ML20055D414
| ML20055D414 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/10/1987 |
| From: | Bell M NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | Browning R NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20055D365 | List:
|
| References | |
| FOIA-TUYL90-36 NUDOCS 9007060280 | |
| Download: ML20055D414 (6) | |
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MEMORANDUM FOR:
Robert E. Browning Director Division of Waste Management FROM:
Michael J. Bell, Deputy Director Division of Waste Management
SUBJECT:
SITE VISIT TO FALLS CITY, TEXAS - TITLE I UMTRA AND CONOCO, CONQUISTA SITE MARCH 13, 1987 On March 13, 1987 following a meeting in San Antonio on HLW QA, I had the opportunity to visit the Falls City. Texas, UMTRCA Title I, site and the Conoco, Conquista UMTRCA Title 11 site.
At the Falls City site 1.was accompanied by William N. Taber of Jacobs-Weston, the site manager, and Warren Snpil of the Bureau of Radiation Control of the Texas Department of Health.
Plr. Snell also accompanied me to the Conoco site, where we met with Claude Olenick, the project manager.
There are six stabilized piles and one as yet uncovered tailings pond on the Falls City site.
A plan view of the site is enclosed.
Compared to sites I visited in Wyoming in July 1984, this site is relatively close to human habitation and wet.
Tailings pile No. 3 has been revegetated and cattle were grazing on the slopes and at the foot of the pile.
A freshly plowed field is present in the area between pile No. 3 and State Route 1344.
I observed standing water in the fields adjacent to the site, and several ponds that I
collect surface runoff are present on the site.
Mr. Snell informed me that the state has sampled these ponds and has found no evidence of contamination from the tailings.
A wet weather stream flows between pile Nos. 7 and 1.
The slopes of all of the existing piles are relatively steep in some cases 1 to 1.
We Evidence of erosion of the slopes was present in a number of locations.
drove along the edge of pile Nos. 2 and 7 on State Route 1344 and observed a small area where the slope cover material had sloughed away and tailings appeared to be exposed (judged by us to be tailings due to yellow color).
The State is requiring Solution Engineering, Inc., the former licensee, to cover and revegetate certain areas.
Heavy earth moving equipment was present on the site, but work was not in progress because it was too wet at the time of my visit for such equipment to operate.
At the Conquista site the mill is no longer. ) operation, most of the mill l
l buildings have been torn down, and the area revegetated.
Approximately 60% of the tailings pond has been covered, while the remainder is still in the process of drying and being covered.
One activity of interest at this site involves acceptance for disposal by Conoco of wastes contaminated with uranium and thorium and their decay products.
The wastes come from solution mining licensees and rare earth processors within Texas. These materials are received packaged in 55 gallon steel drums or in some cases as unpackaged contaminated materials (e.g., plastic pipe) and are buried in the cover material for the tailings. These buried materials will eventually be covered with a radon barrier and a protective cover as part of long-term stabilization of the pile.
One of the factors that will need to be taken into account in the site 9007060200 90051S PDR FDIA l
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stabilization plan is the potential for corrosion and collapse of these buried wastes.
Expc*ience at shallow land burial sites for commercial low-level wastes indicates that such consolidation of the pile could potentially occur and disrupt the radon barrier and protective cover.
Since burial of wastes within a tailings pile is practiced at other mills and has on occasion been suggested for disposal of low-level wastes, the technical staff of the Division of Low-level Waste and Decommissioning should maintain awareness of the Conquista experience with this practice.
Michael J. Bell, Deputy Director Division of Waste Management
Enclosure:
As stated cc:
W.N. Taber, Jacobs Engineering W. Snell, Texas Dept. of Health 4
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' PO CFFICIAL CONCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION RI. CORD h[
6 MEMORANDUM FOR:
Robert E. Browning, Director
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Division of Waste Management e-4 Michael J. Bell, Deputy Director j
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FROM:
Division of Waste Management SITE VISIT TO FALLS CITY, TEXAS - TITLE I UMTRA
SUBJECT:
AND CONOCO, CONQUISTA SITE MARCH 13, 198.7 DATE:
April 10, 1987 DISTRIBUTION WM/SF
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STATE, LOCAL A!1D INDI Ali TRIBE PROGRAl>S WEEl'.LY HIGHLIGHTS
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March 31, 1909
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Big Rock Point Public Meeting Regicn III and l'eadquarters rtaff met with local public officials from around the Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Station en liarch 28,19ES in Charlevcix, Michigan.
