ML24022A295
| ML24022A295 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07000398 |
| Issue date: | 01/12/2024 |
| From: | Mackey E US Dept of Commerce, National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) |
| To: | Osiris Siurano-Perez NRC/NMSS/DFM/FFLB |
| References | |
| TAC L32643 | |
| Download: ML24022A295 (1) | |
Text
24-000006-N
FORM CD-15 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE DATE (12-6-73)
PRESCR. BY TRANSMIT/ROUTE DAO 214-2 BUILDING, TAKE INITIALS NAME ROOM OR ACTION AND DATE REFERENCE NO. BELOW
ACTION ITEMS 1.APPROVAL/SIGNATURE 9.YOUR INFORMATION 2.CLEARANCE/INITIALS 10.PER OUR CONVERSATION 3.RECOMMENDATION OR COMMENT11.AS REQUESTED 4.RETURN WITH MORE DETAILS 12.NECESSARY ACTION 5.INVESTIGATE AND REPORT 13.CIRCULATE AMONG STAFF 6.NOTE AND SEE ME 14.ANSWER DIRECTLY 7.NOTE AND RETURN 15.PREPARE REPLY FOR SIGNATURE 8.NOTE AND FILE OF: __________________________________
COMMENTS
Continued on reverse
FROM (Name) BUILDING, CODE AND EXTENSION ROOM OR REF. NO.
- U.S. Government Printing Office: 1980-665-115/1024 Region No. 6 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
1/10/2024
MEMORANDUM FOR: Dr. Laurie Locascio Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology &
Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology
FROM: Dr. Elizabeth Mackey Chief Safety Officer, National Institute of Standards and Technology Executive Management Representative, Io nizing Radiation Safety Committee
SUBJECT:
SUBMISSION OF NIST CERTIFICATION OF FINANCIAL ASSURANCE IN RESPONSE TO NRC REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
BACKGROUND
NIST received a Request for Additional Information (RA) from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) indicating that the 2022 Decommissioning Funding Plan submitted by NIST did not include a certification of financial assurance consistent with the model language provided in NUREG-1757, Vol. 3, Rev. 1, Appendix A, Section A.2.4. The OSHE Radiation Safety Division developed a certification of financial assurance consistent with the language requested by the NRC in response to the RAI.
The draft certification assurance was reviewed and approved by the Ionizing Radiation Safety Committee. Certifications of financial assurance require signature and approval of the NIST Director who has the authority to direct funding for the organization.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS
The certification of financial assurance does not increase the declared financial liability for NIST associated with decommissioning the facilities that work with radioactive materials under the SNM-362 license.
RECOMMENDATION
I recommend you sign the attached certification of financial assurance. The NIST Chief Safety Officer will submit the response letter and attachments to the NRC.
Approve: _____________________________ Date: __________________
Disapprove: _____________________________ Date: __________________
Please provide a follow-up memorandum addressing the following issues:
Attachments:
Encl 1 - DFP RAI Response Encl 2 - DCE Facility Laboratory Cost Estimating Worksheets Rev. 1 Encl 3 - DCE Accelerator Component and Area Cost Estimating Worksheets Rev. 1 Encl 4 - Certification of Financial Assurance NIST SNM-362 DFP RAI Response to NRC CL
cc: Manny Mejias, Radiation Safety Officer Alan Thompson, Ionizing Radiation Safety Committee Chair
ENCLOSURE 1
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY SPECIAL NUCLEAR MATERIAL LICENSE SNM-362, (DOCKET NO. 70-0398)
RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION DECOMMISSIONING FUNDING PLAN UPDATE
NRC Request:
(1) Justify key assumptions in the 2023 decommissioning cost estimate (DCE)
To confirm that the unit costs were correctly applied and to ensure adequate funding for decommissioning is available, provide additional information about the following:
- a. The unit costs used in calculating waste disposal costs, and specifically state the units of measurement for each unit cost. In addition, provide justification for the exclusion of packing and shipping of sealed sources costs in the 2023 DCE, or otherwise revise the 2023 DCE to include these costs.
NIST Response:
The units of measurement for each unit cost were reviewed with the contractor that developed the DCE and were to have been correctly applied. However, during this review it was recognized that units were not explicitly labeled. As a result, the units have now been updated into the appropriate tables as seen in Enclosures 2 and 3.
The 2023 DCE cost associated with packing and shipping was included in Waste Disposal Cost (Table 3.14(c)) (Enclosure 2) associated with the Sealed Sources. The table has been revised to include a note to reflect that the total cost has included packing and shipping.
NRC Request:
- b. Additional detail for the 2023 DCE on the basis for labor costs, including the fringe rate used and the base salaries before adjusting for the cost of fringe benefits.
NIST Response:
The NIST has accepted the assessment from the contractor that the labor values are based on 85 %
salary and 15% fringe based on their experience and industry practices. Additional detail shown:
Radiation Radiation Labor Cost Project Workers Workers Clerical Component Mgr Supervisor HP Technician Shipper (Craftsmen) (Non-skilled)
Salary inc.
Holidays & PTO $97,359 $82,051 $68,376 $82,051 $41,888 $37,511 $41,378
($/year)
Fringe ($/year) $17,181 $14,480 $12,066 $14,480 $7,392 $6,620 $7,302
Total $114,540 $96,531 $80,442 $96,531 $49,280 $44,131 $48,680
NRC Request:
- c. Justification for the removal of the miscellaneous non-labor costs (i.e., security, shielding and support), or otherwise revise the 2023 DCE to include these costs.
