ML20211L419
| ML20211L419 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07000925, 07001193 |
| Issue date: | 08/19/1977 |
| From: | Shelley W KERR-MCGEE NUCLEAR CORP. |
| To: | Rouse L NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20211L396 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-86-281 NUDOCS 8607020076 | |
| Download: ML20211L419 (17) | |
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4 Mr. L. C. Rouse, Chief Fuel Processing & Fabrication Branch 9
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Division of Fuel Cycle and }bterial Safety U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C.
20555 70-1193h70-92h DOCKETS
Dear Mr. Rouse:
Our current licenses applicabic to the Cimarron Facility, SNM-928 and SNM-1174, require notification of the USNRC of the disposal plan for the liquid process effluent evaporation ponds.
These ponds have not been in use since December 1975. The liquid in the ponds has evaporated and the sludge remaining was packaged and buried at a licensed burial ground.
Sampics were taken of the soil immediately adjacent to the liquid-soil interface and analyzed for the isotopes that could have been present in the ponds. The analysis of thes2 sampics and the contemplated procedure for decom-missioning the ponds is attached. We believe that the pond material,,
can be buried in place without hazard to the environment.
Such burial must be approved by the Oklahoma State Department of Health. We are concurrently requesting their consideration of the same information. We would appreciate your prompt review and approval of this proposal.
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Dear Mr. Craig:
The Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corporation Cimarron Facility suspended operations in December 19/5 and has no immediate plans for again commencing operations. During the interim period, the evapora-tion ponds which constituted part of our liquid waste control system have evaporated to dryness, and all of the sludges re-maining in the ponds have been removed and buried at a licensed burial ground. We now believe it is an appropriate time to dispose of these ponds.
Samples were taken of the soil immediately below the liquid level within the ponds. These samples were analyzed isotopically for the material that could have been present during the period of use.
In view of the data attached, we believe the ponds can be disposed of by merely reducing the berms, levelling the ground and revegetating.
In accordance with the provisions of the Radiation Protection Regulations, Section 13, paragraph 3, we request your approval of the procedures described on the atts.ched for the disposal of the ponds involved.
As you know, the Cimarron facilities were licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission under SNM-928 and SNM-1174. We are concurrently requesting approval of the USNRC for this disposal.
We vould appreciate your prompt consideration of,I.this request.
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CIMARR0N FACILITY c-LICENSE SNM-1174, DOCKET 70-1193, j
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."6 LIQUID WASTE CONTROL PONDS - PROPOSED DECOE!ISSIONING The Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corporation's Cimarron Facility suspended production operations in December 1975. During operations, five evaporation ponds served as a method of liquid waste control.
By the summer of 1976, the ponds were essentially dry, and the sludge resulting from the evaporation of the water was removed, mixed with cement and buried in a licensed burial site.
Since then, the ponds have been dry, except for occasional rainfall which subsequently evaporates. Samples were taken from the top six inches of soil in all the ponds, and analyzed for the isotopes possibly present in the particular pond in question.
Each sampling point consisted of a 6 x 12 inch area with individual samples taken at the depths indicated on the attached.
Equal weight composites were made as indicated and for two of the uranium ponds, secondary composites were made for all depths. Duplicate sampics are held for further examination if desirable.
Analyses were made by varying methods and are reported here on a dry weight basis. The methods used and their detection limits are given below:
Method Detection Level Uranium fluorimetry 2
1 pg/gm Plutonium alpha pulse height
.002 dpm/gm U-235 gamma spectroscopy
.004 dpm/gm Uranium a liquid scintillation 1 i.5 pCi/gm It will be noted for Uranium ponds #1, #2, and the emergency pond, the Uranium-235 analysis is biased high when compared with the Uranium value deter-mined by fluorimetry and a analysis. This bias is caused by the presence of pFW?_ n'3
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This bias is not evident in the Plutonium ponds which received primarily depleted Uranium. Discrepancies in Uranium comparisons could also be ex-pected due to compositing and aliquoting errors and analytical uncertainties at these low activity 1cvels.
Kerr-McGee's examination of this data leads us to believe that the ponds can be buried in place without hazard to future use of the land or the public.
We would propose that the lined ponds be disposed of by folding the lining into the bottom of the pond, then bu11 dozing the berm in on top of this, adding soil as necessary to bring the surface icvel into substantial agree-ment with the surrounding topography.