The meeting was held in conjunction with the Big Rock Point SALP meeting and was for the purpose of discussing NRC's program for reculating nuclear power plants and for encouraging a dialogue with local public officials.
Dupont Radiation Safety Course for Radiation Safety Officers Kathleen Schneider, SLITP, participated in a radiation safety training course for radiation safety officers at the Dupont Corporation on March 29, 1989 in Billerica, Itassachusetts.
Mrs. Schneider spoke on NRC regulations and the NRC Agreement State program.
Fermi-2 SALP Meeting Region III and Headquarters staff conducted a SALP meeting on the Fermi-2 Nuclear Power Station on March 29, 1989 in Monroe, Michigan.
State, local and Canadian officials have been very interested in the status of operations at Fermi-2. Region III has met with these officials over the past year and provided them with status reports. The State, local and Canadian officials were invited to attend the SALP meeting with the licensee. A separate public officials meeting was not held.
State Training Cost-Sharing Task Force liceting The State Training Cost-Sharing Task Force held its initial meeting on March 29, 1989 in Rockville, Maryland.
The Task Force Chairman is John Montgomery, Region IV Deputy Administrator. The Task Force is to review and evaluate the current WRC State training program and develop reconnendations on alternatives for funding and sharing the costs of the present program.
Other members of the Task Force include the directors of State radiation control programs in Tennessee, Kentucky, Iowa and New York, Ken Raglin, AE00/TTC and Joel Lubenau, SLITP.
,e Local Meeting on Uranium Mill Safety Dale Smith, Director of the Uranium Recovery Field Office, and Robert Doda, Region IV State Agreements Officer, participated in a public meeting to discuss local concerns over the Panna Maria Uranium Mill, the Conquista Uranium Mill and the Falls City Uranium Hill on March 30, 1989 in Falls City Texas. Recent media and public interest concerning h
public health and rumored noncompliance by the local uranium operating l
companies prompted a local official to request this meeting with representatives from State, local and Federal agencies.
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Agreement on Thermal-Hydraulic Research Between the NRC and JAERI The staff intends to enter into a Thermal-Hydraulic Research Agreement with the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI).
Under the terms of this Agreement JAERI will use the NRC Codes RELAP5/ MOD 2, TRAC and COBRA-TF in exchange for assessment calculations using these codes as well as contributing to necessary code improvements.
The proposed Agreement with JAERI will be part of the on going International Code Assessment Program (ICAP).
As part of this Agreement, the Japanese side will make use of existing thermal hydraulic test data obtained in the 20/3D facility and ROSA IV.
In addition, JAERI will make available to the USNRC the Japanese version of the TRAC code called J-TRAC and all its improvements resulting from the code assessment calculations.
NRR 1.
H. B. Robinson At 7:00 p.m. on April 2,1989, a loose part monitor alarmed indicating noise in the C-steam generator.
The reactor is being placed in cold shutdown.
The licensee is planning an 8-day outage to investigate and correct the problem.
It is likely that the facility would be placed in mid-loop operation for the retrieval of the loose part.
Region II and NRR are closely following this event.
Region IV i
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Television series on Texas uranium mills prompts town meeting.
The Director, Uranium Recovery Field Office, and the Agreement Program Of ficer participated in a town meeting held in Falls City, Texas, on March 30.
As a result of an investigative reporting series aired by KSAT, Channel 12, of San Antonio, there has been a high level of public interest in the one operating uranium mill and the three inactive uranium mill sites in and around Karnes County.
A town meeting was called by the County Judge who invited participants from the several Texas agencies responsible for regulation of the mills as well as several Federal agen-cies.
NRC was the only federal agency that accepted the invitation.
The purpose of the meeting was to provide accurate information to the citizens-to enable them to make more informed judgements as to the inferred prob-lems described by the television series.
Over 350 citizens attended the meeting.
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