ML18330A255

Summary for Public Meeting and Enclosures 1-3: Held November 8, 2018, to Discuss the License Renewal, Environmental Analysis and Leaks at the Westinghouse Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility

ML18330A255
Person / Time
Site:	Westinghouse
Issue date:	12/18/2018
From:	Matt Bartlett NRC/NMSS/DFCSE/FLB
To:	Jacob Zimmerman NRC/NMSS/DFCSE/FLB
Bartlett M
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ML18330A147	List: ML18330A255
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Download: ML18330A255 (32)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 December 18, 2018 MEMORANDUM TO: Jacob I. Zimmerman, Chief /RA/

Fuel Facility Licensing Branch Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental Review Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards FROM: Matthew Bartlett, Project Manager Fuel Facility Licensing Branch Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental Review Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

SUMMARY

FOR PUBLIC MEETING HELD NOVEMBER 8, 2018, TO DISCUSS THE LICENSE RENEWAL, ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS AND LEAKS AT THE WESTINGHOUSE COLUMBIA FUEL FABRICATION FACILITY On November 8, 2018, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff held an open house and a Category 3 public meeting from 6:30pm-9:00pm in Columbia, South Carolina to discuss the Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC (WEC), Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (CFFF).

Approximately 70 people attended the public meeting including members of the public, representatives from WEC, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) staff, and NRC staff. Representatives of the Congaree Riverkeepers also attended.

Multiple state and local officials attended including State Senator Darrell Jackson (District 21),

Councilwoman Sandra Yudice (Richland County), Councilwoman Dalhi Myers (District 10),

Councilman Norman Jackson (District 11), and Councilwoman-elect Chakisse Newton (District 11).

Councilwoman Myers made an opening statement that Richland County will be sampling and analyzing private wells and provided a phone number to call if anyone was interested in having their well water tested.

The NRC provided a slide presentation, see enclosure 1, which explained the NRCs license renewal process including the environmental review and its oversight activities. The NRC also discussed several leaks that have occurred at the facility and the NRCs role in monitoring the licensees response.

CONTACT: Matthew Bartlett, NMSS/FCSE/FFLB 301-415-7154

Following the formal presentation, the NRC staff listened to questions and comments from the audience. The general areas of interest included: emergency response, status of the licensees operational performance, potential risks and impacts of the leaks on groundwater and the nearby Congaree River, oversight role of the NRC and SCDHEC, and duration of the license term.

The NRC has developed additional information on these topics as questions in enclosure 2, Questions and Answers from the November 8, 2018, public meeting. These questions and answers will also be posted on the NRCs public website for CFFF located at https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/fc/westinghouse-fuel-fab-fac-sc-lc.html.

Docket No.: 07-1151 License No.: SNM-1107

Enclosures:

1. Attendees List

2. Questions and Answers

3. Meeting Slides

J. Zimmerman 3

SUMMARY

FOR PUBLIC MEETING HELD NOVEMBER 8, 2018, TO DISCUSS THE LICENSE RENEWAL, ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS AND LEAKS AT THE WESTINGHOUSE COLUMBIA FUEL FABRICATION FACILITY DATED: December 18, 2018 DISTRIBUTION: FCSE r/f LClark, OGC TVukovinsky, RII EMichel, RII BKlukan, RI ADAMS Accession Number: ML18330A147 OFFICE FCSE/FFLB FCSE/FFLB FCSE/FFLB FCSE/ERB FCSE/FFLB NAME MBartlett TBrockington JQuintero CRoman JZimmerman DATE 11/30/2018 12/12/2018 12/12/2018 12/14/2018 12/18/2018 OFFICIAL RECORD COPY

WESTINGHOUSE PUBLIC MEETING ATTENDEES LIST Enclosure 1

WESTINGHOUSE PUBLIC MEETING ATTENDEES LIST 2

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Meeting on the Westinghouse Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility October 11, 2018 Division of Fuel Cycle Safety, Safeguards, and Environmental Review Brian Smith, Acting Director Matt Bartlett, Project Manager Jessie Quintero, Environmental Project Manager Region II, Division of Fuel Facility Inspection Thomas Vukovinsky, Senior Project Inspector Enclosure 3

Agenda

• NRC Introduction

• Westinghouse and Fuel Fabrication

• License Renewal Process

- Safety Review

- Environmental Review

• NRC Oversight

- Inspection and Enforcement

- Leaks in 2008, 2011, and 2018 2

NRC Mission The NRC licenses and regulates the Nations civilian use of radioactive materials to provide reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety, and to promote the common defense and security, and to protect the environment.

