NRC Waste Incidental to Reprocessing Program: Overview of Consultation and Monitoring Activities at the Idaho National Laboratory and the Savannah River Site - What We Have Learned - 12470

Conference · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2012

OSTI ID:22293696

Suber, Gregory ^[1]

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1. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (United States)

In 2005 the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) began to implement a new set of responsibilities under the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of Fiscal Year 2005. Section 3116 of the NDAA requires the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to consult with the NRC for certain non-high level waste determinations and also requires NRC to monitor DOE's disposal actions related to those determinations. In Fiscal Year 2005, the NRC staff began consulting with DOE and completed reviews of draft waste determinations for salt waste at the Savannah River Site. In 2006, a second review was completed on tank waste residuals including sodium-bearing waste at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center Tank Farm at the Idaho National Laboratory. Monitoring Plans were developed for these activities and the NRC is actively monitoring disposal actions at both sites. NRC is currently in consultation with DOE on the F-Area Tank Farm closure and anticipates entering consultation on the H-Area Tank Farm at the Savannah River Site. This paper presents, from the NRC perspective, an overview of how the consultation and monitoring process has evolved since its conception in 2005. It addresses changes in methods and procedures used to collect and develop information used by the NRC in developing the technical evaluation report and monitoring plan under consultation and the implementation the plan under monitoring. It will address lessons learned and best practices developed throughout the process. The NDAA has presented significant challenges for the NRC and DOE. Past and current successes demonstrate that the NDAA can achieve its intended goal of facilitating tank closure at DOE legacy defense waste sites. The NRC believes many of the challenges in performing the WD reviews have been identified and addressed. Lessons learned have been collected and documented throughout the review process. Future success will be contingent on each agencies commitment to consistently apply the lessons learned and continue to create an open and collaborative work environment to maintain the process of continuous improvement. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9-332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22293696
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--14-WM-12470
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
EVALUATION
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MONITORING
NATIONAL DEFENSE
SAVANNAH RIVER