ML20033C559

Responds to Inquiries Re L&E Stouter Expressing Concern for Proposed Rules 10CFR30,32,70 & 150 Re Exemption of Smelted Alloys from Regulations

ML20033C559
Person / Time
Issue date:	11/20/1981
From:	Kammerer C NRC COMMISSION (OCM)
To:	Byrd H, Whitehurst G HOUSE OF REP., SENATE
References
FRN-45FR70874, RULE-PR-150, RULE-PR-30, RULE-PR-32, RULE-PR-70 45FR70874, NUDOCS 8112030420
Download: ML20033C559 (8)

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The Honorable G. William Whitehurst y

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United States House of Representatives ISERVICE m40. K. 70'.r%CH Washington, D.C. 40515 gm --mn:

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Dear Congressman Whitehurst:

s:: s :a 1.u.oYS The following infonnation is provided in response to your inquiry of October i

Ei,1931 concerning your constituents Leland and Eileen Stouter, and their inte#s.t in the proposed amendments to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

' fegulations to exempt. from regulations smeltcd alloys containing residual contamination of certain radioactive materials.

7 fa Tae rulemaking iri question,was originally undertaken by the Comission at the request'bf the Department of Energy and pursuani to a 1974 amendment (P.L.

3-377) to the Atomic' Erargy Act (AEA) of 1954.

The rulemaking would pennit c

the recycling of scrap metal from discarded equipment at DOE's uranium enrichment plants.

This scrap metal is sometimes contaminated with small amounts of byproduct'or special nuclear material resulting from the enrichment r

i' l process. This contaminatioh cannot practically be removed but is considered too insignificant to constitute a radiation health or safety problem.

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Until Congress amended the AEA in 1974, it was necessary for the Comission to issue a specific license for the possession of this type of radioactive

" mate?ial, no matter how s.nall the quantity.

In amending th2 Act, Congress

- gave/the Commission the authority to exempt minute quantities of special l

pclear materia.1 from its licensing requireinents if it finds that a licensing l

- exenption "wiM not constitute an unreasonable risk to the common defense and

-security and to the health and safety of the public."

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We would like to emphasize that under the proposed amendments persons who m/

smelt scrap contaminated with technetium-99 or low-enriched uranium or who are the,first transferors of such smelted alloy would not be exempt from licensing requirements'.

Such persons would be under license and would be required to submit a description of-the decontamination and smelting procedures and sampling and analytical procedures to be used.

This would assure that the smelted alloys subsequently to be used under the exemption meet the proposed l

maximum contamination limits.

p It also should be noted that the scope of the exemption is narrow pennitting j/i only the technetium-99 and low-enriched uranium as the contaminants.

Contami A g' nants such as plutonium, high-enriched uranium or other transuranics are not IE included in the exemption. The Tc-99 and low-enriched uranium would be minore M

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constituents (less than 5 parts per million (ppm) and 17.5 ppm, respectively) of representativt. samples of smelted alloys.

The resulting levels of contamination would be at or below those of many products commonly in use which contain traces of unenriched uranium. For example, most building materials contain some traces of uranium (granite, 4.7 ppm; ceinent, 3.4 ppm; by-product gypsum,13.7 ppm). Dental porcelain, used in 8112030420 811120 PDR PR 1

l 30 45FR70874 PDR L

r NOV 1 S 19 81 making false teeth, has been found to contain from 10 to 990 ppm uranium. The NRC upper limit for unimportant quantities of unenriched uraniun is 500 ppm.

There is essentially no difference in the nature of the radioactivity emitted from this unenriched uranium and the low-enriched uranium being considered for exemption.

The NRC staff has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in support of the proposed rule. Without the exemption, thousands of tons 'of government-owned nickel, copper, iron and steel scrap would have to be

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disposed of as radioactive waste at substantial cost to the taxpayers.

If exempted, this metal could be smelted down and resold for in excess of $40 million.

Further, energy savings from recycle have been estimated at the equivalent of about 170,000 barrels of crude oil or 30,000 Mg of coal.