3

Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility

• Located in Hopkins, SC

• 1969: Original license issued

• License renewed 4 times

• 2027: Current license expires

• 5th license renewal currently under review

• Manufactures fuel assemblies for use in commercial nuclear power plants 5

Fuel Fabrication Process

• http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/nuclear_fuel_fabrication-inf127.html 6

Safety Review Program Elements General Information Emergency Management Organization and Environmental Protection Administration Integrated Safety Analysis Decommissioning Radiation Protection Management Measures Material Control and Criticality Safety Accounting Chemical Process Safety Fire Safety Physical Protection 8

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Review Air Quality

• Evaluate the environmental effects of the facility operating Land use for another 40 years Noise and Aesthetics

• Document results in an Ecology Environmental Assessment (EA)

Socioeconomics

• Re-open the NEPA review due Transportation to leaks Water Quality and Use - Will issue draft EA for public review and comment 9

NEPA Review 10

Environmental Justice (EJ)

• Analyze for disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects on low-income and minority populations

• NRC has a Policy Statement that provides guidance for performing EJ analyses

• Previous EAs did not include EJ analysis because there were no significant impacts

• Decision to conduct EJ analysis will follow process outlined in Policy Statement 11

Oversight

• Verify Westinghouse is meeting the regulatory requirements as described in their license

• Assess the overall safety performance of the facility by reviewing trends

• Issue violations if regulatory requirements are not met

- Level of violation (severity) ranges from I to IV 12

2018 Leak - Response

• NRC completed an inspection Sept 18-21 and issued a Level IV violation

- Westinghouse must respond to the violation within 30-days

• Westinghouse completed an apparent cause evaluation, implemented compensatory measures, and continues to take corrective actions

• Westinghouse is still determining the extent of the leak into the subsurface and coordinating with DHEC for further actions

- Results of the sampling will be evaluated in the license renewal review 14

2008 and 2011 Leaks

• Westinghouse found leaks in 2008 and 2011 in an underground piping system that goes from the facility to the wastewater treatment plant

• Westinghouse implemented corrective actions

- Re-routed acidic and/or caustic solutions

- Portions of the line inside the building were re-routed above ground

- Piping was re-lined 16

2008 and 2011 Leak - Next Steps

• January 2018: Westinghouse initiated effort to further characterize and determine extent of leaks Drilled temporary wells to obtain water samples to determine extent of contamination, if any Efforts are ongoing Results will be evaluated in the license renewal review 17

Decommissioning

• Westinghouse is required to decommission the site once operations have ceased and clean up to allow for unrestricted use

• NRC reviews and approves Westinghouses decommissioning funding plan every 3 years

• NRCs Decommissioning Planning Rule 18

Closing Remarks

• License renewal review is ongoing

- Draft EA will be published for public comment

- Safety Evaluation Report will document the conclusions of the safety review

• Oversight and Inspection

- Completed the inspection and issued a violation

- Westinghouse must respond to the violation

- Westinghouse continues to investigate the leaks 19

For More Information

• Visit the NRCs website at https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/fc/westinghouse- fuel-fab-fac-sc-lc.html

• Find documents online in the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System at https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html

• Contact NRC staff

- Matthew.Bartlett@NRC.gov or 301.415.7154

- Jessie.Quintero@NRC.gov or 301.415.7476 20

Acronyms DHEC Department of Health and Environmental Control EA Environmental Assessment EJ Environmental Justice NEPA National Environmental Policy Act SC South Carolina 21

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS DEVELOPED AFTER THE WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC COMPANY, LLC PUBLIC MEETING, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has developed the following questions and answer to provide additional information on the following areas: emergency response, status of the licensees operational performance, potential impacts of the leaks on groundwater and the nearby Congaree River, the oversight role of the NRC and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC), and the duration of the license term.

Question 1 How will local residents be informed if a major event occurs at the Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC (Westinghouse) Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (CFFF)?

The CFFF Emergency Plan identifies the types of accidents that could occur at the facility.

These include a range of events that are grouped into three categories including:

1. Local Response Event - this is an information only announcement at the facility with no anticipated response needed by or affect to employees outside the affected area;

2. Alert Emergency - this is an incident that has led or could lead to a release to the environment of radioactive or other hazardous material, but the release is not expected to require a response by an offsite response organization to protect persons offsite; and

3. Site Area Emergency - this is defined as an incident that has led or could lead to a significant release to the environment of radioactive or other hazardous material and that could require a response by an offsite organization to protect persons off site.

Events which could lead to a Site Area Emergency are rare and have not occurred at CFFF.

