ML20217J937

Foreign Trip Rept of 980309-13 Visit to Meet W/French Waste Mgt,Radiation Protection & Regulatory Officials

ML20217J937
Person / Time
Issue date:	03/26/1998
From:	Federline M NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
To:	Paperiello C NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
References
REF-WM-3 NUDOCS 9804070077
Download: ML20217J937 (4)

Text

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UNITED STATES -

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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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~ March 26, 1998 1

' MEMORANDUM TO:' Carl J._ Paperiello, Director -

. Office of Nuclear Material Safety ~

,and Safeguards.

FROM:

Margaret V. Federline, Acting Director. M b Division of Waste Management Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

SUBJECT:

FOREIGN TRIP REPORT OF MARCH g-13,1998, TO MEET WITH FRENCH WASTE MANAGEMENT, RADIATION PROTECTION AND REGULATORY OFFICIALS AND PARTICIPATION IN NUCLEAR ~

ENERGY AGENCY (NEA) RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (RWMC) 1 l

Discussions with international colleagues indicates that waste management activities are i

among the highest current priorities for nuclear regulators around the world. Also, similarities in approach for high-level (HLW) and low-level waste (LLW) disposal, as well as decommissioning, and development of health and safety standards in many countries, means that information exchanges can be particularly beneficial with other regulators and developers, who are facing many of the same technical and programmatic challenges. During the week of March g, I met with Senior Management and staff of the Authorite de Surete Nucleaire, the Frerech Nuclear Installations Safety Directorate (DSIN), and the institut de Protection et de Surete Nucleire, the Institute for Protechon.and Nuclear Safety (IPSN) DSIN is responsible for the definition and implementation of nuclear refety policy in France, including waste management and. decommissioning. IPSN conducts independent research and expert evaluations to support regulatory decisions to control nuclear risks.

. Also, France has three research programs for radioactive waste management being conducted by the Agence Nationale Pour La Gestion Des Dechets Radioactifs (ANDRA), including separabon and transmutabon, underground labs to prepare for deep geologic disposal and packaging and interim storage. The Govemment will report to Parliaaent before 2006 on the results of this research and will make a recommendation on the ciention of a deep geologic

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Discussiors, which were planned in advance to optimize use of time, focussed on the regulatory process for deep geologic disposal, including improvements to safety standards under consideration, implementshon of the French regulatory framework for very LLW '

L management, and the use of waste zoning for management of oocommissioning wastes.

During this interaction, I hoo an opportunity for discussions with Mr. Saint Raymond, Deputy Director of DSIN; Mr. Brigaud, Deputy Director of DSIN'n' Waste Management Department; Mr.

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' Livolant, Director of IPSN; Mrs.' Sugier, IPSN, Director for Prvection; and Mrs.' DeWars, IPSN, j Assistant D6 rector for Weste Safety. A key objective of base discussions was to define areas p

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for future interactions which would be of most significant mutual benefit to both NRC and DSIN.

Considering limited NRC foreign travel budgets, (DSIN does not have such limitations on -

foreign interactions) we also explored innovative ways to interact, such as DSIN observation by L

video conference of an NRC/ DOE technical exchange on a key topic, such as scenario '

identification for HLW pe formance assessment (PA). A subject of particular interest for both l:

~ crganizations is the regulatory framework for deep geologic disposal since both organizations will be updating these standards over the next two years. Other topics of particular interest include scenario identificatum, waste retrievability, treatment of human intrusion, and definition L

of reference biosphere.

I DSIN is currently focusing on several issues for surface disposal since the Ministerial License

- for commissioning the Centre de l' Aube is to be granted in 1999, and new repositories are under consideration for particular types of waste, such as Thorium contaminated wastes, in the L

late spring, DSIN is very interested in visiting NRC, Bamwell, and the State of South Carolina to discuss waste packages and their acceptance in surface waste repositories. We will work with

. DSIN to facilitate this and other focused discussions. Copies of NRC, DSIN, and IPSN presentations are available from the traveler.

g Following visits to_DSIN and IPSN, I also met with Mrs. Sugier, Chairman of the Intemational L

Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) Working Group for clarification of ICRP 46, "Long-l Lived Solid Radioactive Waste Disposal." I also serve on this Working Group and my L

colleagues and I are finalizing the document and making it available to members of the NEA -

Radioactive Waste Committee (RWMC) and Committee on Radiation Protection and Public.

