ML20033H194

Trip Rept of Participation in State of Nc Agreement State Program Review on 900130-31.Two Areas for Improvement Include,Resources & Staffing & Establishment of Importance of Regulatory Process in Low Level Waste Mgt Program

ML20033H194
Person / Time
Issue date:	02/22/1990
From:	Jack Parrott NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
To:	Surmeier J NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
References
REF-WM-3 NUDOCS 9004180352
Download: ML20033H194 (7)

Text

{{#Wiki_filter:s_ L _ -John J,:Surm312r,LChiOf e . MEMORANDUM FORT. s Technical Bronch Divisiont of: Low-Level Waste Manegement 'and Decommissioning,.NMSS gg g THRU:

R. John Starmer, Section Leader Technical Branch Division of Low-Level Waste Management and Decommissioning, NMSS FROM:

Jack D. Parrott, Hydrogeologist Technical Branch-Division of Low-Level Waste Management ~-and Decommissioning, NMSS

SUBJECT:

TRIP REPORT.ON - PARTICIPATION IN NORTH CAROLINA ' AGREEMENT STATE PROGRAM REVIEW,--JANUARY 30N;, 1990 -l These observationsfare based'on the NRC'LLWM staff visit to the i North Carolina Division of Radiation Protection ' ~ (N. C. ' DRP) on '} January 30--and 31, 1990, which< Jim'Shaffner, John Starmer, Lynn 'Deering and I participated in. There appear to be - two major j opportunities for = improvement within the N.C. DRP LLW licensing program at this time: (1) resources and staffing; and (2) establishment of the importance of'the regulatory ~ process;in the 4 overall LLW management. program. .A. detailed trip report - is enclosed. If you have any questions about the enclosed information, or'any aspect of our review,-please see John Starmer or me. l l d Signed BF l' Jack D rrott, Hydrogeologist Technicel Branch Division of Low-Level Waste Management-and Decommissioning, NMSS

Enclosure:

Trip Report-cc: J. Shaffner N O 7. 3f l Distribution:,C.entral: Files XW LLTB r/f NMSS r/f JSurmeier JStarmer RBangart. JGreeves PLohaus . j i RBoyle' JParrott LDeering MThaggard ^ i PDR Yes:/ >( / 7R No:/ / Reason: Proprietary / / or'CF Only / /- l ACNW Yes:/ / No:/ W SUBJECT ABSTRACT: Trip Report - Review of N.C. Agreement-State . Program =b_

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/ /90 / /90 I 9004180352 900222 I PDR WASTE

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~ SITING SECTION' TRIP REPORT REVIEW OF NORTH CAROLINA AGREEMENT STATE PROGRAM LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE REGULATORY PROGRAM

Participants:

Jim Shaffner, Senior. Project. Manager, Operations-Branch, John-Starmer, Section Leader, Technical Branch,' Lynn Deering, Hydrogeologist, Technical Branch, Jack D. Parrott, Hydrogeologist,-Technical Branch Introduction for improvement .l There appear to be two major opportunities within the North Carolina Department of Radiation Protection (N.C. DRP) LLW licensing program at this time: (1) resources. and staffing; and (2) establishment. of the 'importance of the regulatory process'in the overall LLW management program. t Resource and Staffina Problems c The.most obvious--problems with the DRP's'LLW program at this point are lack-of resources and ' proper-staffing. . Enclosure'l-diagramc the current hierarchy.of the DRP. Three people have been assigned LLW licensing ruponsibilities'. Mr. Dick Denise_is the l only individual solely; dedicated to the licensing of the LLW i facility at the present time. Mr. Denise _is the' Project Manager L for the' licensing process. The other two-people identified, Mr. David Lee and Mr. Andy Barron, are assigned to work on the LLW l repository licensing but'as can'be seen from the~ diagram they-are not truly supervised by Mr. Denise and have-other responsibilities. To the DRT's credit they are currently trying to fill the three newly created but vacant positions below Mr.--Denise. 'These:three positions are dedicated solely to the LLW~ licensing process.- L_ The DRP has:also set up a Coordination Task. Force (Enclosure

2) to gather the technical expertise available 'within. the state government for the review of the. LLW license application.

