Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste 124th Meeting, January 16, 2001
Official Transcript of Proceedings NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Title: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste 124th Meeting Docket Number: (not applicable) Location: Rockville, Maryland Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2001 Work Order No.: NRC-030 Pages 1-113 NEAL R. GROSS AND CO., INC. Court Reporters and Transcribers 1323 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005 (202) 234-4433. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION + + + + + 124TH ACNW MEETING ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON NUCLEAR WASTE (ACNW) + + + + + TUESDAY JANUARY 16, 2001 + + + + + ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND + + + + + The Advisory Committee met at Conference Room 2B3, Two White Flint North, B. John Garrick, presiding. COMMITTEE MEMBERS: JOHN GARRICK Chairman GEORGE HORNBERGER Member MILTON LEVENSON Member RAYMOND WYMER Member ACRS STAFF PRESENT: John T. Larkins, Executive Director Lynn G. Deering Howard J. Larson Andrew Campbell ALSO PRESENT: Jeff Ciocco Stephanie Bush-Goddard Nelson Bret Leslie, NRC Staff Lisa Gue Mr. Major Carl Feldman Bob Nelson Paul Genoa . I-N-D-E-X AGENDA ITEM PAGE Opening Remarks by Chairman Garrick 4 ACNW Sufficiency Review Application Task Action Plan 6 Comments on the Yucca Mountain Project Lisa Gue, Public Citizen Group 42 Entombment Option for Decommissioning Power Reactors Comments by Stephanie Bush-Goddard 60 Comments by Paul Genoa 98 Comments by Lisa Gue 107 Adjournment 112 . P-R-O-C-E-E-D-I-N-G-S (10:22 a.m.) CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Good morning. The meeting will now come to order. This is the first day of the 124th meeting of the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste. My name is John Garrick, Chairman of the ACNW. Other members of the Committee present include George Hornberger, Milt Levenson and Richard -- or Raymond Wymer. During today's meeting the Committee will discuss progress on ACNW's Sufficiency Review Application Task Action Plan, discuss with the NMSS staff several questions related to the Entombment Option for Decommissioning Power Reactors; discuss Planned ACNW Reports on several topics, including the Entombment Option, Key Technical Issue Resolution, the Staff's Progress on Total Performance Assessment, and the Annual Research Report to the Commission. Howard Larson is the designated Federal Official for today's initial session. The meeting is being conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. We have received no written statements from members of the public regarding today's session. Should anyone wish to address the Committee, please make your wishes known to one of the Committee staff. And as usual, it's requested that speakers use one of the microphones, identify themselves and speak clearly. Before proceeding with the first Agenda item, I'd like to cover some brief items of current interest. As we all know by now, President Elect Bush has nominated out-going U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham of Michigan to be Secretary of the Department of Energy, and New Jersey Governor Christy Todd Whitman to the Administrator -- to be an Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Utah regulators have given preliminary approval to Envirocare of Utah to its request to be allowed to dispose of more low-level waste, most Class A, plus more Class B and C waste. There is a 60-day public comment period after which approval by both the Governor and the State Legislature is required. On January 3rd of this year, the National Research Council held its first meeting of the Committee on Alternatives for Controlling the Release of Solid Materials from Nuclear Regulatory Commission- Related Facilities. This is related to a proposed clearance rule. The Committee is chaired by Richard S. McGhee. So with that, the -- and unless there are comments on any of those items, I think we will proceed directly into our Agenda. And the first item is progress on ACNW's Sufficiency Review Application Task Action Plan, and I think the ACNW staff member that's going to lead this discussion is Lynn Deering. MS. DEERING: Yes, sir. Thank you. I'm on Tab 3, and this section of the notebook contains a write-up of a revised approach to our Sufficiency and KTI Resolution Review. And this is draft six of that thing. Each notebook it gets changed a little bit. It gets better and better and one of these days we're going to do something with it. We're going to take it somewhere and -- CHAIRMAN GARRICK: You'll stop calling it draft and call it version VER. DR. LEVENSON: REV zero. (Laughter) MS. DEERING: Well, yes, we'll start all over. But at one point we were going to maybe brief -- use that one-pager to brief Commissioner TAs. In light of the fact we may be just briefing the whole Commission in March on that same subject, perhaps that's what we'll do with it. And in fact, I've already developed some draft view graphs from it. Yes. DR. LARKINS: I just was going to mention -- interject a point here -- now, even with the, what looks like the deferred schedule on the site termination, when I talked to the various Commissions they felt that it was still a good idea that we proceed with our planning and our review, because they felt that would give us an opportunity to get ahead of the curve and it would still be timely. So I just wanted to interject that. MS. DEERING: Good. Okay, because that is our plan to proceed ahead. And one of the things I've asked NRC staff, Jeff Ciocco and Jim Furth, if they can add during this discussion, enlighten us a little bit about their schedule, given the delays, but how they're proceeding, so that we know if there's drivers for us in terms of what they're doing. And so we've got that in the notebook. Item 3, is the template that we developed following the San Antonio meeting to conduct our reviews, help us conduct our reviews. And the Committee members have filled out the templates to various degrees for discussion today. We will use some of those draft templates for discussion on the individual vertical slices, to what we have. You know, and I think from here also we want to talk about schedules, where we go from here. And Ray's already proposed and George concurred that we use the March meeting to really start. We're going to actually start our reviews and give status reports and official reports, and maybe some presentations and view graphs about where we stand in March. So I'm just going to, before I turn it over to individual KTI vertical slices, just sort of update for the audience, if nothing else, and for ourselves where we stand on this. The last month or the month before last in San Antonio we agreed that we may actually add an additional product to our overall review. And that was, we may do some comments on the SRCR itself. Although that is not the primary objective of what we're doing, it -- but it may be an outcome, and I've revised the one-pager to reflect that. And again, the one-pager was revised to kind of put the focus on the fact that we're conducting -- and I'm just going to read excerpts from this. So you don't need to follow along, per se. But we're going to conduct vertical slice reviews -- hold on, I've lost my spot -- vertical slice reviews of the staff's KTI issue resolution process, rather than a report itself. So Ray, you made a really good point this morning about having attended the technical exchange. One of the things you said was you weren't sure you agreed with the resolution, at least on one of these sub-issues, in terms of the closed pending status and maybe the basis for that. And I think that's exactly what we're trying to do with these vertical slices, is get at that kind of issue. Do we agree with the defensibility of what the staff's doing, the transparency of what the staff's doing in the issue resolution process, the traceability? Are they being overly conservative? Are they being underly (sic) conservative? Are we buying in with what we hear and see? And so I think that's a really good example. That just really nails what I think we're trying to do here. And again, we're using all the SRCR. Even though we did not -- it won't be issued until December, all the technical bases documents are out, the PMRs, the AMRs and I am about to ask Jeff to comment here on their schedules and the tools that they're using. But we have what we need, as the staff has what they need, even before the SRCR is submitted, to get a good jump start on this whole review. So Jeff, could you let us know what you guys are doing? MR. CIOCCO: Yes. My name's Jeff Ciocco. I'm with the NRC staff. I'm a little bit hoarse this morning, so excuse me. We are proceeding by implementing the staff sufficiency guidance and beginning to initiate our preparation of sufficiency comments. As you know, there's a lot of uncertainty as to when the DOE will release its Site Recommendation Consideration Report. We do have the AMRs/PMRs. We have the preliminary pre-closure safety evaluation. We don't have the TSP/ASR. MR. WYMER: We received some of those just last week. MR. CIOCCO: Okay. We have received some of the TSP/ASR reports. And we also have the uncertainty with the new Volume 3 of the SRCR, which is the NWTRBs cold versus hot repository design. So we are beginning to initiate the review in order to get ahead and to -- really to, I guess to get ahead of the submission of the DOE's SRCR. MS. DEERING: Are you using -- CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Microphone. MS. DEERING: Sorry. Do you have what you feel you need in the way of your preliminary guidance to -- for now. I know it's not a final document, but you have a structure, and in part, using -- or how do you conduct your review? Put it that way. (Laughter) MS. DEERING: Are you at the point where you're just gathering -- let me back up. Maybe that's not something I can ask you. Are you -- what schedule are you using to try to pull your comments together? MR. CIOCCO: Well, the site recommendation schedule had us to generate sufficiency comments by May of 2001. MS. DEERING: Right. MR. CIOCCO: And depending on when the DOE submits the SRCR, we may be compressed to still submit