ML20203C342

SER Accepting Amend 8 to License SNM-1107

ML20203C342
Person / Time
Site:	Westinghouse
Issue date:	12/09/1997
From:	NRC
To:
Shared Package
ML20203C320	List: ML20203C315 ML20203C328 ML20203C342
References
NUDOCS 9712150285
Download: ML20203C342 (4)

Text

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• ,j NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 2 WASHINGTON. D.C. 20066-0001

+4 * * * . . ,o December 9, 1997 DOCKET: 70-1151 LICENSEE. Westinghouse Electric Corporation Columbia. SC

SUBJECT:

SAFETY EVALUATION REPORT: APPLICATION DATED JULY 14, 1997. RELEASE OF INDUSTRIAL WASTE TREATMENT PRODUCTS TO CEMENT MANUFACTURERS BACKGROUND By letter dated July 14. 1997. Westinghouse Electric Corporation requested an amendment to License No SNM-1107 to authorize the release of industrial waste treatment products (primarily calcium fluoride) to cement manufacturers. The July 14. 1997, submittal also requested withdrawal of the authorization to use up to 15 grams of "U for testing and demonstration purposes at eff-site locations. The licensee indicated that this authorization was used infrequently and that future requirements for this type of activity could t,e handled more efficiently on a case-by-case basis.

By letter dated November 7. 1997, the NRC staff requested additional information on the licensee's propusal to release vaste treatment products to cement manufacturers. The licensee responded by letter dated November 17. -,

1997, which included a dose assessment on the anticipated use of the material.

DISCUSSION In 1985. the NRC authorized the licensee to aispose of industrial waste treatment products, in which the mean concentration of uranium does not exceed 30 pCi/g. in a chemical landfill. The NRC granted further authorization in 1987 to allow release of the material to be used in the production of steel.

By letter dated July 14, 1997, the licensee also requested authorization to release the waste treatment products to cu'ent manufactucers. The waste treatment products will be used as a filler and as a fluxing agent in the cement.

The licensee has comitted to reducing the radioactive contents of all such transferred materials to levels as low as reasonably achievable below the 30 pC1/g limit. To ensure that the concentration of materials released is

.less than 30 pCi/g. the licensee has comitted to implementation of a sampling plan to characterize the material transferred in accordance with fok2fDg y 1 C

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- NUREG/CR 2082, " Monitoring for Compliance with Decommissioning Termination Survey Criteria,"

The licensee has also comitted to maintaining records pertaining to the -

release of the waste treatment products, including identities of receivers.

In addition, the licensee will notify each receiver in writing of the uranium

-content by including the radionuclide concentration on the Haterial Safety Data Sheet for each t,atch of material.

The NRC staff performed a conservative dose assessment to estimate the potential risks to a worker from exposure to uranium during the manufacture of cement with the licensee's material. A conservative assessment was performed

- because,- once the material-is released from the licensee's control, the NRC can no longer place restrictions on its use to reduce potential doses.

The staff assumed that the worker is exposed to dust with an inscluble uranium contentration of 30 pCi/g for 40 hours4.62963e-4 days <br />0.0111 hours <br />6.613757e-5 weeks <br />1.522e-5 months <br /> per week, 50 weeks per year. The dust concentration in air was assumed to be 5 mg/m 3, which is the maximum exposure level (without-a respirator) to nuisance dust of a respirable fraction established by the Occuoational Health and Safety Administration in 29 CFR 1910,1000. Table Z-3. Tha worker's breathing rate was assumed to be 2.4x106 L/yr for a man engaged in light activity, taken from the " Report of the Task Group on Reference Man," International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) No. 23, 1974.

This scenario results in a comitted effective dose equivalent of 0.45 mSv/yr (45 mrem /yr) to the worker. Because the external dose to the worker is orders of magnitude less than the inhalatun dose, the total effective dose equivalent for the worker does not exceed the NRC dose limit of 1 mSv/yr (10u mrem /yr) specified in 10 CFR 20,1301(a)(1) for a member of the public.

