[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 178 (Thursday, September 15, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-22875]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: September 15, 1994]


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DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD

[Recommendation 94-2]

 

Conformance With Safety Standards at DOE Low-Level Nuclear Waste 
and Disposal Sites

AGENCY: Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

ACTION: Notice; recommendation.

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SUMMARY: The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has made a 
recommendation to the Secretary of Energy pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 2286a 
concerning conformance with safety standards at DOE low-level nuclear 
waste and disposal sites. The Board requests public comments on this 
recommendation.

DATES: Comments, data, views, or arguments concerning this 
recommendation are due on or before October 17, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Send comments, data, views, or arguments concerning this 
recommendation to: Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, 625 Indiana 
Avenue NW., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20004-2901.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kenneth M. Pusateri or Carole C. Morgan, at the address above or 
telephone (202) 208-6400.

    Dated: September 12, 1994.
John T. Conway,
Chairman.

    Dated: September 8, 1994.

    The high-level radioactive wastes that are a result of weapons 
material production have been the strong focus of waste management 
activities of the Department of Energy (DOE). Considerably less 
attention has been placed upon the large volumes of low-level 
radioactive waste that have been generated to date and that are 
projected for the future. Operation of waste management facilities and 
the maintenance of the defense nuclear complex will continue to 
generate considerable low-level waste and the need for adequate waste 
storage and disposal facilities. This volume is likely to increase 
dramatically with the decommissioning and decontamination of excess 
facilities.
    The Board and its staff have been reviewing low-level waste 
management within the defense nuclear complex pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 
2286a(a)(1), which requires the Board to review and evaluate the 
content and implementation of standards, including DOE orders and 
regulations, at defense nuclear facilities. DOE Order 5820.2A, 
Radioactive Waste Management, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's 
regulation on low-level waste disposal, Code of Federal Regulations 
Section 10 Part 61, have provided the basic frame of reference for this 
review. Further, it was useful to examine the low-level waste 
management program of the Department in terms of its past, present, and 
the future operations.
    The results of our review are summarized as follows:
     As of 1993, the DOE and its predecessor agencies have 
buried approximately 2.8 million cubic meters of low-level radioactive 
waste. This waste has largely been disposed of at six sites through the 
use of shallow land burial--Savannah River Site, Hanford, Idaho 
National Engineering Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Nevada 
Test Site, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
     Low-level waste disposal as practiced by DOE contractors 
has not kept pace with the evolution of commercial practices. For 
example, DOE disposal programs are generally characterized by minimal 
barriers to infiltration and biologic intrusion, no requirements to 
protect inadvertent human intruders, and operational practices not 
geared toward maintaining integrity of the waste form and the cover.
     In 1988, DOE issued Order 5820.2A, Radioactive Waste 
Management, which adopted the basic performance objectives of the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission's 10 CFR part 61. A key feature of the 
Order is the requirement to prepare a Performance Assessment (PA). This 
Performance Assessment is intended to demonstrate that the buried waste 
will remain sufficiently confined to pose no undue risk to public 
health and safety. Although the Order was issued six years ago, no 
defense nuclear facilities site has to date completed the performance 
assessment process.
     In establishing low-level waste burial ground source 
terms, current DOE guidance for performance assessments required by DOE 
Order 5820.2A allows the evaluators to neglect waste disposed of prior 
to 1988. Further, it allows evaluators to apply reference dose criteria 
to disposal facilities individually rather than assessing composite 
effects when contiguous burial facilities exist. A number of other 
factors also complicate site specific assessments. For example: (1) A 
commercial low-level waste burial site is situated adjacent to a DOE 
burial site at Hanford; (2) some sites have multiple burial grounds, a 
situation not explicitly addressed by DOE Order 5820.2A; and (3) 
agreements have been established with State/Environmental Protection 
