ML20127K816
| ML20127K816 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 12/23/1992 |
| From: | Chilk S NRC OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY (SECY) |
| To: | Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| References | |
| REF-10CFR9.7 NUDOCS 9301260225 | |
| Download: ML20127K816 (9) | |
Text
,
ooooooooocococooi,tcccuo l
RELEASEDTO THE PDR
,.y
/h,,2.
/
UNITED ST ATES
- 3 yi NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION:
f n
1-i W ASHIN GTON, D.C. 205$5
), g, g
{
g December 23, 1992 OFFtCE OF THE SE Cf1E T AF1Y MEMORANDUM FOR:
James M. Taylor r.
Executive Director for O c ations FROM:
Samuel J.
Chilk, Secret
'c
SUBJECT:
SECY-92-421 - RElORT REQUjERED BY THE ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 1992 This is to advise you that the Ccr,mtssion has not objected to the staff proposal to notify DOE that it concurs in the report with the proposed revision and subject to the changes in the attechment.
The Commission has not objected to staff's response to the letters from Representatives George Miller and Neil
/,
Abercrombie once DOE has responded.
Attachment:
As stated cc:
The Chairman Commissioner Rogers Commissioner curtiss Commissioner Remick Commissioner de Planque OGC OIG Otfice Directors, Regions, ACRS, ACNW (via E-Mail)
OP, SDBU/CR, ASLBP (via FAX)
SECY NOTE:
THIS SRM AND SECY-92-421 WILL BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE AFTER THE FINAL REPORT TO CONGRESS HAS BEEN MADE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC I
9301260225 921223
~ ~ ' 9 }- ]
- c..
Edits for SECY-92-421:
1.
Insert on page 11 of report:
___ ex p i n ggy At this time, the curr nt Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan does not account for accidents involving 3
transient shipments of plutonium from foreign sources.
However, the plan does establish an appropriate framework for ensuring a well-coordinated federal response for any type of radiological accident.
This framework has been used successfully in the past for other types of emergency conditions also not accounted for in the plan, like re-entry of satellites bearing radioactive materials.
The federal agencies responsible for maintaining the FRERp are requested to revise the plan to clearly establish the appropriate level of response and designation of a lead agency to control such response for accidents involving transient shipments of plutonium.
This recommendation is included in Section 7 of this report.
2.
Insert on page 24 of the report Federal agency co-signers of the Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan, dated November 8, 1985, should promptly review and revise accordingly, the FRERP to account for accidents involving transient shipments of plutonium by sea as a specific type of transportation accident requiring a coordinated federal response with a designated lead agency in control of the response.
3.
Recommended deletions are described in the mark-up of the report.
4.0 EMERGENCY RESPONSS 4.1 1AEA Standards Regarding Emergency Response Paragraph 207 of Safety Series 6 requires that,in the event of an accident, emergency provisions established by relevant national and/or international organir.ations shall be observed. Appropriate guidelines for such provisions are described in Safety Series 37 and in Emergency Response Plannine for Transport Accidents involving Radioactive Materials, IAEA-TECDOC-262,1982. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have established national emergency provisions that would be followed in the event of an accident in or near the United States involving a transient shipment.
The responsibilities of these Federal agencies is described in Section 4.2.
4.2 Federal E rgency Response CUnad 4.2.1 EPA Role in Emergency Response I In the event of an accident involving a transient shipment, however unlikely, the ku g Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would have primaDr responsibility for any g
L emergency response that might be required./ The EPA has three fundamental roles in radiological emergency response:
- Federal protective guidance;
- Radiological monitoring; and
- Leading the Federal response to foreign source incidents.
The Federal guidance role is mandated by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as amended. The primary document providing protective guidance for the public is the Manual of Protective Action Guides (PAGs) and Protective Actions for Nuclear Incidents. The guidance responsibility is restated in the FEMA rule,44 RK Part 351 Radiolocical Emercency Planning and Precaredness, along with a charge to assist-FEMA in providing technical training for state and local officials regarding PAGs and protective actions, radiation dose assessment and decision-making. Th!s training charge is fulfilled in part by the availability of a PAG course at th: FEMA's National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Under the FEMA rule,44 CFR Part 351, EPA is also clutrged,in cooperation with FEMA and other Federal agencies, to review and evaluate preparedness plans of state and local governments. Under Section 2904 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, this charge is fulfilled in a manner mutually agreeable to the potentially affected states.
11
4
~
The radiological monitoring and dose assessment role is mandated by the Public Health Service Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1990 (CERCLA or Superfund). The EPA maintains a Radiological Emergency Response Team (RERT) to fulfill this role. The team includes personnel, monitoring equipment, and mobile laboratories, all of which can be air transported to the scene of an accident. -
The RERT can respond alone or with the Federal Radiological Monitoring g'
Assessment Center (FRMAC) organized by the Department of Energy.
hk The lead Federal agency role is stated in the November 8,1985, Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (FRERP). This lead role is for accidents involving radioactive material not owned or licensed by a Federal agency or 11 censed by an NRC Agreement State, as well as for radioactive fallout from foreign sources. The EPA would conduct an emergency response using the FRERP if the response of several Federal agencies is required. If a presidential disaster declaration is made in accordance with the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Relief Act, then the EPA is also the lead Federal agency in accordance with the Federal Response Plan (FRP). Federal financial assistance to state and local governments in f response to a radiological emergency could be provided under the Stafford Act if the consequences of an accident impacted the U.S. or its territories and where Federal resources are required to supplement the affected states or territory. In addition, the EPA has presidential authority under CERCLA to conduct environmental cleanups and seek compensation from responsible parties for incidents not subject to the I
Price-Anderson amendments to the Atomic Energy Act. The Price Anderson Amendments are not applicable to accidents involving international shipments ofJ plutonium.