Health (CRPPH) prior to presentation to ICRP Committee 4 in May 1998 and the full ICRP

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Commission in October 1998.- If the document is approved,' it will provide additional technical L

support for regulatory standards specific for a Yucca Mountain site, particularly in areas where l.

the National Academy of Sciences report did not provide specific guidance."

l On March 12 and 13, I participated as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the 30th meeting of

' the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Radioactive Waste Management Committee

. (RWMC). The Delegation was led by Jeff Williams, Director of the Division of Systems Engineering, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Other members of the delegation included a DOE Waste isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) representative and a representative of DOE's Environmental Management Program.

3 Director General Echavarri, provided an overview of recent developments within NEA in which he emphasized that OECD is in the process of refocusing its priorities, to address areas of increasing concem, including economic issues associated with deregulation and sustainable development. He emphasized that a successfu' solution to HLW disposal is a key factor in

. future nuclear development. He also discussed the report of the High-Level Advisory Group on the Future of the OECD/NEA, " Nuclear Energy.in the OECD: Towards an Integrated Approach."

RWMC Chairman Allere highlighted recent developments which are likely to impact the world-wide strategy for radioacthe waste management, including increased awareness of adverse -

envirornnental impacts from emploitation of energy sources, ICRP's new radiation protection policy for radioactive waste, rat &stion of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel and

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Radioactive Waste, deregulation of the electricity market, and the increasing amounts of low activity waste from decommissioning. He emphasized that although RWMC programs have i

been very effective in addressing waste management and disposal issues, that the future direction of RWMC work should be carefully examined in light of these developments. His presentation set the tone with a number of new proposals for the RWMC working program debated and accepted and a strong consensus expressed by the group about the importance of continuing the dialogue between regulators and implementors as a basis for continuing work.

Members of the RWMC approved a proposal to document progress in national waste disposal programs, since the 1991 collective opinion on safety. Such a product could support efforts of l

member countries in their national programs to build confidence in the feasibility of HLW disposal There was also a strong consensus that regulatory issues for waste management and disposal should continue to be addressed within the RWMC and that a subgroup of regulators should be formed within the RWMC to facilitate communication among RWMC regulators, and with CNRA on regulatory issues. NRC's support for the formation of such a j

subgroup was coordinated with the EDO's staff and Chairman's staff prior to the meeting.

The RWMC also expressed interest in Mrs. Sugier's presentation on recent activities within the ICRP on waste disposal matters and urged that radiation protection and waste management specialists continue a dialogue to ensure that the application of ICRP principles are practical for waste disposal applications.

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. A lively discussion was held on activities in the field of decommissioning. The NEA Co-operative Program on Decommissioning facilitates the exchange of technicalinformation from

~ 35 projects in 13 countries. Because of the great interest in egulatory topics related to decommissioning, MNMC agreed to participate in a joint workshop with CRPPH, CNRA, NDC, and CSNI on regulatory issues related to decommissioning and supported formation of a joint program com'mittee. It is projected that the workshop will occur no ear!ier than Spring 1999.

' There was recognition of IAEA and European Community activities in the area of i

decommissioning and a desire not to' duplicate this work.: During the discussions, it was Lemphasized that consistent treatment of all radiological risks is needed for clearance / exemption levels. It was also recognized that non-nuclear industries, such as the fertilizer industry, have l

much larger quantities than nuclear industry candidate materials for exemption. Significant progress was reported from the working group on Model Validation which is' addressing how to enhance confidence in compliance demonstrations for long-lived waste. Enhanced cooperation has been achieved between the Performance Assessment Advisory Group and the Site Evaluation and Design of Experiments Group in coordinating their programs of work in site characterization and safety analysis.

As a result of Mr. Allegre's retirement, Soren Norrby, Swedish Nuclear Power inspectorate (SKl) was elected Chairman of RWMC. Also, Dr. John Holmes, United Kingdom (UK), Nirex, Ltd., and i Were elected to fill two vacancies on the four person Bureau of the RWMC. This leadership role will afford NRC a unique oppartunity duririg this evolutionary period for the NEA when waste management issues are among the highest priority for countries worldwide.

The meeting was ended with short reports on the developments in each member's national program, as well at reports from lAEA and CRC delegates. Particularly noteworthy were h--!ons of the ptential near-term certification of WIPP and licensing of KONRAD.

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4 The former iron mine is planned as a repository for wastes with negligible heat production. This-waste category accounts for more than 95% of the current and planned volume of Germany's waste. The assessment for the plan approval authority.is complete and indicates that the KONRAD repository can be operated safely and will protect current and future generations.

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