By comparison with these benefits, the risk of cancer from release and unrestricted use of the entire inventory of smelted alloy is estimated to be considerably less than one. This means that it is highly unlikely that the recycled alloy would cause even one cancer in one person in the total U.S.

population.

Notice of the proposed rule was made in the Federal Register and the press on October 27, 1980. The comment period expired December 11,1980. Over 3,300 public comments were received.

Canments will be reviewed and addressed in the Final EIS before any decision is made by the Commission on promulgation of a final rule.

We hope this reply is responsive to the concerns of your constituents. Should further information on the subject be required, plese contact my office.

I Sincere me m o rifon kammerer, Director Office of Congressional Affairs i

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205M (so4) =4i-suo MILrtAn v INSTALLATIONS AND

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81 NOV 20 P233 vt m e.-4=c PERM ANENT SELEM COMMITTEC crFCs NEa ON aNTELLIGENCC suecome umsts'

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0 0.)4 4 1313 aRANCH m a:Hr u nov'es U.S. DELEG ATE TO orres morm NORTH ATLANTIC ASSEMBLY October 21, 1981 Mr. Carlton Kammerer, Director Office of Congressional Affairs Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1717 H Street, NW Washington, D.

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Dear Mr. Kammerer:

I am attaching a copy of a letter which I received from Mr. and Mrs. Lelind Stouter, 1156 Janaf Place, Norfolk, Virginia 23502, regarding a croposal by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to li?~- ;estric-tions on the reuse of radioactive metals.

I would appreciate it very much if you would provide me with a full report on this matter.

Thank you.

Sincerely, hh&$

A'Y G.

WILLIAM WHITEHURST GWW:RL Attachment 10/22...To OCA for Direct Reply... Suspense: Nov 9..Cpy to: Docket. 81-2225

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1 1156 Janaf Place Norfolk, Virginia 23502 October 18, 1981 The Honorable C. William Whitehurst U. S. House of Representatives k*ashington, D. C. 20515 Sir:

According to Critical Mass Enerty Journal fr April, 1981, "...for the last 10 years-the federal goverraent has been e cumulating 31,000 tons of radioactive scrap metal as a byproduct cf processing uranium for co=mercial reactors and weapons." As you know, the disposing of all this radioactive vaste is an imnense problem.

The solution proposed by the Nue_aar Regulatory Commission is unbeliev-able.. It plans to lift restrictions on re-using radioactove iron,. nickel, copper and aluminum...which would allow commercial scrap dealers to buy the metals and sell them to firms that would use tnem in consumer and industrin1 products.

Cnce the p.an goes into effect, all of us vill be subjected to lov levels of radiation ever/ moment of every day, unless we test everything coming int.o our homes with a Geiger counter.

How do you fee] about installing permanent water pipes in your home which vill release radiation centinually into your.ater supply? How do you feel about cooking utensils which are centinut.11y emitting radiation...or buying food in cans made of radioactive materials?

Personally, the whole proCspect is very frightening.

Please take what-ever action is necessary to prevent NRC's proposed solution from beccming a fact..

We would appreciate hearing from you en this matter.

Verf truly yours, N(( h nf Leland and Eileen Stouter

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Dear Senator Byrd:

The following information is provided in response to your inquiry of October 23, 1981 concerning your constituents Leland and Eileen Stouter, and their interest in the proposed amendments to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations to exempt. from regulations smelted alloys containing residual contamination of certain radioactive materials.

- The rulemaking in question was originally undertaken by the Comission at the request-of the Depart 2nent of Energy and pursuant to a 1974 amendment (P.L.93-377) to the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) cf 1954.

The rulemaking would pennit the recycling of scrap metal from discarded equipment at DOE's uranium enrichment plants.

This scrap metal is sometimes contaminated with small amounts of byproduct or special nuclear material.resulting from the enrichment process.

This contamination cannot practically be removed but is considered too insignificant to constitute a radiation health or safety problem.

Until Congress amended the AEA in 1974, it was necessary for the Comission to issue a specific license for the possession of this type of radioactive material, no matter how small the quantity.