comments by May 2001. There's, you know, obviously uncertainty in that. So we're kind of backing out a schedule from May 2001 and generating comments. MS. DEERING: Okay. MR. CIOCCO: Well, obviously, we're going to have to evaluate those comments when the SRCR comes in. We don't know what the actual contents of the report are going to be, but we know what the technical basis documents are now that we have received, and those are public documents. MS. DEERING: Okay. That's helpful. So that means we might want to keep with that schedule also, the May 2001, keep that in mind as a target ourselves, because there's a lot of uncertainty. So, or at least get something preliminary together. I think what we might want to do, then, is talk a little bit about these templates and where we stand in the various -- on the various vertical slices. And Ray, you were -- you did a really nice job on yours, and Andy's got this draft on the working group. So you all might want to start, sort of kick it off and brief us on, you know, some of your insights in filling out the template and whatever you want to talk about. DR. WYMER: Okay. Well, I wasn't terribly enthusiastic about it when it first came up, but as I get into it, it seemed like it was probably worthwhile. DR. HORNBERGER: "It" being the template. DR. WYMER: The template, yeah. DR. HORNBERGER: I just wanted to correct that for the record. DR. WYMER: Yes. That was a capital "I" there on the end. DR. HORNBERGER: Because somebody might have misinterpreted it and thought you weren't excited about the chemistry issue. DR. WYMER: Oh, I doubt if this group would ever make that mistake. It did force me to, probably sooner than I would have, to go into a real reading of the AMRs and looking through a lot of the stuff. So I thought it was a worthwhile exercise, all in all. I questioned one of the points that Lynn put into her outline, is the NFC's previous resolution status prior to technical exchange and source. I didn't know how that contributed to going forward. So I didn't do anything on that particular item. DR. HORNBERGER: Ray, I think that -- I don't disagree with you're not pursuing it -- but I think that our -- I believe that our thinking had been that we might get some insight as to if there was a change in the issue's status as to exactly what it was that led the staff to conclude that such a change was warranted, and that would give us sort of a time line or a course, a path to resolution and might give us some insights. That's all. DR. WYMER: Yes, I thought that's probably what the objective was, but it seemed to me that if we knew what the current status was and we're going forward from that point, that was what was important. But okay. There's differences of opinion. But we do plan, as you know, to hold this little working group's -- not exactly a working group, but a group of us get together, three consultants and Andy and myself are going to get together and discuss the KTIs that relate -- and the AMRs that relate to mainly the corrosion issue, but peripheral issues that related to that, that have to do with transport of radio nuclides. And so we've put together a plan to proceed to an outline that we're going to follow in holding our meeting, which will allow us to go into considerable depth vertically. And Andy has also superimposed on that in order to cover some of the issues, the other KTIs that are not our direct interest, the horizontal slice, which broadens out what we're going to discuss, too, things like transport phenomena. If I recall the RAD transport in particular is an issue that we're interested in. MS. DEERING: Yes. DR. WYMER: So as we're going a little farther than maybe than you anticipated with respect to making this in-depth vertical slice, in that we're pulling in outside people to help us with our thinking, people that have a more detailed background in some of these specific areas. And that's pretty well outlined in the stuff that you've handed out to the Committee, at least, which is generally available to anybody who has the temerity to be interested in all of these details. I don't know what else, really, to say, Lynn, without getting into the stuff I specifically wrote on the KTIs. Generally, I think it's a worthwhile exercise. MS. DEERING: Yes. And you're comfortable -- it's a worthwhile exercise. You think it's a doable exercise, right? DR. WYMER: Yes. MS. DEERING: We can get there from here? DR. WYMER: Yes. MS. DEERING: I mean, because some of this was experimental in the beginning. Like, are we even on the right track; how far can we go with it. DR. WYMER: Yes, I think we can. And in my write-up of the vertical slice template I have a fairly extensive attachment that I hooked on that deals with the resolution of the key technical issues, at least on container life and source term, which is our principal thrust. So there is an attachment that deals in some detail with the corrosion processes and the lifetime of the containers. And it says what the steps are that NRC and DOE plan to take with respect to resolution of these key technical issues, with even down to the particular AMRs that are -- that ought to be