L 4.2.2 FEMA Role in Emergency Response The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) coordinates emergency management activities of 15 Federal agencies under 44 CFR Part 351. Under this rule, FEMA's coordination effort is effected through two formal mechanisms:
Federal Radiological Preparedness Coordinating Committee (FRPCC) for coordinating activitics at the national level; and Ten Regional Assistance Committees.
Under the authority of this rule, FEMA assigns Federal agency responsibilities for assisting state and local governments and U.S. territories in radiological emergency planning and preparedness as well as planning and preparedness for the Federal response. These assignments are made on the basis of both common and unique responsibilities inherent in each organization's authorities, mission, and expertise.
12
e
)
i protect the public from food contaminated with radioactive material, and development of risk assessments for various types of radiological emergencies.
4.2.3 Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan in the case of an accident involving an international plutonium shipment, state and local governments have the primary responsibility for protecting the public and for taking emergency actions. If a situation arises which might lead to a release of radioactivity in waters within U.S. jurisdiction, the National Response Center at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., would be notified and would follow procedures as set forth in the Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (44 CFR 351). Federal assistance provided would be in response to a state or states' official request to augment state and local resources. FEMA coordinater the However, if provision of Federal assistanee to states, tribes,gilocal governrnent,s n
/the response of several Federal agencies is required, then the EPA would become the lead Federal agency in accordance with the Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (FRERP) (November 8,1985). The EPA is able to provide assistance to states under the presidential authorities of CERCLA. As lead agency, the EPA would assist the affected state (s) with protective action guidance, monitoring and i
_ dose assessment assistartce, and coordination of available Federal resources.
Described below are the specifics of the EEEs role as delineated in the FRERP:
%D*y*$*
kDy.g (1)
Notification. Upon notification of an emergency (the EDL will] (a) determine the appropriate response, (b) notify other Federal agencies of the emergency, inform them of the lead agency's actions, and provide a general assessment of the emergency, (c) activate the FRERP when multiple Federal agency response is warranted to ensure coordinated responsa; notify other Federal agencies of that action,(d) notify the Department of State of any radiological release with international implications.
(2)
Response. (a) DeployllBFpersonnel to the site, when appropriate; (b) designate a lead agency official at the site of the emergency to manage the onsite Federal response to the emergency, and to coordinate with the Senior FEMA Official and the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) Director regarding any onsite actions that may have offsite impacts; (c) establish an onscene base of operations to oversee the onsite and offsite response, monitor and support owner or operator,if requested, and serve as the principal Federal source of information about accident conditions for the Federal government as well as notifying other Federal agencies of the location of the onscene operations; (d) keep other agencies informed of j
conditions and Federal actions and provide an assessment of any of these conditions that might have significant offsite impact and of any means for l
mitigating the offsite consequences; (e) provide available radiological monitoring data to the state (s) and the FRMAC Director; and (f) deploy liaison i
14
9 personnel to the onscene facilities such as the FRh irm (3)
Protective Action Recommendations (PAR). The EEMwill assist sta and local authorities, if requested, by advising them on protective action recommendations for the public. In providing such advice, the qwill use advice from other Federal agencies with technical expertise in those matters whenever possible and will coordinate with FEMA concerning the communication of PARS to state and local governments.
b EPA's responsibilities for development or evaluation, and presentation ]
of protective ac. tion recommendations are to:
(a)
Respond to requests from state and local governments for technical information and technical assistance,
{
(b)
Provide staff liaison representatives to state authorities and the Senior FEMA Official, to help interpret the technical aspects of the accident and potential or actual offsite radiological k
consequences,
)(
(c)
Review all recommendations made by other Federal agencies g[
i f
carrying out statutory authorities to ensure that they are 4
consistent with other Federal recommendations, (d)
Approve the general release of official offsite monitoring data and assessments to the public,
{
(e)
Approve the release of offsite Protective Action Recommendations based on monitoring data and assessments to
~
state and Federal authorities, (f)
Prepare a coordinated Federal position on protective action f
recommendations whenever time permits, j
(g)
Immediately provide or evaluate protective action recommendations, in cases of imminent peril and inform FEMA k
and other Federal agencies of any protective action f
}
recommendation information presented to state or local authorities, (h)
Present the Federal assessment of protective action recommendations, in conjunction with FEMA and other Federal agencies, whenever possible, to state or other offsite authorities, (i)
Support FEMA and other Federal agencies in assisting state and Hs
/
y local government agencies in implenienting protective actions, if requested by these agencies.
