[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 49 (Monday, March 14, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13605-13606]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5789]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of Availability of Draft Waste Incidental to Reprocessing 
Evaluation for the Vitrification Melter at the West Valley 
Demonstration Project for West Valley, New York

AGENCY: Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of a 
draft evaluation which shows that the vitrification melter (used to 
vitrify waste from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and certain 
treatment material) at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP), 
located at the Western New York Service Center in West Valley, New 
York, is waste incidental to reprocessing and thus is not high-level 
radioactive waste (HLW) and may be managed and disposed of offsite as 
low-level waste (LLW). DOE prepared the draft evaluation pursuant to 
DOE Manual 435.1-1, Radioactive Waste Management. DOE is consulting 
with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) before finalizing this 
evaluation. Although it is not required by DOE Manual 435.1-1, DOE is 
making the draft evaluation available for public and state review and 
comment during the NRC consultative review period. DOE will make its 
final evaluation and determination as to whether the vitrification 
melter is HLW, or is waste incidental to reprocessing which can be 
managed and disposed of as LLW, after consideration of any public, 
state, and NRC comments on this draft evaluation.

DATES: The comment period will end April 28, 2011. Comments received 
after that time will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: The draft waste evaluation is available on the Internet at 
http://apps.em.doe.gov/wvdp/, and is publicly available for review at 
the following locations: U.S. Department of Energy, Public Reading 
Room, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, phone: (202) 
586-5955, or fax: (202) 586-0575; and U.S. DOE, West Valley 
Demonstration Project Public Reading Room located at the Town of 
Concord Hulbert Library, 18 Chapel St., Springville, New York 14141, 
phone: (716) 592-7742. Written comments should be submitted to: Mr. 
Daniel Sullivan, U.S. Department of Energy, West Valley Demonstration 
Project, 10282 Rock Springs Road, West Valley, New York 14171-9799. 
Alternatively, comments may also be filed electronically by e-mail to 
[email protected] or by fax at (716) 942-4703.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about this 
draft waste evaluation, please contact Mr. Daniel Sullivan at the 
mailing address or Web site listed above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The vitrification melter is a box structure, 
approximately 10 feet on each side, with a stainless steel outer 
structure and an interior lined with refractory materials. It was used 
to solidify high-level waste which had been generated by commercial 
reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel at the Western New York Nuclear 
Service Center in West Valley, New York by Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. 
from 1966 through 1972. DOE undertook the solidification activities 
pursuant to DOE's responsibilities under the West Valley Demonstration 
Project Act. To solidify the waste, DOE vitrified the waste (combined 
it at a high temperature with borosilicate glass) and transferred the 
molten glass-waste mixture into specially developed

[[Page 13606]]

stainless steel canisters where the mixture hardened into a solid glass 
waste form. DOE used the vitrification melter as part of this process, 
specifically to melt glass frit (material used in making glass) 
together with reprocessing waste sludge and treatment material (spent 
ion removal resin).
    DOE operated the vitrification melter between 1996 and 2002. In 
2002, prior to shut down, the vitrification melter was flushed three 
times with decontamination solutions and emptied using an evacuated 
canister process so as to remove key radionuclides to the maximum 
extent technically and economically practical. After completing this 
decontamination, a small amount of hardened residual radioactive glass 
material that could not be removed remained inside the vitrification 
melter. The vitrification melter with the remaining residual waste was 
characterized for radioactivity and determined to have radionuclide 
concentrations that do not exceed concentration limits for Class C low-
level waste. It was removed from the vitrification cell in 2004 and is 
presently safely stored at the West Valley Demonstration Project in a 
Department of Transportation-certified Industrial Package-2 steel 
transportation container. DOE plans to further stabilize the 
vitrification melter waste package by filling the melter and the waste 
package with cement grout before shipment offsite. It will be disposed 
of at a suitable off-site low-level waste disposal facility, either the 
Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site at DOE's Nevada National 
Security Site (NNSS) in Nevada or the Waste Control Specialists Federal 
Facility Waste Disposal Facility near Andrews, Texas. DOE intends to 
dispose of the vitrification melter waste package in accordance with 
applicable waste acceptance criteria using specific waste profile 
documentation.
    DOE Manual 435.1-1, which implements DOE Order 435.1, Radioactive 
Waste Management, contains a rigorous evaluation process which DOE uses 
to determine whether or not certain waste from the reprocessing of 
spent nuclear fuel is incidental to reprocessing and therefore is not 
high-level waste and can be managed as low-level waste. This process, 
in relevant part, requires demonstrating that:
    (1) Key radionuclides have been removed to the maximum extent that 
is technically and economically practical;
    (2) The waste will be managed to meet safety requirements 
comparable to the performance objectives set out in 10 Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) Part 61, Subpart C, Performance Objectives; and
    (3) The waste will be managed, pursuant to DOE's authority under 
the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and in accordance with the 
provisions of Chapter IV of DOE Manual 435.1-1, provided the waste will 
be incorporated in a solid physical form at a concentration that does 
not exceed the applicable concentration limits for Class C low-level 
waste as set out in 10 CFR 61.55, Waste Classification.
    The draft waste-incidental-to-reprocessing evaluation summarizes 
DOE's analysis and shows that the vitrification melter:
    (1) Has had key radionuclides removed to the maximum extent 
technically and economically practical;
    (2) Will be managed to meet safety requirements comparable to the 
NRC performance objectives at 10 CFR part 61, subpart C; and
    (3) Will be in a solid physical form that does not exceed 
concentration limits for Class C low-level waste and will be managed 
and disposed of pursuant to DOE's authority under the Atomic Energy Act 
of 1954, as amended, and in accordance with applicable provisions of 
Chapter IV of DOE Manual 435.1-1.
    Accordingly, the draft evaluation demonstrates using the waste-
incidental-to-reprocessing evaluation process that the West Valley 
vitrification melter waste package may be managed and disposed of as 
low-level waste. The vitrification melter waste package will meet the 
applicable waste acceptance criteria for the selected offsite low-level 
waste disposal facility, either the NNSS Area 5 Radioactive Waste 
Management Site or the Waste Control Specialists Federal Facility Waste 
Disposal Facility in Texas. The vitrification melter waste package has 
been approved for disposal by the NNSS in case a final decision is made 
to send the waste package to that site for disposal.
    DOE is consulting with the NRC before finalizing this evaluation. 
Although not required by DOE Manual 435.1-1, DOE is making the draft 
evaluation available for public and state review and comment during the 
NRC consultative review period. DOE plans to issue a final 
determination as to whether the vitrification melter is high-level 
waste or can be managed and disposed of as low-level waste following 
review and consultation with the NRC and consideration of public and 
state comments.
    DOE's decision on the disposal site to be used is not within the 
scope of this draft evaluation. Any DOE decision on the facility to 
which the Vitrification Melter waste package would be sent would be 
made after the final DOE evaluation and determination, following 
consideration of NRC and public comments on this draft evaluation, and 
after DOE confers with appropriate State officials in the state where 
the waste package may be disposed.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on March 8, 2011.
Frank Marcinowski,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technical and Regulatory Support, Office 
of Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 2011-5789 Filed 3-11-11; 8:45 am]
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