As previously stated, the staff tunsiders the assessment described above to be extremely conservative t'ecause it assumes that all of the worker's occupational . dust inhalation in a year is composed entirely of the licensee's waste treatment products.

Other e)oosure scenarios were considered by the staff including (1) exposure to the cement user, (2) exposure during an accidental spill of waste treatment products during transport, and (3) external exposure during use of concrete products. _.The dose estimated for the worker during the manufacture of cement was determined to be bounding for all of these scenarios.

The cementicontaining waste treatment products will be provided by the. cement

-manufacturer to a concrete. manufacturer. The dose to a worker during the n

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3 manufacture of concrete is expected to be orders of magnitude less than the occupational dose during the manufacturer of cement due to the low ,

concentration of uranium in the cement product. As previously stated, the waste treatment products will be used as a filler and as a fluxing agent in the cement, and the licensee expects that the waste treatment products will constitute a maximum cf 0.25% of each cement batch. Inhalation exposure during an accident will also be significantly less, due to a relatively short exposure time. Finally. external exposure to a member of the public from finished concrete products was estimated to be 0.05 mSv/yr (5 mrem /Yr) after ingrowth of the uranium daughters (up to radon), which is also significantly less than the dose to the worker during the manufacture of cement.

The staff's review of the amendment application has been coordinated with Rodney Wingard from the Bureau of Land Management / Division of Radioactive Waste Management of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). Although DHEC does not license Westinghouse for radioactive matericls, the Westinghouse fuel fabrication facility is located in South Carolina, where DHEC has the responsibility to ensure the public is protected from radiological hazards in accordance with South Carolina Materials Regulations 61-63. Title A. DHEC considers the NRC the lead agency in this Matter but provided assistance in this review.

DHEC provided an independent dose assessment using the computer code RESRAD.

Using a resident farmer scenario and RESRAD default parameters. DHEC staff estimated that the dose to che maximally exposed individual will be less than 10 mrem /yr for the first 400 years. After 400 years, the dose will increase to approximately 28 mrem /yr at 1000 years due to the ing.'owth of radon. The dose estimate remains below 10 mrem /yr if radon is excluded. Although the waste treatment products will be made into cement products and not directly applied to land, this scenario illustrates possible risks in the event that the material is spilled or accidentally disposed of on a land surface. In addition. the concrete products will eventually crumble leaving debris containing uranium in place.

On July 21. 1997, the NRC promulgated a new rule 10 CFR Part 20. Subpart E.

" Radiological Criteria for License Termination." This rule establishes a dose limit of 25 mrem /yr excluding radon, for unrestricted release of sites.

Although the rule is not applicable in this case, the above scenario does result in <. dose which meets this limit. On October 16, 1997 Mr. Wingard indicated that DHEC had no objection to the NRC granting the licensee's amendment request.

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. 4 EN$1RONMENTALREVIEW The staff has determined that the following conditions have been met:

1. There is no significant change in the types or significant increase in the amounts of any effluents that may be released offsite.

2. There is no significant increase in individual or cumulative occupational radiation exposure.

3. There is no significant construction impact.

4. There is no significant increase in potential for, or consequences from radiological accidents.

Accordingly, pursuant to 10 CFR 51.22(c)(11), neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is warranted for this action.

CONCLUSION The staff aas determined that release to cement manufacturers of industrial waste treatment products. such as calcium fluoride, which contain less than 30 pCi/g of uraniuni will not result in any adverse effect on public health and safety or the environment. In addition, the staff does not have any objection to withdrawal of the authorization to use up to 15 grams of 235U for testing and demonstration purposes at off-site locations. Therefore, the staff recomends that the license amendment be granted.

The Region Il project inspector has no objection to the proposed action.

Princina_1 Contributor .

Susan Chotoo l

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