ML20246K430
| ML20246K430 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/30/1989 |
| From: | Surmeier J NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | Coleman J ENERGY, DEPT. OF |
| References | |
| REF-WM-3 NUDOCS 8907180177 | |
| Download: ML20246K430 (2) | |
Text
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'JidLTR.JCOLEMAN-6/26/89 Jun Dr. Joseph A. Coleman, Director dtS:-3 01989 Division of Waste Treatment and Projects Office of Remedial Action and Waste Technology Office of Nuclear Energy Department of Energy Washington, DC 20545
Dear Dr. Coleman:
With this letter I am transmitting the results of the NRC staff's regulatory review efforts on DOE's " Prototype License Application Safety Analysis Report"
'(PLASAR) for the Earth-Nounded Concrete Bunker (EMCB) alternative method of LLW disposal. As you will recall, this review effort on the EMCB PLASAR was initiated in January,1989.
(Letter from H. Knapp to J. Coleman, January 10,1989).
The three enclosures to this letter, summarize the review efforts of the NRC and include an Executive Summary (Enclosure 1), the NRC Staff's Safety Evaluation Status Report (SESR) Input (Enclosure 2), and the Staff's and Consultants' Review Comments and Questions (Enclosure 3). We believe this PLASAR and safety evaluation review will provide practical ar.d valuable assistance to the States and regional compacts in future licensing activities.
The NRC has benefitted also from this effort in several ways, including the development and improvement in our Agency's licensing review capability, as the staff gained valuable review experience. The excellent opportunity afforded by the PLASAR review to critique the completeness and quality of our untested regulatory guidance documents was an additional part of this benefit.
The NRC staff review comments and questions on the EMCB PLASAR that are provided in Enclosure 3, directly respond to and fulfill the agreement reached with DOE on this regulatory review effort.
In completing the review comments and questions, which by their nature fccus on the information missing in a license application, the NRC recognized the benefits of developing an Executive Summary and a more balanced regulatory safety evaluation re;~rt that we have provided in Enclosure 2.
NRC believes the States and Compacts will also have a greater appreciation for the scope of a regulatory review of a license application, following their review of the Enclosures.
The NRC staff plans to use results and products from the review represented by j
the three enclosures, as the foundation for the staff's presentation at the August 24, 1989 workshop to be held at the Eleventh Annual DOE Low-Level Waste Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In addition, NRC plans to publish the results of our EMCB PLASAR review as a NUREG report, with the goal of having i
the report available by the start of DOE's Pittsburgh Conference. The NUREG report will consist of the three enclosures and possibly two additions to the i
SESR Input Sections. The additions would cover performance assessment and occupational radiation protection.
These two license application topics have been addressed in the review comments (Enclosure 3), but the corresponding SESR input on these topics is not presently available.
NRC's ability to include these topics in the aforementioned NUREG publication will be subject to 1
8907180177 890630 FDR WASTE w+3 2 H.3 roc
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- JK/LTR.JCOLEMAN-6/26/89 available staff resources that are in competition with other priority regulatory work.
Unfortunately, we were not able to address surface drainage and erosion protection in the SESR given our limited staff resources in this critical area.
In keeping with our normal practice of fully informing State licensing authorities on matters of interest to their regulatory activities, we are concurrently forwarding a copy of this letter with enclosures to the State Agreement Program, Office of Governmental and Public Affairs, for the transmittal of this information to interested States and regional compacts.
Now that our efforts on the EMCB PLASAR are essentially complete, we plan to begin in the near future the review of the Below-Ground Vault (BGV) PLASAR, in response to DOE's previous request. Arrangements with your lead contractor, EG8G Idaho, Inc., are currently being finalized for a July 20, 1989 meeting in our Rockville office to initiate the BGV PLASAR review. DOE and its contractor, Rogers and Associates Engineering Corporation will have the opportunity to present an overview of their efforts in the preparation of the BGV PLASAR. This same approach was used for the review of the EMCB PLASAR and
. proved beneficial to the NRC staff in initiating their review.
If you have any questions on the results of our EMCB PLASAR review, or on our plans for the BGV PLASAR review, please feel free to contact me at 492 3439 (FTS).
k!k
.n. l. 7399 John J. Surmeier, Chief Technical Branch Division of Low-Level Waste Management and Decommissioning, NMSS Asstatef>
Enclosures:
b Distribution:
. JCentrah files: g' MTokar, LLTB JStarmer, LLTB BJagannath, LLTB NMSS r/f LLTB r/f KMcDaniel, LLTB DWidmayer, LLTB MWeber, LLTB YYoung, LLTB KWestbrook, LLTB EShum, LLTB
)
LDeering, LLTB JKane, LLTB LPittaglio, LLRB DSollenberger, LLRB JShaffner, LLOB TJohnson, LLOB JPhilip, RES BSiskind, BNL DBennett, COE SAbt, CSU RBangart, LLWM JGreeves, LLWM MBell, LLWM PLohaus, LLOB PDR Yes: @
/ Reason:
Proprietary /
/ or CF Only /
/
ACNW Yes:/i/
No:/
/
SUBJECT ABSTRACT:
/r OFC :LLTB g :JkT LLT
- LLWM
- LLWM
- hM55
- NM55 l
NAME:JKane/lj
- MTokar
- JS meier:
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DATE: b 'O89
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0FFICIAL RECORD COPY I
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