ML19150A559

Letter to J. Isakson Site Audit Plan for Interim Storage Partners Proposed Application for a Site-Specific License of an Away-from-Reactor Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation

ML19150A559
Person / Time
Site:	Consolidated Interim Storage Facility
Issue date:	06/03/2019
From:	John Mckirgan Spent Fuel Licensing Branch
To:	Isakson J Consolidated Interim Storage Facility
Nguyen J
References
CAC 001028, EPID L-2017-NEW-0002
Download: ML19150A559 (4)

Text

UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 June 3, 2019 Mr. Jeffrey D. Isakson Chief Executive Officer/President Interim Storage Partners LLC P.O. Box 1129 Andrews, TX 79714

SUBJECT:

SITE AUDIT PLAN FOR INTERIM STORAGE PARTNERS PROPOSED APPLICATION FOR A SITE-SPECIFIC LICENSE OF AN AWAY-FROM-REACTOR INDEPENDENT SPENT FUEL STORAGE INSTALLATION

Dear Mr. Isakson:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff has prepared a site audit plan related to the review of the Waste Control Specialists, LLC (WCS) consolidated interim storage facility (CISF). The site visit plan describes the scope and purpose of the site visit, identifies the site visit team, and describes the documents required by the NRC staff. The site visit plan is enclosed.

The audit will take place at the WCS location: 9998 Highway 176 West Andrews, Texas, 79714 on Thursday, June 20, 2019.

If you have any questions, please contact the Senior Project Manager, John-Chau Nguyen, at (301) 415-0262 or John-Chau.Nguyen@nrc.gov.

Sincerely,

/RA/

John McKirgan, Branch Chief Spent Fuel Licensing Branch Division of Spent Fuel Management Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards Docket No.: 72-1050 CAC/EPID No. 001028/L-2017-NEW-0002

Enclosure:

As stated

ML19150A559 OFFICE: DSFM DSFM DSFM NAME: JNguyen WWheatley JMcKirgan DATE: 5/28 /19 5/29/19 6/03/19 SITE AUDIT PLAN FOR WASTE CONTROL SPECIALISTS (WCS)

CONSOLIDATED INTERIM STORAGE FACILITY (CISF) APPLICATION A. Location:

This audit will be conducted as defined below:

June 20, 2019 Waste Control Specialists 9998 Highway 176 West Andrews Texas, 79714 B. Background NRC staff is currently reviewing Interim Storage Partners WCS CISF application. The staff identified areas related to the information provided in the safety analysis report (SAR) with respect to geology and geotechnical engineering that required additional information. To address these areas, the staff developed requests for additional information (RAIs) and a site audit to allow the staff first-hand observations and examination of site conditions to further inform its understanding in the areas of site specific geology, seismology and geotechnical engineering.

C. Audit Scope The staff propose a General Site Vicinity Tour highlighting important geologic and structural features (or the lack of visible structures) to include the following:

• Examine outcrops of surface and near-surface stratigraphic units to clarify site stratigraphy, and examination of selected (representative) well locations (see SAR Figure 2-10).

• Examine representative examples of features of unknown origin, as identified in RAI 2.6-1, to support the review of the subsurface materials and potential for surface deformation.

• Examine outcrops or other exposures of the Red Bed Ridge, as mentioned in Attachment F and described in RAI 2.6-2, to clarify the origin of this feature and its potential to adversely affect the proposed site.

• Examine representative examples of active or abandoned oil and gas exploration and extraction wells or boreholes to observe any surface deformation due to those features and any association with the features of unknown origin identified in RAI 2.6-1.

• Examine representative areas at and near WCS CISF footprint for the purpose of gaining a visual perspective of the topography in regard to relationships of fine scale landscape features to larger scale features seen in reports and maps. Specific locations should include drainage areas associated with the proposed berm (RAI 2.4-2), the proposed side rail track (RAI 2.4-3), and the large playa southeast of the CISF site, especially the outflow area (RAI 2.4-1).

The staff would also like to examine the cores from the 2015 WCS CIFS boring program by GEOService, and from the previous boring of monitoring wells and piezometers in the site vicinity installed in 2005 and 2008/2009 by WCS, if available, to confirm the composition and lithology of the units encountered in the subsurface. Direct examination of the core will give the staff a better understanding of the stratigraphy at the site to make accurate safety conclusions concerning the site characteristics and the evaluation of the stability of subsurface materials. Specifically, the staff would like to see examples of core from the upper 45 ft by GEOService and core from the upper Enclosure

93.5 ft by WCS, core intervals in boreholes of undisturbed/disturbed samples representing the local stratigraphy, core showing the contact between the red bed ridge and the overlying and underlying units across the site, core from each of the subsurface units encountered in the boring program, and soil samples, if available. The staff would also like to see the corresponding boring logs.

D. Audit Team Christopher Regan, Deputy Division Director Michael Dudek, Branch Chief Jose Cuadrado, Project Manager Jenise Thompson, Geologist Amitava Ghosh, Geotechnical Engineer Luissette Candelario, Geotechnical Engineer Zuhan Xi, Geotechnical Engineer Gerry Stirewalt, Senior Geologist Randall Fedors, Senior Hydrogeologist E. Special Requests Appropriate handling and protection of proprietary information shall be acknowledged and observed throughout the audit.

F. Deliverables The audit team will issue an audit summary after completing the audit. The audit will assist the NRC staff in the review of the WCS CISF application.