ML20056A250
| ML20056A250 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/03/1990 |
| From: | Burnett R NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | Bernero R NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20056A244 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-90-220 NUDOCS 9008060227 | |
| Download: ML20056A250 (5) | |
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MEMORANDUM FOR: Mobert W."Sernero,41 rector Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards FROM:
Robert F. Burnett, Director Division of Safeguards and Transportation, NMSS
SUBJECT:
A CLASSIFIED NRC TEAM VISIT TO THE URENCO PLANTS Enclosec is the justification for a SGTR/IMNS team to visit the three URENCO plants in Europe during the week of June 4.1990. Also included in the enclosure art a proposed agenda and specific safeguards and safety issues which will be brought up during the visits.
The proposed SGYR/IP.NS team consists of the following st6ff members:
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R'. Burnett (SGTR)
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D. Kasun (SGTR)
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P. Loysen (IM.NS)
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J. Swift (IMNS A team of three or four people is reconenended. The priority was established on the basis of timing in that gathering infonnation for the development of the safeguards enrichment rule should take precedent and SGTR numbers were placed accordingly. The Director of IMNS agrees with this position.
MA&Zy Robert F. Burnett, Director Divis:en of Safeguards and Transportation NMSS
Enclosure:
As stated
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JUSTIFICATION FOR THE VISITS TO EUROPEAN ENRICHMENT PLANT 5 Safeguards Need and Specific Issues:
The purpose of the classified visits to three URNECO enrichment plants in Europe is to_ identify all safeguards concerns related to operations of centrifuge enrichment plants. This information is needed to assist in the development of the material control and acccounting requirements and guidance for domestic consnercial enrichment activities. The staff is committed to having a draft rule for Commission consideration by July of this year.
In addition, since domestic enrichment plants would be subject to IAEA inspections, information concerning current arrangements between the URENCO plants and the IAEA would be beneficial in implementing the US/IAEA agreement.
Specific safeguards issues that will be brought up during the visits include:
Design basis throughput information on feed, tail, product, and waste materials.
Controls and mechanisms utilized to preclude or detect unauthorized enrichment.
Piping and valve diagrams that show process flows and routings.
Plant staffing.
Process monitoring devices and their locations.
- -Information available in the control room.
The frequency and methodology of physical inventories (including deter-mination of in-process. inventory and residual holdup).
The range of inventory difference values over the past 3, 5..... years.
The limit set for process shutdown.
The plant's accountability program.
The plant's measurement control program.
The scope of IAEA inspection at these facilities.
Three SGTR person'nel are proposed to be on the team:
1.
D. Kasun, Acting Chief, SGDB, has the responsibility for managing the safeguards rulemaking and guidance developrent for enrichment plants as well as for supervising the licensing' review and inspection activities.
The classified visits will provide him the opportunity to discuss with the technical managers at the European enrichment plants topics such as operating experience, safeguards data, internal control procedures, and special safeguards measures, as well as IAEA inspection activities.
Information gained fran the visits will strengthen his management of the domestic safeguards program.
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P. Ting, Section Leader for Requirements and Oversight, has responsibility for development of the rule and guidance for licensing and inspection of enrichment plants. This requires a working knowledge in the technical
-area of safeguarding this type of nuclear facility. The classified visits will provide him the opportunity to observe the operations of three' existing enrichment plants which are similar to the LES plant and to discuss various safeguards issues with the plants' technical personnel.
Information gained from the visits will be directly applicable to the staff's effort in rulemaking and guidance development.
3.
R. Burnett, Director, SGTR, has the over-all responsibility for safeguards rulemaking and for the licensing review and inspection program (both domestic and coordination of IAEA inspections) for the domestic consnercial enrichment activities.
Safety Need and Specific Issues:
The URENCO plants visit is an NRC team endeavor, contemplated at the time the resource estimate for the LES review was developed, and included in the NHSS foreign travel plan.
It will be a unique opportunity to acquire detailed safety information, some of which may be classified, about the gas centrifuge uranium enrichment plants that are essentially the same as the proposed LES plant.
Specific safety issues that will be reviewed and discussed during the visits include:
feed and blending autoclave safety and accident analyses piping integrity and maintenance centrifuge assembly and installation centrifuge safety - inventories and machine failure consequences waste generation amd disposition loss of power tails disposition provisions for decommissioning applicable regulations environmental assessments Three IMNS personnel are proposed to be on the team:
1.
C. Haughney, Chief of the Fuel Cycle Safety Branch, is responsible for determining the need for any additional licensing guidance and for issuance of the supporting documents and licenses for the LES plan. His understanding of the operating plants will be significant in helping him to discharge his responsibilities and to maintain continuity of knowledge about the LES project over its expected long duration.
2.
P. Loysen, the licensing project manager for the LES project, is responsible for the detailed review of.the application and preparation of any safety evaluation reports and environmental impact statements.
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His understanding of the design, evaluation, and functioning of operating plants will be important in managing the reviews. Although he visited
.the Gronau and Almelo plants last fall, those were brief, initial visits which permitted neither detailed nor classified consideration of issues.
Mr. Loysen will provide coordination of the NRC team effort and continuity between the initial and planned visits.
3.
J. Swift, Section Leader is responsible for managing all aspects of the LES project, including the assignment and participation of other Section
- members in the review of the LES application. His understanding of the design, evaluation, and functioning of-operating plants will not only be valuable in developing the overall review scheme, but will be important in his technical and supervisory review of the documents detail-ing the results of the evaluations of the application, f
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.0 PROPOSED AGENDA A classified NRC team visit to the URENCO plants will take place during the week of June 4, 1990, and will include two full days at URENCO Deutschland in Gronau, FRG, followed by partial days at URENCO Nederland in Almelo, the Netherlands and, URENC0 (UK) in Capenhurst, England. More time will be allotted to the Gronau plant because it is the most modern and has most of the features that will be incorporated in the LES plant in the U.S.
Less time will be allotted to the other plants to review features that are different from Gronau. For example, construction differs between Almelo and Gronau because the regulatory regime followed by the authorities in the Netherlands is one of materials licensing, while that followed in Germany is one of reactor licensing. UF6 collection at Capenhurst is accomplished by-compression of gas directly into cylinders, whereas at Gronau, UF6 is collected first in desublimers and then reheated for trar$fer into cylinders.
The proposed agenda for the visit to URENC0 Deutschland includes the following general elements:
Introduction and statement of purpose of NRC team visit.
Briefing about URENCO and the Gronau plant.
Overall plant tour.
Throughout, there will be inquiry about applicability to the LES plant.
In that regard, there will be in attendance a-URENCO (and perhaps an LES) representative who is familiar with the LES plant design.
Review of some issues will involve classified information, an aspect that was not possible during the preliminary 1989 visit to the URENCO plants.
The agenda for'the visits to the URENCO Nederland and URENCO (UK) plants will depend principally on the differences identified during the visit to URENC0 Deutschland, and could include any of the issues listed above.
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