ML20236L351

Responds to Re Stabilizing & Decommissioning Maxey Flats Site.Statement of Each Point & NRC Comment Provided

ML20236L351
Person / Time
Issue date:	10/19/1981
From:	Kerr G NRC OFFICE OF STATE PROGRAMS (OSP)
To:	Worthington P KENTUCKY, COMMONWEALTH OF
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FOIA-87-235 NUDOCS 8708100222
Download: ML20236L351 (5)

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m 00T 191981 The Honorable Pete Worthington 3

Chairperson 1

I Special Advisory Comittee on Nuclear Issues Legislative Research Comission State Capitol Frankfort, Kentucky 40601

Dear Mr. Worthington:

This is in response to your letter dated August 28, 1981 concerning stabilizing and decommissioning the Maxey Flats site. Your letter raised several points for our consideration. A statement of each point and our coment on it is provided as follows:

1.

"Because Kentucky is in the process of formulating decommissioning plans, the Department for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection can benefit from imediate access to major findings and observations made by researchers at the Maxey Flats site. We would like to see some formal channels set up by which this can be accomplished."

We believe channels presently exist which allow the Department for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection access to major findings and observations made by researchers at the Maxey Flats site. To assure that this is the case, we have arranged for Dr. Edward O'Donnell, Waste Management Branch Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, NRC to be our point of contact with the Vsentucky Department for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection to permit imediate access to major findings and deal with any questions that arise regarding the research performed.

2.

"We would like to see an interagency Federal State study group set l

up to: a) sumarize the findings-to-date from research performed

.I at the Maxey Flats site that are pertinent for proper stabilization and decommissioning of the site, b) to identify other information i

needed to proceed with stabilization and decommissioning, c) to j

suggest some alternatives for site decommissioning.

It is our I

understanding that a task force of this sort was organized for the Sheffield site and reported its findings in September,1979."

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The Honorable Pete Worthington 1 We are not sure at this time that a Federal-State study group would be the most appropriate approach for addressing the three aspects of the situation you specified. We are exploring the possibility of sponsoring an independent contractor to develop the.information on the three aspects and prepare a report of its findings.. At that time it may be desirable to convene a Federal-State study group to review the contractor report.

I believe this would' speed things up and give the Government representatives more time to focus on major issues.

I would appreciate your reaction to this idea.

3.

"We would like to see future NRC research at the Maxey Flats site directed toward finding the data needed to fill the information gap identified by the Federal-State task force, the Kentucky Department for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, and other sources to properly decommission Maxey Flats in ~particular, and low javel shallow land burial sites in humid areas in general. We are extremely supportive of using Maxey Flats as a laboratory but, we

' believe that the research should be focused directly on decom-missioning, both to. meet Kentucky's need to show that low level nuclear waste sites in humid areas can be successfully decommissioned.

We request that some discussions be held with the Kentucky DNREP on this topic and a policy position adopted."

We are hopeful that the research that NRC is presently sponsoring at Maxey Flats will demonstrate generically that shallow low-level disposal waste sites in humid areas can be successfully decommissioned.

This information can then be applied to site specific situations such as Maxey Flats.

I am sure you understand that the NRC has limited resources for funding research at Maxey Flats.

4.

"When Kentucky has formulated a decommissioning plan for the Maxey Flats site, we would like to request assistance from NRC in review I

and coment on the plan by their technical staff and by other technical advisors available to NRC."

We will be pleased to provide technical assistance, as resources permit, to the State of Kentucky to review and comment on a decom-missioning plan when formulated. Our contact for this purpose is Mr. Donald A. Nussbaumer, Assistant Director for State Agreements Program, Office of State Programs.

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8 The Honorable Pete Worthington 5.

"At the seminar in Frankfort these specific questions were asked and the following responses were given:

a)- Can the evaporator be shutdown? No.

b)

Has there been a release of radioactive material from the Maxey Flats site detected above MPC levels to date? ' No.

c)

Is there technology currently proven on how to decommission the Maxey Flats site so as'to shutdown the evaporator? No.

d)

Could Maxey Flats be reopened? No.

Should any new infomation of findings become ava11ablo that would change the response to these questions, we request that the Governor and the Legislative Research Commission be so apprised."

Based on discussion held with the NRC personnel who attended the seminar, our position may be sumarized as follows:

a..

Based on present conditions, the evaporator cannot be shutdown.

The large volume of contaminated water still needs to be disposed of.

However, methods of minimizing groundwater infiltration and flow through the site and the use of evapo-transpiration to dispose of any water that does get there are under consideration by the Division for Natural Resources and the NRC funded contractors. These alternative methods may prove superior on & cost / benefit basis to the use of the evaporator, i

b.

According to the Department for Natural Resources (telecom 9/23/81), there has been no release above MPC levels detected at Maxey Flats.

c.

The general consensus reganiing stabilization of the Maxey Flats site is that excess water must be kept away from the trenches. There are a number of standard engineering techniques which may be applied to control the surface and groundwater at the site, including the use of improved trench caps, surface grading, and construction of drainage trenches. These were described by Mr. Birney Fish of the State of Kentucky's Department for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection 1

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s The Honorable Pete Worthington I at the July 23 research progress meeting in Frankfort.

A-matter which may require further analysis is optimizing the effectiveness of such enginering solutions with regard to the cost of implementation, d.

The State of Kentucky has the authority, since it is an Agreement State, to determine if future low-level waste disposal operations will be conducted at Maxey Flats.

I hope this letter has been responsive to your inquiry.

Sincerely, OTicinal ci ned by 8

G Wayne Xcrz G. Wayne Kerr. Director Office of State Programs Distribution:

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