ML20247B814
| ML20247B814 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 05/12/1989 |
| From: | Hurt R NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | Rouse L NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| References | |
| REF-PROJ-M-32 NUDOCS 8905240248 | |
| Download: ML20247B814 (3) | |
Text
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MEM0 TO L.C. ROUSE FROM RDHURT
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MEMORANDUM FOR: Leland C. Rouse, Chief Fuel Cycle Safety Branch Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety FROM: R. Davis Hurt West Valley Project Manager Advanced Fuel and Special Facilities Section Fuel Cycle Safety Branch
SUBJECT:
TRIP TO WEST VALLEY DEMONSTRATION PROJECT From April 19-21, 1989 I visited the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP),
attended at different times by J. Price and J. Hannelman of Science Applications International' Corporation and J. Berger of Oak. Ridge Associated Universities. The following were the main topics discussed.
- 1. Integrated Radwaste Treatment System (IRTS)
IRTS Campaign 9 was under way at the time of our visit. The WVDP has found that zeolite loading can be. improved by diluting the feed to the Supernatant Treatment System, and has been running with diluted feed since Campaign 8. The number of future campaigns required to decontaminate the remaining supernate has been reduced somewhat because of the beneficial effects of dilution; but each campaign will last longer, so the projected completion date for supernate processing is still early 1991. About 25 percent of the cesium originally in the supernate has now been removed, producing 3,300 drums of cement. The average cesium decontamination factor (DF) has been 48,000 and the drum surface dose rates are mostly around 20 mrem /hr. The design goals were a DF of at least 1000 and a surface dose rate of not more than 700 mrem /hr.
Analytical data are now available to check the DF's of the Liquid Waste i Treatment System evaporator. Concentrations of most radionuclides are so low in the condensed overheads that samples had to be sent off the site for analysis. For all isotopes except C-14 the measured DF's were about the same or a little higher than the values estimated in the Safety Evaluation Report. The C-14 inventory in the supernate is small enough that C-14 concentrations in the plant effluent will still not approach the Part 20 limits.
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-MEM0 TO L.C. ROUSE FROM RDHURT
- 2. _ Vitrification Off-Gas The WVDP staff had prepared answers to our written questions on this topic. We discussed these in some detail and were provided with additional references. Pending review of the references, we may meet with WVDP's vitrification consultants at Pacific Northwest Laboratories this summer.
- 3. Lagoon The WVDP staff reviewed the status and history of Lagoons 1 and 2, and we toured the lagoon area. Dr. Berger attended this portion of the site visit. The estimated Cs-137 inventory of 30,000 curies, reported to NRC-in 1987, has been determined to have been erroneous, caused by a i transcription error in reporting a laboratory measurement. The actual inventories of activity in the sluges in Lagoons 1 and 2 are not known with great confidence, but indications are that the inventories are probably a few hundreds curies of total activity, not tens of thousands of curies of Cs-137 alone.
It will be difficult'now'to take samples from Lagoon 1. It was filled with chunks of contaminated asphalt and miscellaneous debris from the old hard stand in 1984 before it was graded over with soil. We noted during the tour that Lagoon 1 is far removed from the gullies and is not particularly exposed to erosion.
- 4. Kerosene The WVDP has recently started a project to determine the extent of kerosene contamination in the NRC-licensed disposal area. Two burial pits in which kerosene-filled tanks had been buried were disinterred in 1986 after kerosene was discovered in nearly monitoring wells. A small quantity of kerosene was discovered in a different well in August last year. Besides the two 9at were dug up, six additional burial pits are believed to contain kerosene tanks. The WVDP is not making any commitment to disinter these, but aims to determine as far as possible how much water has accumulated in each of these six pits and how far, if at all, the kerosene has spread.
- 5. Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Documentation The WVDP is preparing three EIS-related documents that will probably be sent to NRC for comment this year. These were described to me in very gencral terms. The documents are (1) the Site Characterization Plan, which will define the characterization work required for the EIS, (2) the EIS Implementation Plan, which will elaborate on the scope of the EIS and the options to be investigated (in more detail than the Notice of Intent, apparently), and (3) the Preliminary Performance Assessment, which will identify the leading technical issues at the site as they are understood at present. The WVDP staff hopes to send those documents to us by September 1989, although it seems that they are all still earmarked for more internal revicw before they can be released.
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HEMO TO L.C. ROUSE FROM RDHURT
- 6. West Valley Interface Participants Group Meeting On the evening of April 19, Messrs. Price and Hantnelman and I attended a public meeting held by the WVDP to address local citizens concerning the status and plans of the Project. About 25 people attended. Most of the
' discussion was about the prospective 1991 budget cut for the WVDP and about the Project's environmental monitoring program, a subject selected at a previous meeting. These meetings are held approximately~once a month.
0% Signed by R. Davis Hurt West Valley Project Manager Advanced Fuel and Special Facilities Section Fuel Cycle Safety Branch DISTRIBUTION Project M-32 INSB R/F - PDR LPDR hRC File Center IMAF R/F RDHurt gog JJSwift 9
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