This type of event could impact local residents who live near the site. The primary hazard would be from hazardous chemicals, including uranium, which could propagate offsite during the event. In case of this type of event, CFFF would notify local emergency responders (e.g., police and fire) in consultation with other local, state, and federal officials, as described in the emergency plan. If officials need to contact local residents, they may utilize various methods including direct contact, phone, and local media to inform them of protective actions such as, shelter in place or evacuation, depending on the type and severity of release.

The CFFF processes fresh, unirradiated nuclear fuel for shipment to commercial nuclear power reactors. As such, its operations cannot produce a major radiological explosion, as occurred at the Chernobyl, Ukraine, nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986, or the Fukushima, Japan, nuclear power plants that occurred in 2011. Fuel cycle facilities have sufficient enriched nuclear material on site to result in an inadvertent criticality, if configured under unplanned and abnormal conditions (e.g., the wrong geometry and moderator). This type of event could produce local radiological exposures to workers. A criticality event is a major hazard to nearby workers, but results in limited offsite exposures or contamination. For nuclear fuel cycle facilities, similar to CFFF, chemical and industrial events represent the dominant hazard.

Enclosure 3

Question 2 How is the emergency plan used to protect members of the public?

The NRCs regulations in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 70, Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material, Paragraph 70.22(i)(3) requires CFFF to have an NRC-approved emergency plan.

Purpose of Emergency Plan:

The emergency plan describes the licensed activities, the facility, and the types of accidents that could occur. It provides information on the postulated accidents and the licensees procedures for notifying and coordinating with offsite authorities. The plan provides the measures that might be necessary during an event, the equipment and facilities available to respond to an emergency, and how the licensee will maintain emergency preparedness capability. It also describes the records and reports that will be maintained and concludes with a section on recovery after an accident, including plans for restoring the facility to a safe condition.

The emergency plan reflects the preparations done to cope with an emergency and provides a response to three basic questions:

• WHAT is to be done (procedures);

• BY WHOM (response personnel); and

• WITH WHAT (equipment in designated locations).

The details of the actual response are contained in the emergency plans implementing procedures, which are maintained onsite. The implementing procedures are the heart of the emergency response. They must be clear, precise, and easily understood. The NRC staff reviews the implementing procedures during the licensing process and during inspections, to ensure that the procedures are current and workable and that they conform to the descriptions in the emergency plan.

ONSITE PREPARATIONS:

The emergency plan describes the onsite emergency response organization for the facility for both routine and off-shift operations. It designates the position and responsibilities of the person (and alternates) who has the overall oversight for implementing and directing the emergency response. The plan specifies the organizational group or groups assigned to the functional areas of emergency activities including: facility system operations, fire control, personnel evacuation and accountability, search and rescue operations, first aid, communications, post-event assessment, etc.

OFFSITE COORDINATION:

The emergency plan contains the preplanned protective action recommendations the licensee needs to make to each appropriate offsite organization including local officials, the State, the NRC, etc. for each postulated accident. The recommendations specify the type of actions to be taken. The plan also identifies the offsite services to be performed, means of communication, and the type of agreements that are in place for medical treatment facilities, first aid personnel, fire fighters, law enforcement assistance, and ambulance services.

Additional NRC guidance regarding emergency plans is available in Regulatory Guide 3.6, Revision 1, Standard Format and Content for Emergency Plans for Fuel Cycle and Materials Facilities, (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System [ADAMS] Accession Number ML103360487).

Question 3 What is the status of the licensees operational performance? How has it changed over time and compared to other similar fuel cycle licensees?

Since 2000 there have been 56 event notifications to the NRC from CFFF. Details of the six over the last 2 years are attached (including the scrubber event). None of these events are known to have resulted in actual radiological consequences to people near the site. For comparison, the two other commercial fuel manufacturing facilities in the United States made 36 and 68 event notifications apiece in the same time. The full list of events can be accessed on the NRCs public website at https://www.nrc.gov/site-help/search.html?site=events&q=07001151&s=+#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=07001151&gsc.page=1.

Generally, civil penalties are only issued for escalated enforcement violations (i.e. Severity Level [SL] I, II, III violations) if required conditions are met. Severity Level IV (violations that resulted in no or relatively inappreciable potential safety or security consequences) or non-cited violations (NCV) (minor violations that are not documented in inspection reports) generally do not receive a civil penalty. The majority of violations that the fuel facilities receive are SL IV or NCV.