NIST Response:
During the review of the DCE it was recognized that miscellaneous costs associated with security as well as shielding and support were erroneously omitted. The DCE has been revised to include the additional security cost in Enclosure 2 and is now updated based on an escalation of 4.1% annually to 2023 (i.e., $100,784). The DCE has also been revised to include the Shielding and S upport in Enclosure 3 and is now added based on an escalation of 4.1% annually to 2023 (i.e., $40,636).
NRC Request:
(2) Include the radioactive waste expected to be generated by the addition of H Wing ventilation in the cost estimate Include the cost for processing, shipping, and disposal of the additional radioactive waste that the addition of H Wing ventilation caused to the 2023 DCE, or otherwise justify why it was not included in Table 3.14 of Appendix A.
NIST Response:
During the review of the DCE it was recognized that there was a calculation error that impacted the total cost for the additional radioactive waste for H-Wing. This error has been corrected to the DCE (Enclosure 2).
NRC Request:
(3) Submit certification of financial assurance Submit a certification of financial assurance consistent with the model language provided in NUREG -
1757, Vol. 3, Rev. 1, Appendix A, Section A.2.4.
NIST Response:
A certification of financial assurance is provided as Enclosure 4.
NRC Request:
(4) NRC Additional comments/issues:
- 1. Disposition of customer-owned inventory The language contained in the 2023 DCE appears to conflict with NISTs 2019 RAI responses. NIST will need to clarify if the 2023 DCE assumes a worst-case scenario and if it includes funding for all inventory, including customer inventory.
NIST Response:
NIST has reviewed the 2023 DCE and the 2019 RAI. As a result, it was determined that our position from the 2019 RAI was inadvertently omitted. Therefore, the NIST reaffirms that it enters into Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) and Inter-Agency Agreements (IAAs) in which ownership is clearly established as a responsibility for the customer for a small number of sources. However, NIST does not seek to obtain credit when developing the cost estimate of total financial liability. NIST is responsible for the entire inventory, whether it is customer-owned or not.
NRC Request:
- 2. Calculation errors contained within tables 3.11, 3.13, and 3.14 in Appendix B, and Table 3.13 and 3.14 in Appendix A.
Table 3.11 and Table 3.13 in Appendix B: The Planning and Preparation row of Table 3.11 uses incorrect values from Table 3.6. Rather than using the total number of workdays required for planning and preparation, the values for a single activity are used.
When these values are then used in Table 3.13 to calculate total labor costs for planning and preparation, the cost is significantly lower than it should be. The total labor cost for the Planning and Preparation row of Table 3.13 appears to be approximately $287,820, which is about $237,000 more than the $50,990 value presented in Table 3.13.
NIST Response:
The total number of workdays required for planning and preparation have now been appropriately applied in order to correct the values in Table 3.11 and Table 3.13 of Appendix B has been corrected as seen in.
NRC Request:
Table 3.13 in Appendix A: The values presented in the second and third rows in this table, representing labor costs for decontamination and dismantling of radioactive facility components, and restoration of contaminated areas on facility grounds, respectively, do not appear to be correct.
The table below presents the differences between the two sets of values. The revised amounts were calculated by multiplying the total number of workdays for each labor category and task from Table 3.11 by the total cost per workday from Table 3.12.
NIST Response:
Values from Tables 3.11, 3.12 & 3.13 of Appendix A have been updated as seen in Enclosure 2.
NRC Request:
- a. Table 3.14(a) in Appendix B: The first row in Table 3.14(a), which represents packaging costs for DAW waste, contains a minor miscalculation. Specifically, 5 containers which cost $2,000 each, have a total cost of $9,573 instead of $10,000.
NIST Response:
The minor miscalculation has been corrected and the total cost is $10,000.
NRC Request:
- b. Table 3.14(b) in Appendix A and Appendix B: There appear to be minor miscalculations for total packaging and shipping costs in Table 3.14(a) and (b). Specifically, the table below presents the differences between the amounts contained in the DCE and corrected amounts.
NIST Response:
A review of the costs found in Table 3.14(b) in Appendix A and Appendix B determined the calculations to be correct.
As an example, the table below (previously provided by NRC as part of the RAI) has been augmented to describe how the NIST calculated the shipping values in comparison with the NRC method.
App A A B C D E 3.14 (b)
waste # (truckloads) unit cost surcharge overweight DS (miles) ICF type ($/mile/truckload) ($/mile) charges
($/mile)
DAW 1 $4.25 $1.50 525 $3,019 Metal 2.5 $4.25 $1.50 525 $7,547 Concrete 0.5 $4.25 $1.50 525 $1,509 Total 4 $12,075
Totals as determined by each approach and their result.
NIST NRC
[D*(B + C)]*A (A*B*C*D)
$3,019 $3,347
$7,547 $8,367
$1,509 $1,673
$12,075 $13,387
ENCLOSURE 4
Certification of Financial Assurance
Certification of Financial Assurance
Principal:
License number: SNM-362 US DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY (NIST) 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-1731
Issued to:
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
I certify that NIST is licensed to possess the following types of materials:
- sealed sources or plated foils with a half -life greater than 120 days lic ensed under 10 CFR Part 30,
- unsealed byproduct material with a half -life greater than 120 days licensed under 10 CFR Part 30,
- source material in a readily dispersible form licensed under 10 CFR Part 40, and
- unsealed special nuclear material licensed under 10 CFR Part 70
in Types of Materials and Amounts of Materials as specified in SNM -362 Amendment 11, dated May 20, 2021 (ML21126A114).
I also certify that financial assurance in the amount of $ 9.8 million has been obtained for the purpose of decommissioning as prescribed by 10 CFR Part s 30, 40, and 70.
Signature
Laurie E. Locascio, Ph.D.
Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology &
Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology