NRC-2020-0086, Comment (3) of Raymond R. Vaughan on New York State Energy Research and Development Authority; Irradiated Nuclear Fuel Processing Plant, Western New York State Nuclear Service Center
| ML21110A059 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | West Valley Demonstration Project |
| Issue date: | 04/09/2021 |
| From: | Vaughan R - No Known Affiliation |
| To: | Office of Administration |
| References | |
| 86FR13762 00003, NRC-2020-0086 | |
| Download: ML21110A059 (3) | |
Text
4/20/2021 blob:https://www.fdms.gov/bcdbf089-ddd1-4af5-9636-c738d078a96f SUNI Review Complete Template=ADM-013 As of: 4/20/21 8:07 AM E-RIDS=ADM-03 Received: April 09, 2021 PUBLIC SUBMISSION ADD: Amy Snyder, Marlayna Doell, Sarah Status: Pending_Post Tracking No. kna-tc3z-y6bz Achten, Mary Neely Comment (3) Comments Due: April 09, 2021 Publication Date: 3/10/2021 Submission Type: Web Citation: 86 FR 13762 Docket: NRC-2020-0086 New York State Energy Research and Development Authority; Irradiated Nuclear Fuel Processing Plant, Western New York State Nuclear Service Center Comment On: NRC-2020-0086-0001 New York State Energy Research and Development Authority; Irradiated Nuclear Fuel Processing Plant; Western New York State Nuclear Service Center Document: NRC-2020-0086-DRAFT-0003 Comment on FR Doc # 2021-05001 Submitter Information Name: Raymond Vaughan Address:
Buffalo, NY, 14202 Email: marlayna.doell@nrc.gov General Comment See attached comments from Raymond C. Vaughan, Ph.D., P.G. on the subject action.
Attachments Vaughan Comment Letter on RPP Amendment blob:https://www.fdms.gov/bcdbf089-ddd1-4af5-9636-c738d078a96f 1/1
534 Delaware Ave., Suite 302 Buffalo, NY 14202 April 9, 2021 Office of Administration Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 Re: Comment on proposed NYSERDA license amendment, Docket ID NRC-2020-0086
Dear Program Management,
Announcements and Editing Staff:
The proposed amendment to NYSERDAs license should not be granted unless/until impacts and alternatives have been assessed in a valid environmental review process.
NRC staff have incorrectly concluded that issuance of the amendment would satisfy the three standards of 10 CFR 50.92(c). In fact, compliance with the third standard (Does the proposed change involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety?) has not been demonstrated. In the Federal Register notice, NRC staff mischaracterize the proposed license amendment as simply impos[ing] an upgraded and up-to-date radiation protection plan for the Retained Premises in order to replace and supersede the outdated radiation protection requirements developed at the time of licensing the irradiated fuel processing facility. 86 Fed. Reg. 13764 (March 10, 2021).
This is not a straightforward one-for-one replacement and should not be characterized as such.
NRCs conclusion that there is no significant reduction in any margin of safety is unfounded.
NRCs wording (outdated versus upgraded and up-to-date) glosses over the substantive differences between the two different sets of radiation protection requirements. These two sets of requirements have coexisted for many years. Each has pros and cons that need to be compared in an environmental review process before the existing (allegedly outdated) radiation protection requirements can be properly changed in NYSERDAs license. An important part of the comparison involves the fact that, under certain circumstances, the upgraded and up-to-date radiation protection requirements are substantially less protective than the existing requirements. The following excerpt from a LLRW disposal book that I co-authored in 1990 provides a comparison of the two sets of requirements; its a comparison that applies not just to LLRW disposal but to other applications, as here, of the two sets of requirements:
See NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Final EIS for Promulgation of 6 NYCRR Part 382: Regulations for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facilities (1987), Vol.
II, especially DECs response #3 to comment C-5. The federal and state LLRW performance objectives are expressed in terms of dose equivalent. No member of the public is allowed to receive a dose greater than 25 mrem/yr whole-body exposure, or 75 mrem/yr to the thyroid, or 25 mrem/yr to any other organ. Some nuclear regulatory agencies advocate a revised method of dose calculation, which uses a different definition of rem (expressed as effective dose equivalent). The revised method combines internal
and external doses and thus makes it unnecessary to have separate regulatory standards for individual organs such as the thyroid. However, if the existing state and federal limits on thyroid dose from a LLRW facility (75 mrem/yr dose-equivalent) were eliminated in favor of a single exposure limit of 25 mrem/yr effective dose-equivalent, this would allow an elevenfold increase in the allowable exposure to the thyroid. While there may be merit in using a revised method of dose calculation that combines internal and external dose into a single value, such a revision should not be presented to the public and the scientific community as a neutral or purely scientific change in calculation method. It is also being used as a sub rosa method of revising standards, whereby allowable thyroid dose from a LLRW facility could increase by a factor of 11 and other allowable doses would increase as discussed in section VII.
R. Headley, R. Vaughan, K. Roach, and J Weiss, Low-Level Radioactive Waste: The Siting Process in New York, 3rd edition, August 1990, at 92 (text of footnote 36).* See also page 35 ff.
and cited sources.
For the foregoing reasons, compliance with 10 CFR 50.92(c) has not been demonstrated. The updated effective dose-equivalent requirements cannot properly be substituted for the existing dose-equivalent requirements in NYSERDAs license unless/until the updated requirements are shown to be equally protective. The proper vehicle for showing this, as noted above, is a valid environmental review process.
Sincerely, Raymond C. Vaughan, Ph.D., P.G.
Professional Geologist/Environmental Scientist cc: Marlayna V. Doell, NRC Paul Bembia, NYSERDA West Valley Citizen Task Force
- Copies apparently held by both New York State Library (363.1799 L912, 201-378) and Buffalo
& Erie County Public Library (TD898.12.N7 L6 1990A). Its not clear from their catalog listings whether both libraries have the 3rd (August 1990) edition.