We would propose that the unlined ponds be disked in order to mix the contami-nation occurring in the top 6 to 10 inches, then the berms bulldozed over the center of the ponds and additional soil added to bring the surface to match the surrounding topography.
These areas would be seeded, initially with a quick growing cover such as rye grass, and sprigged with bermuda or seeded with fescue to provide pasture equal to the naturel grass on the surrounding area. These seed beds would be watered and fertilized as necessary to ensure quick growth and sound vegetative cover.
It is expected that within 2 growing seasons, the vegetative productivity from these areas would equal that of the natural grass currounding the area.
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II Ccmposite Tar & gravel 65 64 of sampling 0-1.5" 47 31 pts. 4, 5 & 6 1.5-3" 50 29 3-6" 52 24 III Ccroposite Tar & gravel 1486 934 of sanpling 0-1.5" 936 761 pts. 8, 10 & 11 1.5-3" 1309 828 3-6" 469 283 IV Ccruposite Tar & gravel 776 452 of sampling 0-1.5" 85 56 pts. 7, 9 & 11 1.5-3" 160 93 3-6" 102 52 V Composite 6-10" 220 127 of samling pts. 8, 9 & 12
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- pCi/g I SW Grid 0-0.5" 0.026 0.007 314 Cm posite 0.5-1.5" 160 0.010 0.013 404 16.4 of A-1, A-2 1.5-3" 0.003 0.006 145 B-1, B-2 3-6" 0.016 0.014 33 II SE Grid 0-0.5" 0.030 0.010 409 Cmposite 0.5-1.5" 0.004 0.005 407 of C-1, C-2 1.5-3" 160 0.001 0.008 114 15.5 D-1, D-2 3-6" 0.001 0.010 20 III W Central 0-0.5" 0.064 0.024 223
-Grid 0.5-1.5" 0.004 0.003 391 cmposite 1.5-3" 160 0.002 0.003 223 16.9 of A-3, A-4, 3-6" 0.014 0.016 50 B-3, B-4 IV E Central 0-0.5" 0.035 0.023 334 Grid 0.5-1.5" 0.014 0.005 418 cmposite 1.5-3" 240 0.001 0.006 432 26.5 of C-3, C-4, 3-6" 0.004 0.008 350 D-3, D-4 V NW Grid 0-0.5" 0.031 0.016 236 Cmposite 0.5-1.5" 0.005 0.004 436 f
l of A-5, A-6 1.5-3" 250 0.001 0.018 486 23.0 B-5, B-6 3-6" 0.005 0.015 186 i
VI NE Grid 0-0.5" 0.023 0.019 236 cmposite 0.5-1.5" 0.005 0.007 341 of C-5, C-6 1.5-3" 250
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I Sw Grid 6-10" 21 0.004 0.021 37 3.56 VI NE Grid 6-10" 39 0.002 0.006 59 N.D.
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Ccriposite 0-3" 21.9 Not of sampling 3-6" 15 9.9 detected pts. 1 & 2 6-10" 44.7 Sampling 0-3" 248 Not pt 3 3-6" 5
33.5 detected 6-10" 11.8 Sampling 0-3" 34.7 pt. 4 3-6" 26 86 4.0 6-10" 33.4 Sampling 0-3" 9.0 Pt. 5 3-6" 131 32.8 18.6 6-10" 152
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I Cmposite 0-1.5" 195 32 of sampling 1.5-3" 39 10
'0.~007 0.032 0.003 pts. 2 & 3 3-6" 22 6
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0.005 II Couposite 0-1.5" 22 7
0.009 0.016 of sampling 1.5-3" 10 5
0.010 0.001 pts. 4 & 7 3-6" 12
~5 0.012 0.002 III Caposite 0-1.5" 37 1.8 0.026 0.231 of sampling 1.5-3" 38 42 0.003 0.010 pts. 1, 5, & 6 3-6" 134 29 0.006 0.005 IV Canposite 0-1.5" 37 11 0.035 0.246 of sampling 1.5-3" 78 23 0.574 5.34 pts. 9 & 10 3-6" 48 12 0.012 0.004 1
V Ctuposite 6-10" 17 4.5 0.004 0.033 of sampling pts. 1 & 4 VI Cooposite 0-1.5" 5.9 3.6 0.002 0.021 of sampling 1.5-3" 1.4 2.7 0.004 0.020 pts. 8, 11, & 12 3-6" 3.1 6
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I Camposite 0-1.5" 14 12 0.003 0.002 of sampling 1.5-3" 6.1 6
0.006 0.003 pts 1 & 5 3-6" 2.2 3.2 0.004 0.002 II Composite 0-1.5" 97 17 0.010 0.050 of sampling 1.5-3" 7.8 3.6 0.006 0.002 pts. 2 & 3 IV Sampling 0-1.5" 11 6
0.004 0.007 pt. 4 1.5-4.5" 2.5 4.1 0.008 0.004
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fwGans 4 os445 RI O Northeast 10th Street & Stonewall Post Office Box 53551 Oklahoma City. oklahoma 73105 March 2, 1978 W.J. Shelley, Director Regulation and Control Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corp.