Agency authorities for closeout of some burial sites under the Resource 
Conservation Recovery Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation, and Liability Act provisions.
     Some effort is being made by those tasked with site waste 
management to have generators of waste provide long-range forecasts of 
the amount of wastes they will have to send for disposal, but the 
forecasts are beset with such uncertainty as to provide little 
confidence in the projections. This is especially true as the 
projections pertain to wastes from decontamination and decommissioning, 
and environmental restoration.
    The DOE's burial of low-level waste in some locations within the 
complex actually constitutes nuclear waste storage, since inadequate 
emplacement may require later retrieval of the waste, further 
processing or packaging, and final disposal in a demonstrably adequate 
facility. Given the substantial volume of low-level waste buried prior 
to 1988 in old burial sites using practices which do not meet current 
standards, the lack of complete compliance with requirements of DOE 
Order 5820.2A at currently operating sites, and the likely dramatic 
increase in future waste volumes, the Board recommends that:
    1. A comprehensive complex-wide review be made of the low-level 
waste issue similar to the review the Department conducted regarding 
spent nuclear fuel. As with spent fuel, the objective of such review 
should be the establishment of the dimensions of the low-level waste 
problem and the identification of necessary corrective actions to 
address safe disposition of past, present, and future volumes. The 
Implementation Plan provided the Board should include:
    a. A regularized program for forecasting future burial needs 
relative to existing capacity, taking into account the projected 
programs for decontamination and decommissioning of defense nuclear 
facilities and environmental restoration activities as well as current 
operational units.
    b. The development and issuance of additional requirements, 
standards or guidance on low-level waste management that address safety 
aspects of waste form and packaging, burial ground siting and 
performance assessment, facility design, construction, operation, and 
closure, and environmental monitoring. Such guidance should reflect 
consideration of concepts of good practices in low-level waste 
management as applied in the commercial sector, both nationally and 
internationally, and results of DOE's technological developments and 
advisories to the State Compacts pursuant to the Low Level Radioactive 
Waste Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended.
    c. Planned studies directed towards (1) improving modeling and 
predictive capability for assessing migration of radionuclides and (2) 
enhancing the stability of buried waste forms, deterring intrusion and 
inhibiting migration of radionuclides.
    d. Studies of enhanced methods that can be used to reduce the 
volume of waste to be disposed of, such as compaction and more 
environmentally acceptable incineration.
    e. Assessments of the safety merits/demerits of privatization of 
facilities for disposal of DOE low-levels wastes.
    2. More immediate steps be taken to complete the performance 
assessment process for all active low-level waste burial sites as 
required by DOE Order 5820.2A. In so doing clarifying instructions 
should be issued to insure that:
    a. Performance assessments are based upon the total inventories 
(past, present, and future) emplaced or planned for the burial site(s).
    b. Performance objectives (dose criteria) of DOE Order 5820.2A are 
achieved for the composite of all low-level waste disposal facilities 
on the site.
    3. If non-compliance with reference dose criteria set forth in DOE 
Order 5820.2A is found, an action plan with schedule be developed for 
bringing operations into compliance or other acceptable compensating 
measures be undertaken in the interim pending final closure.
John T. Conway,
Chairman.
September 8, 1994.
The Honorable Hazel R. O'Leary,
Secretary of Energy,
Washington, DC 20585
    Dear Secretary O'Leary: On September 8, 1994, the Defense 
Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 
2286a(5), unanimous approved Recommendation 94-2 which is enclosed 
for your consideration. Recommendation 94-2 deals with Conformance 
with Safety Standards at DOE Low-Level Nuclear Waste and Disposal 
Sites.
    42 U.S.C. 2286d(a) requires the Board, after receipt by you, to 
promptly make this recommendation available to the public in the 
Department of Energy's regional public reading rooms. The Board 
believes the recommendation contains no information which is 
classified or otherwise restricted. To the extent this 
recommendation does not include information restricted by DOE under 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 42 U.S.C. 2161-68, as amended, please 
arrange to have this recommendation promptly placed on the file in 
your regional public reading rooms.
    The Board will publish this recommendation in the Federal 
Register.

John T. Conway,
Chairman.
[FR Doc. 94-22875 Filed 9-14-94; 8:45 am]
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