The members of this task force appear to be qualified to perform the task at hand given proper training.and have so far been involved only with the regulatory side.-of site selection and are therefore free from any conflict-of-interest. However, as can be~seen from the membership list, most of these people work for other arms of the state government and their ability to be available to contribute to the review of the LLW license application when needed has not been clearly established. The fact that resources cannot be allocated effectively at the present time was borne out-by the inability of the LLW project ~ manager (Mr. Denise) to bring together the technical _ support people from within and without the DRP to talk with the NRC people present for the visit even when it became apparent to him that this was a valuable opportunity to exchange technical information. The DRP personnel that we did meet-with were very interested in learning what we knew about performance assessment, but because of the staff constraints not much in the way of~ technology transfer occurred. 1 I

4 The Diviu' 'f Fadiation Protection seemed to be aware of their - resource una staffing problems, but welcomed'the input of the NRC r to help them convince their management of the increasing urgency of the problem. Lack of Active ParticiDation in LLW Site Devel'ooment Process Another apparent problem with-the N.C. LLW licensing program-is-illustrated by a: time'line (Enclosure 3) recently prepared-by the contractor developing the facility, Chem-Nuclear-Systems,. Inc. (CNSI). In it the license-review time, identified as " Licensing Follow-up", has been condensed to'about a 7 ' month ' period due to ~ slippage-in the. development of the project by CNSI and the N.C. LLW l Authority.- NRC staff present at_the state visit recommended-a l longer time 1 frame be given to the license review, based' on,NRC l staff projections. Therfact that the regulatory process is being condensed suggests-that CNSI and the N.C.. LLW Authority may be driving the. development ' process at the expense of a thorough r regulatory review. NRC staff suggested that the DRP take-a more active role establishing the regulatory responsibility and need for time and resources to. carry.it-out. The N.C. LLW Authority and.'CNSI's thinking at this-timeDis that they will submit their license application piece-by-piece to the DRP as they finish -it.' They propose to do this to initiate the review process before all of the work is completed and make more effective use of the-limited amount of time left between now and the issuance of the facility license. The utility of this approach. was questioned by the NRC, and the DRP was counsell3d to be wary of such an approach. + Exit Meetina At the end of the visit NRC and DRP staff held an exit meeting with Edythe M. McKinney the Assistant Secretary of the N.C. 1 Department of Environnent, Health and Natural Resources. She is the person who approves the budget and staffing: requests from the DRP. The budgat request deadline for next year coincided with the NRC visit and our comments about the staffing and resource needs of the DRP were made directly to her by.DRP~ staff during this exit meeting. She was responsive to what the NRC and:DRP staffs had to say. Conclusion There should be some response.from the State of North Carolina. to the NRC in regard to the observations and suggestions mentioned above. It was apparent to the LLWM staff that the-NRC is likely to receive technical assistance requests from the N.C. DRP-concerning the technical aspects of the LLW.licensingi review process. These should be accommodated by the NRC as staffing requirements permit. Additionally now that a. working relationship has been established between NRC LLW technical personnel and N.C. DRP LLW technical personnel there can be a dialogue between the two in order to accommodate the free flow of information. i 2 I o l

l .-) i l ( _ DEMRTIEttT OF ENVit0WEstf, NEAT.12, & MAIUNAI. Rt.50.RES BIVIS!ON 01~ luelAIIC3190f t CTi(Ni 01/23/90 l* ,j i . j l Secretary IV l Shackleford, Wands .'j l i-Radiation Protection Services m icf 17002, Cr. 59 I Brown, Dayne 1 LLh Pn? ir00i, Gr. si g Environmentet Engineer il p i.eaith Persicist Lee, Osvid i Denise, (Dick) Radiaties Protection Services Deputy aief

• 17018, Gr. 72 17021, cr. 75 Fry, (net) l 17500, cr. 78 Clerk V *

.l Napowsa, (Pat) l 17505, Cr. 61 Erwironmental Engineer VACANT Rad. Emergency Coordinator

• 17022, Gr. 73 James, Johmy 17506, Cr. 72 Environmental Engineer "A04ff 1702:,

m. 73 Clerk Typist III VACANT 17024, Gr. 57 lluclear Facilities and X-Ray Centrol Section Environmentat Surveittance Radioactive Materials section Section l

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• represents fee rapported positions Alt employees for the Division of Radiatim Protection can be reached at 701 Barbour Drive, Raleigh, North Carolina 733-4283.