In amending the Act, ' Congress gave the Commission the authority to exempt minute quantities of special nuclear material from its licensing requirements if it finds that a licensing exemption "will not constitute an unreasonable risk to the common defense and security and to the health and safety of the public."

We would like to emphasize that under the proposed amendments pe sons who smelt scrap contaminated with technetium-99 or low-enriched uranium or who are the first transferors of such smelted alloy would not be exempt from licensing requirements.

Such persons would be under license and would be required to submit a description of the decontamination and smelting procedures and sampling and analytical procedures to be used.

This would assure that the smelted alloys subsequently to be used under the exemption meet the proposed maximuin contamination limits.

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It also should be noted that the scope of the exemption is narrow pennitting I.

only the technetium-99 and low-enriched uranium as the contaminants.

Contami Aob nants such as plutonium, high-enriched uranium or other transuranics are not M

1. @s included in the exemption.

The Tc-99 and low-enriched uranium would be minor constituents (less than 5 parts per million (ppm) and 17.5 ppm, respectively) of representative samples of smelted alloys.

The resulting levels of contamination would be at or below those of many products commonly in use which contain traces of unenriched uranium. For example, most building materials contain some traces of uranium (granite, 4.7 ppm; cement, 3.4 ppm; by-product gypsum,13.7 ppm). Dental porcelain, used in g

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o NOV 19 1981 making false teeth, has been found to contain from 10 to 990 ppm uranium. The NRC upper limit for unimportant quantities of unenriched uraniun is 500 ppm.

There is essentially no difference in the nature of the radioactivity emitted from this unenriched uranium and the low-enriched uranium being considered for exemption.

The NRC staff has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in support of the proposed rule. Without the exemption, thousands of tons of government-owned nickel, copper, iron and steel scrap would have to be disposed of as radioactive waste at substantial cost to the taxpayers.

If exempted, this metal could be smelted down and resold for in excess of $40 million.

Further, energy savings from recycle have been estimated at the equivalent of about 170,000 barrels of crude oil or 30,000 Mg of coal.

By comparison with these benefits, the risk of cancer from release and unrestricted use of the entire inventory of smelted alloy is estimated to be considerably less than one.

This means that it is highly unlikely that the recycled alloy would cause even one cancer in one person in the total U.S.

population.

Notice of the proposed rule was made in the Federal Register and the press on October 27, 1980.

The coment period expired December 11, 1980. Over 3,300 public comments were received.

Comments will be reviewed and addressed in the Final EIS before any decision is made by the Comission on promulgation of a final rule.

We hope this reply is responsive to the concerns of your constituents. Should further infomation on the subject be required, plese contact,

office.

Sincerelt,

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rltdn hmmerer,/WA D

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Director ffice of Congressional Affairs I

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'GNRC October 18, 1981

'81 NOV 20 P2:12 The Honorable Harry F. Byrd, Jr.

?.F SECRETARY United States Senate 2.2TmG & SERVICE Washington, D. C. 20510 BRANCH Sirr According to Critical Mass Enerav Journal for April, 1981,

"...for the last 10 years the federal government has been accumulating 31,000 tons of radioactive scrap > metal as a byproduct of processing uranium for commercial reactors and weapons." As you know, the disposing of all this radioactive vaste is an immense problem.

The solution proposed by the Nuclear Regulatory Co= mission is unbeliev-able.

It plans to lift restrictions on re-using radioactive iron, nickel, copper and aluminum...which would allow commercial ecrap-dealers to buy the metals and sell them to firms that would uso them in consumer and industrial products. Once the plan goes into effect, all of us vill be subjected to lov levels of radiation every mcnent of every day, unless we test everything caming into our homes with a Geiger counter.

How do you feel about installing permanent water pipes in your home which vill release radiation continually into your water supply? Ecv do you feel about cooking utensils which are continually emitting radiation...or buying food in cans.made of radioactive materials?

Personally, the whole prospect is very frightenirig. Please take what-ever action is necessary to prevent NRC's proposed solution from becoming a-fact..

We would appreciate hearing from you.on this matter.

Very truly yours, 0$

Leland and Eileen Stouter