A civil penalty in the amount of $17,500 was issued to Westinghouse on November 3, 2010 for a SL III violation involving a spill of uranium bearing ammoniated waste water inside the plant on January 25, 2010. The notice of violation and proposed imposition of civil penalty are detailed in inspection report 2010-010 (ADAMS Accession Number ML103080055). This is the only civil penalty issued to CFFF. As a comparison, below is a list of the other fuel facilities which have incurred penalties:

• United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) received one civil penalty in the amount of $60,000.

• BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. received three civil penalties for a total for

$65,000.

• Global Nuclear Fuel - Americas (GNF-A) received one civil penalty in the amount of

$16,500.

• Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS) received four civil penalties for a total amount of

$200,000.

• The public can find this information on the NRC public website at:

https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/enforcement/actions/fuel-cycle-fac/

In some instances, the NRC refrains from issuance of a civil penalty due to commitments the licensee makes during Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) sessions. The goal of ADR is to ensure that the licensee takes appropriate action to correct the issue and protect employees, the environment, and the public. An ADR is offered, in most cases, when escalated enforcement (Severity Level I, II, or III) violations are identified at a facility. If a violation is processed using ADR and an agreement is reached, the actions agreed upon are documented in a Confirmatory Order, which results in an amendment to the facilities license and the agreed upon actions are required to be completed. Multiple fuel cycle facilities have completed ADR including CFFF, Framatome, USEC, and NFS which were not issued a civil penalty in lieu of the Confirmatory Order actions. The ADR agreement with CFFF occurred in August, 2017. This event involved the unexpected accumulation of uranium in a ventilation scrubber (S-1030 Scrubber) (ADAMS Accession Number ML17221A103).

The total number of violations at the Category III fuel cycle facilities since approximately 1995 is provided below:

• CFFF - 18 NCVs, 84 SL IVs, and 5 SL IIIs (no environmental violations were identified);

• GNF-A - 25 NCVs, 39 SL IVs, and 3 SL IIIs; and

• Framatome - 10 NCVs, 48 SL IVs, and 1 SL III.

Question 4 How does the NRC and SCDHEC oversight work together to ensure CFFF operates safely, securely and to protect the environment?

The NRC is responsible for licensing the CFFF under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 70, Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material. The NRC provides licensing and oversight for the safety, security, and environmental protection of operations involving radiological materials. For the CFFF facility, the license authorizes processing of source and special nuclear materials - specifically uranium in various chemical and physical forms for the manufacture of fresh, unirradiated nuclear fuel for power plants.

CFFF is required to monitor the release of any radioactive materials in liquid or the air effluents, as well as any direct radiation from the plant. They must track their releases so they can report them to the NRC. If there is a release above as low as reasonably achievable levels, the plant must make a special report to the NRC. CFFF also measures radiation levels in the groundwater and air samples at multiple monitoring location around the site. They also collect routine surface water and sediment samples onsite and near the wastewater release point on the Congaree River. The NRC requires CFFF to have and maintain the appropriate environmental programs (environmental monitoring, waste treatment, and controls on effluents).

Failure to comply with these programs and permits requires CFFF to report to the NRC in a timely manner, see 10 CFR Part 70, Appendix A, Reportable Safety Events.

The SCDHEC regulates any releases from the facility to the environment. For example, SCDHEC issues CFFFs air permit and water discharge permit for releases to the Congaree River. The SCDHEC is responsible for implementing environmental regulations and ensuring drinking water meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys standards. Wastewater containing trace amounts of radioactive materials is released from CFFF to the Congaree River as permitted by the State. These releases are controlled and monitored to meet conservative regulatory limits to protect public health, safety, and the environment. CFFF is required to submit an annual report to SCDHEC.

As stated on the SCDHEC website for CFFF (https://scdhec.gov/westinghouse-electric-company), DHEC and the company have also entered into a Voluntary Cleanup Contract to address historical contamination located on the facilitys property. Both the NRC and DHEC regulations promote safe operations of the facility and are intended to be protective of public health and the environment.

Question 5 What duration of the license renewal should be applied to CFFF?

Early Background for License Terms:

In the 1960s, the Commission established a policy that source, byproduct and special nuclear material licenses would be given terms up to 5 years long. The Commission determined this renewal period does not negatively impact public health and safety, the common defense and security, or the environment. Longer renewal periods decrease the number of renewal applications submitted to the NRC and, consequently, decrease the regulatory burden on

materials licensees, without any adverse effect on the public health and safety, the common defense and security, or the environment.