looked into. One thing that came out of this review last week when we went to the resolution meetings, KTI resolution meetings, is that a lot of the AMRs are going to be redone. They're going to be extended and there are revisions already in hand that I did not have at the time I wrote this. And there are other revisions that are planned. So in a way, we're always running behind, and I don't know a way, really, to get around that except that some of the issues that I may have pointed out or come up with are already at least partially resolved. This will be kind of a problem for us when we hold our little group meeting, too, that we will not have the latest AMRs in hand. And a lot of them are requested at this meeting by the NRC staff, but we probably will not have those by the time of our meeting. We certainly will not have had time to review them at the time of our meeting. MS. DEERING: Yes, I recall, too, a lot of the staff requested as part of issue resolution a particular analysis. And DOE would say, yes, that'll be in our AMR and that will be submitted in 2002. DR. WYMER: Yes. There were about three or four, maybe more, that were specifically said 2002 and we said, well, that doesn't do us a lot of good. MS. DEERING: Except that I don't think to do our vertical slice and the conclusions we will make, I don't -- I think there's a way to get around that. DR. WYMER: Yes. MS. DEERING: We don't have to say all information was provided and information was adequate or anything like that, Ray, George. DR. HORNBERGER: Right. But it's also true, I think, that the AMRs are available. What you're talking about is the additional information in the next revision of an AMR that won't be required to have the issue closed. So the AMR itself is available. It's just that the additional information that NRC staff has requested won't be available. DR. WYMER: Well, that's certainly true, but some of that information is so important that it would be nice to have it, you know. DR. LEVENSON: Yes, but at this point isn't the most significant thing staff recognition that that is important and that is needed and they're going after it? We don't necessarily have to see the data. We just want to make sure that they haven't missed something, if they've identified it and are insisting on it. DR. WYMER: And if I were to make a general observation about this KTI resolution meeting, it is that most of the stuff that was requested was, where is your data. That was the thrust, where's the information that backs up this statement that you made. And that's 90 percent at least of what was asked for, was supporting data. DR. WYMER: Which is what we'd like to see. MS. DEERING: Yes, that's a good point. MR. CAMPBELL: And that was true in the RAD transport tech exchange, is a significant amount was either what is the data to support your position, or how are you going to get that data. DR. WYMER: Yes. That was one of the things I liked about the meeting and the discussion in the caucus, was the emphasis on factual support for fairly broad and sweeping statements that were made by DOE. I thought it was a good process. I'll repeat that for the larger group, or I thought it was a good process. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. And in connection with the process question it's important for us to remind everybody here that what we're doing here is a departure from our normal way of doing business, of reviewing an applicant's material and offering comments and advice, et cetera. Given the large amount of material that's involved and tremendous amount of reading that is necessary to even get through it, much less evaluate and analyze it, the Committee and the staff has made the decision that the vertical slice concept of not only doing a vertical slice, but focusing more on what the NRC's doing than on necessarily what the DOE is doing, is a more efficient way to get to the issues. And I guess the question we have to keep asking ourselves, is this giving us visibility into the process that the NRC is employing to review something like the SRCR, and are we learning more about how effective that process is? And in the meantime, are we also staying alert to technical questions that may require us to go back to the source material, the DOE source material, to get to the -- get real satisfaction on them? Is that happening, is something we have to be very alert to. DR. HORNBERGER: Of course, I'd point out that all of this stuff we're talking about looking at, PMRs and AMRs, is in fact to be resource material. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Right. DR. HORNBERGER: So that's exactly what we're doing. DR. WYMER: That's right. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. Yes. DR. WYMER: That's all I have, Lynn. DR. LEVENSON: Yes. I have one question for Ray. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Oh, a question. DR. LEVENSON: Under -- in your thing you wrote under DOE's current modeling approach and position: "The DOE's current models are based on the assumption that the environment on the surface of the waste package is the same as that on the drip shield." Does that mean we're spending some hundreds of millions of dollars of money for drip shields, and taking no credit for it at all? DR. HORNBERGER: Chemistry clinic. