ML20245G401
| ML20245G401 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 12/08/1988 |
| From: | Pangburn G NRC |
| To: | Lohaus P NRC |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20245G297 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-89-242 NUDOCS 8908150394 | |
| Download: ML20245G401 (1) | |
Text
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DEC 0 81988 N4 'h k c lb>
NOTE TO: Paul Lohaus ~bb##
FROM: George Pangburn
SUBJECT:
TELECON WITH KEN WEMER, COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH On December 7 I called Ken to get a better understanding of what was happening with the Umeteo proposal. As you will recall, Umeteo had submitted a license application for disposal of the Denver Radium Waste at a site near Uravan, CO called the East Bench Site. In that application Umetco also expressed interest in mined cavity LLW disposal in the same general area at a site called the Rim Site.
When I saw Ken in November, he had indicated that the CDH had completed its technical review of the East Bench Site application and had found the application acceptable. A hearing was held in Montrose in early November and at the conclusion of that hearing, the decision on the application rested with the hearing officer. That decision is expected by the first of the year.
I told Ken on the phone that some recent correspondence I had seen between CDH and the Rocky Mountain LLW Board that alluded to the application being withdrawn had confused me in light of our previous conversation. He said that Umeteo was not interested in pursuing the LLW application for thh Rim Rita unless the State could provide significant economic incentives to them to capitalize the operation.
(The Rocky Mountain compact member states generated only 4,193 cubic feet of waste for disposal in 1987; hence Umetco's concern.)
However, because radium is considered LLW under the RM Compact legislation, the proposed East Bench Site would be a regional LLW disposal facility and would also have to be approved by the Rocky Mountain Compact Board. The Board is only interested in granting that approval if Umeteo is willing to apply for the Rim Site and thereby provide a regional disposal facility for the rest of the region's medical, industrial and utility LLW. Therefore, if Umeteo is firm about not pursuing the Rim Site, they stand the very real possibility of having a license granted by the State for disposal of the Denver Radium Waste and, without the approval of the RM Compact Board, not being able to dispose of that waste.
With all this going on, the State of Colorado, in its role as Host State for the Compact is continuing with two efforts. First priority is being given to reaching an agreement with another compact to accept the RM region's waste, recognizing that the low volumes generated there are really uneconomical for a site. Weaver indicated that the folks they've been talking to (NW, SW and TX) have shown interest in the idea because their own waste volumes have been dropping, thus driving up the cubic foot charges needed to amortize a facility. The second effort being undertaken--as a failsafe to the first--is to continue screening the 6 candidate areas identified in CO in 1985 to identify candidate sites.
ec: Jim Shaffner e90B150394 890B09 PDR FOIA
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