In the 1980s, operations at major fuel cycle licensees had become more established, with few significant changes to their licenses and their operations. As part of NRC's overall program to make licensing more efficient and effective, NRC concluded the term for major operating fuel cycle licenses could be increased from 5 years to 10 years with no adverse effect on public health and safety, security, or the environment. This change also had a positive effect on safety, because it allowed the NRC to focus additional resources on oversight of these facilities through increased plant operational assessments, periodic safety demonstration reviews, and increased interactions with licensees through management meetings and periodic workshops Implementation of the Integrated Safety Analysis Requirements:

Traditionally, the license renewal process has been used as an opportunity for the Commission to review: (1) the history of the licensee's operating performance; and (2) to ensure the licensees programs employ up-to-date technology and practices in the protection of health, safety, and the environment and compliance with any new or amended regulations. However, regardless of the license term, licensees are required to adhere to the regulations and their license conditions. In practice, most of the proposed changes to licensed operations are implemented as license amendments, rather than during the license renewal process. In addition, fuel cycle facilities are subject to a comprehensive inspection program that is conducted on a routine 18-month period, which can be increased if performance issues are identified. This ensures the NRC staff are in a position to identify, by inspection or other means, violations that affect public health and safety, security, and the environment and to take appropriate enforcement action, when needed.

In the 2000s, the NRC completed a rulemaking to implement 10 CFR Part 70, Subpart H, Additional Requirements for Certain Licensees Authorized to Possess a Critical Mass of Special Nuclear Material. Part 70, Subpart H required certain fuel cycle licensees, including CFFF to develop an Integrated Safety Analysis (ISA). (An ISA is a systematic analysis to identify facility and external hazards and their potential for initiating accident sequences, the potential accident sequences, their likelihood and consequences, and the items relied on for safety which are implemented to prevent potential accidents or to mitigate their potential consequences). The implementation of this rulemaking served as a basis for the Commission to extend the license term for certain fuel cycle facilities up to 40 years.

MAINTAINING THE SAFETY BASIS:

Before the implementation of Part 70, Subpart H, a large focus of the license renewal process was to verify the safety basis of a facility. There was no regulatory requirement for a licensee to submit changes to the safety basis before license renewal. The ISA and the related ISA Summary provide a more extensive safety basis than was previously required in the license application. Also, licensees are required to keep the ISA Summary up-to-date and provide an annual update to NRC. The annual ISA Summary update allows for the safety bases to be maintained up to date and routinely reviewed by the NRC staff during the 40 years between license renewals.

MATERIAL DEGRADATION AND AGING:

Unlike reactors, fuel cycle licensees can halt processes at any time to replace or repair equipment in the facilities. Thus, material degradation and aging can be dealt with throughout the lifetime of fuel cycle facilities, rather than at outage times, as is often the case at reactors.

Since licensees must submit annual updates of ISA summaries to NRC for approval, NRC is aware of changes due to material degradation or aging throughout the lifetime of the facility.

Therefore, material degradation and aging do not affect the duration of a license term.

The Commission documented its decision to approve maximum license terms of 40 years for fuel cycle facilities that have an ISA (e.g., CFFF), in Staff Requirements Memorandum -

SECY-06-0186, Increasing Licensing Terms For Certain Fuel Cycle Facilities, see references below. The Commission also approved license terms for less than 40 years on a case-by-case basis where there are concerns with safety risk to the facility or where a licensee introduces a new process or technology.

Status of the Renewal:

The NRC staffs review of CFFFs license renewal application and environmental report are expected to continue into 2019. The CFFFs application requests a 40 year license renewal which is under consideration by the NRC. The final determination for renewal and the license term will be part of NRCs decision upon successful completion of the review. The final decision and basis for the renewal decission will be documented in a Safety Evaluation Report and the environmental documentation (e.g., environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact or environmental impact statement) which will be made publically available through publication in the Federal Register.

References:

Federal Register Notice, Licensing of Source Material, Expiration of Licenses, 31 FR 16343, December 14, 1966.

Federal Register Notice, PART 40-Licensing of Source Material Expiration of Licenses, 32 FR 7172, May 12, 1967.

Federal Register Notice, Ten-Year License Term for Major Operating Fuel Cycle Licensees, 55 FR 24948, June 19, 1990.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, SECY-06-0186 - Increasing Licensing Terms For Certain Fuel Cycle Facilities, August 24, 2006, ADAMS Accession No. ML060880241.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Staff Requirements - SECY-06-0186 - Increasing Licensing Terms For Certain Fuel Cycle Facilities, September 26, 2006, ADAMS Accession No.

ML062700110.

Federal Register Notice, Maximum 40-Year Licensing Terms for Certain Fuel Cycle Facilities, 71 FR 70441, December 4, 2006.