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12#9h/SP, DEMRIBENY W ERIWSOMEiff, IEAt.TW, & tenttent aFemfTt DIVISION OF RADIAf10M PEDIECigen anstsae FACILITIES & EfftISCUBERITAL AADIAINE SMEILIABE Mfm ': Y. . I Erurirernmeritat Radiatiert Sagserviser . Clerk Typist III Fong, (Felix) Pope, Susari 17008, Gr. 75 17006, Gr. 57 I I l l 4 Erwironmental Rad. Spec. Erwironmental Red. Spec. Erwironmentot Red. Tech. Erwiremental Rad. fedi. Duse4ury, (Date) Serren, (Andy) llance, Devid .17010, Gr. 67-VACAsti 17004, Gr 72 17020, Gr. 72 17007, Gr. 67 ~ d i i I i ~ t; .1 l

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ENCLOSURE 2 COGIDINhTIGi TMIK PGu K3 IJGNSDG AIO ~'fRETfDG h A IN-IEVEL RAD ([QhCf1VE MhSTE DISICSAL FACIIITY 1i Mabemhip e i 1.-Dayne H. Brown, Director 733-4283 Division of Radiation Tm tection Dept. of-Envirciaisit, -Health,. & Natural Resources IO Box 27687 Raleigh, NC 27611-7687 C

2. Ed Burt 733-2423 Geological Survey Section

~ ivision of Iand Resourms D l -- Dept. of Envitu. it, Health, & Natural Resources Archdale Building, 5th Floor, Rom 592

3. John R. Dorney 733-5083 Water Quality Section-Division of Envitu..ud.al Management Dept. of Envisu iest, Health, & Natural Resources Archdale Building, t>th Floor, Rom 6109 l

L

4. Russell D. Hageman

/ 733-3340 L Air Quality Section Division of Invironmental Mar.agement Dept. of Envirunment, Health, & Hatural Resources Arrhdale Building, 8th Floor, Rom 825-N -

5. William C. Jeter

' 733-3221 Groundwater Section Division of Enviiunistutl Management Dept. of Environment, Health, &' Natural Resources Archdale B2ilding, 8th Floor, Room 825-B

6. William L. Meyer.

733-4995 Division of Solid Waste Vanagement Dept. of Envire.uisit, Health, & Natural Resourcra 401'Oberlin Road

7. Dr. Charles Gregory Smith 733-3410 L

I:nviteisterutl Epidemiology Section Division of Epidemiology i _ Dept. of. Environment, Health, & Natural Resources .I Cooper. BuildirxJ, 4th Floor, Rom 4123-2 4 ) t Updated Sept. 1989-q 4 m y-4, -w ,,- +.- e

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• NORTH CAROLINA LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL FACluTY 0

uCuAR PROJECTMASTER SCHEDULE FOR PHASE 1 O*C#' 0 : .e<.,.. en2 suor se . I se et et et et et et et - et se se. AIL OCT JMe APR JUL OCT JAff .APR AIL oCE ' JRfd a e se SE to se et et - se et er: ~ TASK ACTfWTIES START Pseelt am0ET* i 4 5 e Reisce manag-aas and Otissly Assurance at Reisistennapsman 7ases tantal agen,gge - 37.3 A ^ 8 A e2 (heur Asamous asses tastes 4teses to o e i 1 Seeseescaenandcaeracterlamen l A. i 't.1 SerSelseson 7 ment taptm 7 0,38e 14 12 SteQuasutzseen Utm M N 39.0 g g g 2 - Ptets taustementredtifonnagon 2.1 FasemideShenSelseson Ntm 1te m WFAB to g 12 DesipmendSteeSescsos timee $2515 mR4ee 44 q 23 mesumeSnectneesmiusewSeescson inn misse 2Aspes st$ p 14 PalovedSeeW angel tastet im to ll t l 3. she-spasms W Deelen -l it AembdeseomandtisionsEnginestie 7 Ages 120128.SEAse 14 .................t-im, %............ yy y g ~ 33 Wtentate ' Stse eStel 3r3,5 - 1A dk f' I 14 Saschissem geset tsplet ' attJeg 13 4 5-comanyetunene 7mmes stes suas a2 8" ans-spadas -a r===* Plan Utme Sitet sen,ana 1.4 l j' s a s sus.spedesapassamerian 7ases slet 2tt.see 1A a.

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