ML20217B856
| ML20217B856 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/17/1998 |
| From: | Bell M NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | Greeves J NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| References | |
| REF-WM-3 NUDOCS 9804230142 | |
| Download: ML20217B856 (2) | |
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April 17, 1998 l
MEMORANDUM TO: John Greeves, Director Division of Waste Management, NMSS l
FROM: Michael J. Bell, Acting Chief Performance Assessment and High-Level Waste Integration Branch Division of Waste Management, NMSS
SUBJECT:
FINAL DOCUMENTATION OF MEETING WITH THE STATE OF ILLINOIS ON THE LOW-LEVEL WASTE BRANCH TECHNICAL ,
POSITION ON PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT I
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l Attached for the record is the documentation of the meeting between the U. S. Nuclear i Regulatory Commission (NRC) Staff and representatives from the lilinois Department of ;
Nuclear Safety (IDNS) to discuss the State's concerns with the Draft Branch Technical Position j (BTP) on A Performance Assas.s11ent Methodoloav for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disoosal j Facilities. The meeting occurred en January 20,1998, in response to a commitment made by i Chairman Jackson to IDNS that senior management at NRC would meet with IDNS on the BTP.
The attached documentation of the meeting includes input from IDNS, which commented on a previous draft of the meeting record. Most of IDNS' comments were included in the meeting record.
Delays in completing the meeting record are the result of the need to get IDNS input, which prevented this from becoming an " item of Interest" to the Commission, and the fact that BTP- i related activities are not funded in FY1998 and, therefore, are of low priority. This meeting I record will be included in the documentation accompanying the formal response to comments, which will be undertaken by NRC staffin FY1999. \
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Attachment:
As stated [L[
CONTACT: Keith McConnell, NMSS/DWM/PAHL '
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' IQlEETIRG BETWEEN U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC) STAFF AND REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS TO DISCUSS CONCERNS WITH THE DRAFT LOW-LEVEL WASTE BRANCH TECHNICAL POSITION ON PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FOR LOW-LEVEL WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITIES On January 20,1998, NRC staff including the Director of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety i and Safeguards, the Director of the Office of State Programs, management and staff from the I Division of Waste Management, and a representative from the Office of General Counsel met with representatives of the lilinois Department of Nuclear Safety (IDNS) (including Director, l Thomas Ortciger) regarding their concems with the staff's draft Branch Technical Position j
(BTP) on A Performance Assessment Methodoloav for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disoosal l Facilities This meeting fulfills a commitment made by Chairman Jackson to IDNS (letter dated October 23,1997) that senior management at NRC would meet with IDNS to discuss the draft
'BTP.
In the meeting, representatives from the State of Illinois listed their concems that the draft BTP was unnecessary, inappropriate, and counterproductive and provided rationale supporting those concerns. The State's principal concern is their belief that credible " predictions" of long-
, term performance of a low-level waste disposal facility (those with time frames longer than 500 years) are not possible because of the uncertainty associated w1h the analysis. In particular, j the State objects to the time frames of the analyses described in the BTP being linked to the l required demonstration that such a facility meets the performance objectives of 10 CFR 61.41, i because a specific time frame of compliance is not identified in 10 CFR Part 61. They believe that states licensing such facilities should be allowed to set the time frame necessary to show q compliance with the performance objectives. The State argued that an analysis associated with i a compliance determination using a time period of 500 years should be separated from i analyses used to evaluate the potential for movement offsite of long-lived mobile radionuclides
! that require assessments for longer periods of time.
l The NRC staff presented the technical and policy basis for the specification of the 10,000 year time frame for assessment of facility performance in the draft BTP and noted that the specification, in part, was in response to comments received from several states on an earlier i draft of the draft BTP. The staff also noted that the 10,000 year time frame was consistent with L recommendations of the scientific community and intemational approaches to low-level waste l disposal performance assessment. The meeting ended with a discussion of the comments '
received from other entities on the draft BTP. The State closed the meeting by indicating that it is considering how it intends to proceed in the future.
' Input provided by lilinois Department of Nuclear Safety.
Attachment