NON-NDAA Waste Incidental to Reprocessing (WIR) at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) in New York – West Valley Components

Operator: U.S. Department of Energy Docket Number: 05000201 (Vitrification Melter) and P00M-032 (Concentrator Feed Makeup Tank and Melter Feed Hold Tank)

For WIR not covered under the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (i.e., non-NDAA WIR), the role of the NRC is: if requested by the DOE through an Interagency Agreement (i.e., the DOE funds the NRC), then the DOE will consult with the NRC and the NRC will provide a technical review evaluating the DOE documents describing how the DOE proposes to dispose the component(s) as low-level waste offsite.

The West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) is located in western New York State, about 50 kilometers (kms) (30 miles (mi)) south of Buffalo, New York. The WVDP facilities occupy a security-fenced area of about 0.676 square kilometers (km²) (167 acres) within the 13.51 km² (3,338 acre) Western New York Nuclear Service Center (WNYNSC) located primarily in the town of Ashford in northern Cattaraugus County.

To date, the West Valley site in West Valley, New York is the first and only commercial reprocessing plant to operate in the United States. From 1966 to 1972, Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) reprocessed 640 metric tons of spent fuel under an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) license. Approximately four years after shutting down, NFS returned control of the facilities to the site owner, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Operations at the facility resulted in approximately 2.3 million litres (600,000 gallons) of liquid high-level waste (HLW) which was stored below ground in carbon-steel tanks, as well as other radioactive wastes, and residual radioactive contamination.

Previously, the DOE requested that the NRC Consult on two non-NDAA WIR reviews at WVDP for West Valley Components:

• Vitrification Melter – Consultation Completed
• Concentrator Feed Makeup Tank and Melter Feed Hold Tank – Consultation Completed

Currently, there are no non-NDAA WIR consultation activities occurring at the WVDP by the NRC.

Major Non-NDAA WIR Consultation Documents For The WVDP:

Current NRC Project Manager: Harry Felsher, 301-415-6559, Harry.Felsher@nrc.gov