Kerr-McGee Center Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73125
Dear Mr. Shelley:
This is in response to your letter dated August 19, 1977 in which you requested the approval of the Oklahoma State Department of Health for disposal of the ponds at your Cimarron Facility.
After review of the results of analyses of the soil in the bottom of the ponds by Kerr-McGee, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and our laboratory it has been determined that the concentration of radioactive materials in the soil in these areas is less than those concentrations which are exempted from regulation under the Radiation Protection Regulations (Section 4.2).
After revieving your plans for decommissioning the ponds, and in view of the above, your plans are approved as required by Section 13 3 of the regulations.
Ve truly yours Robert L. Craig, Director Radiation Protection Division r
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March 1. 1978 TO:
Robert L. Craig, Director Radiation Protection Division Robert D. Delano, Chemist 8hd FROM:
Radioefiemistry Laboratory
SUBJECT:
Gross Alpha Analysis of Kerr McGee Waste Pond Samples -
Cimarron Facility On November lb,1977, I met with Don Majors, representing Kerr McGee Nuclear Corp., at the Kerr McGee Cimarron Facility for the purpose of sampling three ponds that were formerly used for radioactive vaste storage.
The ponds were dry.
The ponds were given the following identification numbers:
l Pond: U-1 Prefix: A U-2 B
U-3 C
Using a backhoe, a trench was dug for each pond; pond "A" to a i
depth of 5 feet, ponds "B" and C" to a depth of 3 feet.
Samples were collected in 2 inch increments from the top to the bottom of the trench, and then split between Kerr McGee and Oklahoma State Radiation Protection personnel.
i Samples were logged.in and dried in an oven at 100 C overnight.
Approximately 40 grams of each sample (dry weight) was then pulverized and a 10 gram aliquot used in the analysis. One hundred milliliters of single distilled water vere added to each 10 gram, sample and allowed to leach overnight. The samples were filtered using double thickness' Whattman number h2 filter paper and evaporated in a tared planchet to dryness. Each planchet was counted for :? aety minutes to determine gross alpha activity.
The following results were obtained using a modified Canberra lov level alpha / beta proportional counter.
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- Counting Error A-1 0-2 inches 2h.7 0.8 A-2 24 18.5 0.8 A-3 4-6 10.4 1.6 A-4 6-8 8.8 1.2 A-5 8-10 77 1.2 A-6 10-12 4.5 09 A-7 12-14 1.3 05 A-8 14-16 3.4 0.8 A-9 16-18 2.3 0.6 A-10 18-20 h.6 1.0 A-11 20-22 3.2 07 A-12
~22-24 05 0.2 A-15 28-30 0.3 0.1 A-18 3h-36 03 O.1 A-21 40-42 0.3 0.2 A-23 44-h6 0.6 0.2 A-24 46-48 0.3 0.2 16.7 09 B-1 0-2 B-2 24 51 05 B-3 4-6 07 0.2 B-4 6-8 0.4 0.2 B-5 8-10 tND 0.2 B-6 10-12 0.3 0.2 B-12 22-24 tND 0.1 C-1 0-2 15 2 09 C-2 2-4 09 03 C-3 h 05 0.3 C-4 6-8 0.6 0.2 l
C-5 8-10 tND 0.2 C-6 10-12 05 0.1 C-12 22-2h 0.3
'One standard deviation tNot Detectable Minimum Detectable Conc. = 0.01 pCi/g O
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