[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 126 (Friday, June 29, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38789-38790]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-15986]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of Availability of Draft Waste Incidental to Reprocessing 
Evaluation for the Concentrator Feed Makeup Tank and Melter Feed Hold 
Tank at the West Valley Demonstration Project for West Valley, NY

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 concentrator feed makeup tank and 
melter feed hold tank (the vessels) which were used in conjunction with 
vitrifying 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, are waste incidental to reprocessing and thus are 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 Manual. 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 
vessels are HLW, or are 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 August 13, 2012. Comments received 
after that time will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: The draft waste evaluation is available on the Internet at 
http://www.wv.doe.gov/Document_Index/vessels.pdf, and is publicly 
available for review at the following location: U.S. Department of 
Energy, West Valley Demonstration Project Public Reading Room located 
at the Ashford Office Complex, 9030 US Route 219, Ashford, NY 14171-
9799, during the office hours of Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m.-
5:00 p.m., phone: (716) 942-4601. 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 
email 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 in ADDRESSES.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The vessels were used in the vitrification 
process to prepare and temporarily store pre-treated HLW slurry 
supplied to the vitrification melter. They were used as part of the 
process to solidify the HLW 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 WVDP 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 stainless steel canisters where 
the mixture hardened into a solid glass waste form.
    DOE operated the vitrification system between 1996 and 2002. In 
2002, prior to shut down, the vessels were flushed with high pressure 
demineralized water so as to remove key radionuclides to the maximum 
extent technically and economically practical. The vessels with their 
remaining residual waste were characterized for radioactivity and 
determined to have radionuclide concentrations that do not exceed 
concentration limits for Class C LLW. They were removed from the 
vitrification cell in 2004 and are presently safely stored at the WVDP 
in transportation containers that meet Department of Transportation 
Industrial Package 2 requirements. The vessels were further stabilized 
by filling them with cement grout. As explained in the draft 
evaluation, they would be disposed of at a suitable off-site LLW 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 would dispose of the vessel waste packages 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

[[Page 38790]]

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 HLW and can be managed as LLW. 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 LLW 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 vessels:
    (1) Have 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 LLW 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 
vessel waste packages may be managed and disposed of as LLW. The vessel 
waste packages will meet the applicable waste acceptance criteria for 
the selected offsite LLW disposal facility, either the NNSS Area 5 
Radioactive Waste Management Site or the Waste Control Specialists 
Federal Facility Waste Disposal Facility in Texas. The vessel waste 
packages have 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 vessels are HLW or can be managed and 
disposed of as LLW 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 vessel waste packages 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 packages 
may be disposed.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on June 20, 2012.
Frank Marcinowski,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Waste Management, Office of 
Environmental Management.
[FR Doc. 2012-15986 Filed 6-28-12; 8:45 am]
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