 of Table 1 was used in KAPL critical facilities in various experiments involving operating power levels up to two watts per kilogram.

The integrated power history was calcu-

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lated to be approximately 50 watt hours per kilogram with a conservative upper limit of 250 watt hours per kilogram.

The slightly irradiated uranium

6ks listed in column 4 of Table 1 was used in Bettis critical facilities.

For the

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'Bettis material, an upper limit for the integrated power history was deter-

' ri mined to be 102 watt hours per kilogram. As the NRC letter requested, the specific information on the slightly irradiated KAPL fuel shipped since 1976 are listed in Table 2.

For completeness, Bettis fuel shipped since 1976 is

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2?'

also included.

't is estimated that the Sr-90 content in scrap nuclear material shipped to Wood River since 1964 was 'approximately five millicuries with a calcu-lated upper limit of 18 millicuries.

The Cs-137 levels would be about the same.

I trust the above information and similar information from other facilities that have shipped scrap material to Wood River Junction will pennit a K._

response to the NRC.

+

In view of the situation identified in the NRC letter, I believe it appropriate to raise the question with you of how OR-CSM0 plans to handle the recovery of NR program scrap in the future. Mr. W. L. Keller's memorandum of December 27,

'4 1979 pointed out that UNC was phasing out their uranium recovery operation

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and that a considerable backlog of declared sc ap is expected to accumulate before adequate DOE in-house recovery capabi'.ities can be established.

I assume that since Wood River Junction no longer will receive uranium scrap am for recovery, and since presently no other facility has been designated to recover uranium scrap, that uranium scrap to be recovered in the future would be shipped to an Oak Ridge-designated location for storage pending establish-V"?

ment of a recovery facility.

I would appreciate being provided with a copy T.

of any correspondence between Oak Ridge, NRC, and others concerning SNM from NR program scrap declarations processed at Wood River Junction.

o i

'1 - -

'g B. M. Erickson Manager Attachments:/

As stated FN

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cc:

W. P. Engel, NR i

C. K. Gaddis, PNR 0.,

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• Exhibit 3.

Continued (Pa'ge 5 of 6) 8903 TABLE 1 REVIEW OF PATERIAL SHIPP D TO UNC WOOD RIVER FACILITY (FBY)

During the period December 1964 to April 1980 a total of approximately 1579 kilograms of 6235scrapwasshippedfromKAPLandBAPLtoUnitedNuclearCorporation,WoodRive[,RI, facility. The material shipped consisted of fuel and element sections, critical assemoiy fuel, and oxidized material. The critical. assembly fuel amounts to 797,065 grams U235 which was slightly irradiated, the balance, 781,499 grams U235, was used in various core development programs and was not irradiated.

The following tabulation is a breakdown for KAPL and BAPL by year and quantity shipped.

This information was obtained from the Nuclear Material Transaction Reports (DOE 741 form) issued since 1964.

(Orams U235)

KAPL P. A P L Cal. 1 Col. 2 Col. 3 Col. 4 Col. 5 Col. 6 Col. 7 Critical Development.

Crit i,ca l Development Uener Lir.it for Sr oO Contant Year Facility Fuel Facility Fuel KAPL Fuel BAPL Fuel Fuel (Not Irradiated 1 Fuel (Nat Irradiated)

(millicuries)

(millicuries) 1964 30742 1955 --

1966 1261 1967 68173 55790 1.8 -

196S 68238 96343 1%9 --

1970

-o- --

1971 210654 1972 98067 17639 145920 18597 2.6 -

2.1 1973 17894 45566 606 2447 0.5

< 0.1 1974 38095 35781 1020 0.5 1975 70505 37044 8772 0.5 1976 5573 31075 1977 17838 4868 1978 20352 42840 12474 26 0.6 0.2 1979 486 51 78 9176 4 o.1 0.1 1980 351092 8431

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-0 9.4 TOTAL 556064 375693 241001 4058o6 IT"Y' F

CRA?'.S U2 35 TOTAL KAPL SHIF;ENIS 931757 TOTAL BAPL SHIFtEMTS 646807 TOTAL KAPL/SAPL CRITICAL FACILITY FUEL 797065 l

TOTAL KAPL/BAPL DEVEIDPPENT FUEL 781499 l

_ =... -

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Exhibit 3.

Continued

..J TABLE 2 (Page 6 of 6) 8903 _,+

CRITICAL FACILITY MATERIAL SHIPPED TO UNC WOOD Kt71:R SINCE JA':LARY 19764

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---

KAPL----

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i Sr-90 CONTENT (millicur OAK RIDGE SCRAP DECIARATIO!I IWR HISTORY DOE 741 NIRIBER LOT flLiiBER NUttBER CRAt:S LT235 DATE SHIPPED (Kw-llrs )

BEST ESTIttAIT UPPER I.lMIT i

KZA-F BY-2 9 136D StTR 418 10675 12/12/78 0.6 0.06 0.3 KZA-FBY-30 136G SUR 414 4486 12/12/78 0.2 0.02 0.1 l

i KZA-FBY-32 13611 SNR 415(REV) 5191 12/01/78 0.3 0.03 0.2 i

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137B SNR 421 496 07/24/79

<,0.1 4 0.01 40.1 i

KZA-FBY-34 I

KZ A-FBY-35

! 139C.

SNR 429 75666 01/14/80 4.1 0.41 2.0 t

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KZA-FBY-37 139C S R 429 88533 03/03/80 4.8 0.48

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2.4 KZA-FBY-38 139D SNR 430 5783 03/03/80 0.3 0.03 0.2 S

i KZA-FBY-39 139D S!!R 430

'22878 03/12/80 1.2 0.12 0.6 i;

KZA-FBY-41 l

139D SNR 430,431 158212 04/01/80 8.5 0.85 J,.

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BAPL----

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f PZA-FZB-24(I) 137C HESE 283 12474 12/78

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PZA-FZB-2 5 (2) 139F llESE 286 9176

.06/79

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fio irradiated fuel was shipped in 1976 or 1977.

l (1)

PZA-FZB scrap material shipped f rom BAPL to Oak Ridgi: for storage, subsequently shipped to i

UNC, Wood River on DOE 741 FZB-FBY-60. (on 7-23-79)

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(2)

PZA-FZB scrap material shipped from BAPL to Oak Ridge for storage, subsequently shipped to UNC, Wood Rive r on DOE 741 FZB-FBY-65. (on 2-26-80) i g

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