(4)
EPA's Responsibilities for the Control and Coordination of Information are to:
(a)
Provide information to other Federal agencies and affected state and local governments about radiological conditions onsite, the status of the facility or radioactive material, and the potential or actual offsite radiological effects, b
(b)
Provide information to the media and other agency public
~
information officers about the Federal response until a joint information center is established.
(c)
Establish and manage Federal public information operations at a joint information center.
(d)
Classify information concerning an accident in accordance with appropriate national security classification directives.
(e)
Review and concur in the release of all federally generated information related to the onscene conditions and remain informed of all information not generated by Federal agencies.
(O Approve the release of Federally developed radiological monitoring data through the lead agency's liaison officer located in the FRMAC.
(g)
Assist the state (s) public information officer (s) in developing coordinated public infonnation releases.
j (h)
In coordination with FEMAi provide information and respond to inquiries from Congress and the White House.
-j 1__
4.2.4 Immediate Protective Action One rem is the radiation dose protective action guide established by the EPA for protective action. Protecting the public in the early phases of an accident so severe that plutonium release might occur would be focused on preventing inhrlation of respirable particulates. The most effective protective action would probably be for the State (s) to order an evacuation of citizens away from the airborne plume. In the case of a maritime hazard, this concept may also involve the withdrawal of the involved ship away from populations potentially at risk. Sheltering in place is an 16
in 6M packages 7 as well as spent fuel casks, have concluded that the radiological risks are small, especially in comparison to the nonradiological risks of injury and death from mechanical and thermal accident forces.
In DOE /EA-0363 the total radiological risk in a port for accidents of all types including severe collision and subsequent severe fire was estimated to be 4.50E-04 person-rem per port call (less than one latent cancer fatality per port call] gy s
The radiological impact of the sea transport of plutonium as an alternative to air transport was evaluated in the Environmental Assessment for the Proposed New Agreement for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation Between the United States and Tapan and an Associated Subseouent Arraneement for the Return of Recovered Plutonium from Euratom to Tapan. DOE /EA-0336 (1988). A severe collision and fire in port was examined and the risk was estimated to be about 1.0E-05 person-rem per port call.
The analyses mentioned above are reviewed and summarized in Environmental Analysis of Sea Shipment of Plutonium from Europe to Tapan, ANL/IEP 88-50 (1988), the full text of which is included in Appendix C. Since sinking in deep waters is the most likely type of severe accident that might befall sea shipments, the radiological consequences of this type of accident were evaluated. Such an accident would involve the ingestion exposure pathway to man. A package was modeled as coming to rest in water over 3600 meters deep after a postulated collision and releasing its entire contents within 1 year following the accident. Published bicaccumulation factors (see Appendix A) were applied along with the International Commission on Radiation Protection ingestion dose model. The population dose was estimated to be 6.0E-05 person-rem and the individual dose was estimated to be 6.0E-08 rem. Such a scenario could only occur in the open ocean since coastal waters are much shallower, usually 200 meters or less.
In 1983, the NRC sponsored a study, Definition of Bounding Physical Tests Representative of Transport Accidents - Air and Marine conducted by the Hlinois Institute of Technology (IIT). This study reviewed marine and air accident data for the period 1970-1979. The study considered transport vehicles, accident severity, and the likelihood of various accidents from which a set of physical tests were developed that would be representative of an environment from an extremely severe air or marine transport accident. For an extremely severe marine accident, a crush test, penetration test, slash test and immersion test were developed as well as a separate 71he 6M is a DOT Specification packagmg formerly used to transport plutonium.
8This is exponential notation. The number 450E@ means 4.5 multiplied by 1/10,000: 4.5E41 means 4.5 multiplied by 10E00.
18
.l-
.t necessary.
- 2. The Secretary of Energy should (a) arrange for the availability of this Study by publishing a notice in the Federal Recister (b) make available the Study to the appropriate emergency preparedness authorities of each coastal state, commonwealth, territory and possession of the United States and of the District of Columbia,(c) provide the Study to the International Atomic Energy Agency with a request that it be distributed to all member states of the Agency, and (d) make the Study available to the International Maritime Organization with a request that it be widely distributed to IMO member states.
- 3. Relevant Federal agencics should continue to participate fully in study groups or working groups that may be instituted by the IAEA, the IMO, or other international bodies on possible revisions to standards relevant to international transportation.
In addition, relevant Federal agencies should seek to expand the involvement of industry and the general public in the regulation process by publicizing the meetings of such groups in advance, by requesting their review of proposed regulations, and make available minutes of the meetings.
- 4. The Federal Emergency Management Agency should promptly complete a review of the adequacy of State emergency plans with respect to plutonium shipments as already requested by certain States pursuant to Section 2904 (a)(3) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992; and should solicit submission of emergency plans by all other coastal states for review pursuant to the provisions of the Act.
- 5. Federal agencies should, as appropriate, take into account the need for any federal resources identified in FEMNs evaluation of State emergency response plans in preparing agency budget submissions for FY94 and subsequent fiscal years.
(cms b
9 24
- -