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Water flow right up their -- DR. WYMER: I don't know that it means exactly that, but it does mean that they just assume, as it says, that the water hasn't changed after it's gone off the drip shield into the package, and that's probably not true. DR. LEVENSON: Oh, okay. So this is not -- it's not the total environment. It's only the chemistry of the water. DR. WYMER: That's it. DR. LEVENSON: Okay. DR. WYMER: Because the total environment includes quantity of water. DR. LEVENSON: Yes, okay. That's how I'd -- DR. WYMER: Yes, I'm sorry. That wasn't clear. DR. LEVENSON: Okay. DR. WYMER: John, you had a -- DR. LARKINS: Yes. Well, you had questions to answer for Commissioners where you, you know, these questions. And it says: "Is the issue resolution process sufficient for the sub-issues," and you say maybe not, because of the absence of, you know, maybe some things have been overlooked. How do you -- DR. WYMER: How do you know what you haven't thought about, yes. DR. LARKINS: Yes. DR. WYMER: And a very good case in point, of course, is the trace impurity corrosion of Alloy 22. That wasn't thought of until it came up. So you can't know what you don't know, but these things do emerge with time and with additional experimental studies. And that's where it's all at. You've just got to go out there and look at the system more and get data, and things will continue to crop up, especially in the coupled effects area because the system's so extraordinarily complicated chemically. DR. LARKINS: Yes. I guess what you're saying is for the way it's -- the sub-issues are defined that it may be sufficient; however, because of uncertainties in the knowledge base there that you -- there may be some things which aren't included. DR. WYMER: I would bet there are things, you know. It's almost a certainty that there are things that will crop up. But of course, till they crop up we don't know what they are. DR. HORNBERGER: Now, to me there's, shall I say, a danger for us here and that is that this is typically -- we know this is true in science, okay -- there are always surprises. We know that there are surprises. So the scientific approach to a question never leads to an answer, but this is an engineering project, and basically, I think that we have to keep in mind that the whole idea is to try to engineer it so that it is at least robust against surprises. Not that all of the issues or all of the scientific issues have to be explored in goriest detail, but rather that a safety case can be made. DR. WYMER: Yes. DR. HORNBERGER: And so I also think that as we go through the vertical slice, what John has really emphasized for us, is to keep the RIPB -- keep the risk perspective in mind as we go through it and not lose sight of that. DR. WYMER: Yes, and what you look for is not the technical details, but the gross things like, is Alloy 22 really going to last 11,000 years, some of these key issues. If they're not of that magnitude then they do get washed out because the engineering approach, using George's term here, does allow you to ignore a bunch of stuff that is chemically interesting, it will happen chemically, but doesn't matter. DR. LEVENSON: If there is no impact on safety, then why do we pursue getting it? Then it's just a matter of satisfying somebody's curiosity. I think we have to assure ourselves, is that things that have a significant impact on safety are not overlooked. DR. WYMER: Yes. DR. LEVENSON: Not that nothing is overlooked. DR. WYMER: Yes, absolutely. MS. DEERING: Right. Right. That's not necessarily easy to do. DR. LEVENSON: Oh, no. No. No, certainly not, but there's a lot of things that you can in fact discard. If you say you have no idea what this is, but if you say, this is the maximum range it could be and it doesn't matter where in that range it is, it has nothing to do with safety. MS. DEERING: Yes, and I hope that that's going to be definitely a part of each of our reviews wherein we could make comments that if we feel the staff has considered the risk significance of an issue before they've pursued it rigorously, for example, you know, that's something we need to be conscientious about, is staff pursuing issues that don't have risk significance. And do we -- is there a way for us to even know that? But one of the ways is to look at the staff's process and the risk insights that they're coming up with. You know, it involves going pretty deep into this review. DR. LEVENSON: Well, almost. The reason being that unfortunately to some extent the staff is not limited to only looking into risk issues. They're also charged with assuring compliance. So they may look into things that we don't think would be necessary, but they have no choice. So we have to recognize that. DR. WYMER: Well, let me make one more point. One of the areas that we need to look at most carefully in this vertical slice thing is assumptions. There are a bunch of assumptions made, just sort of carte blanc. They're just made. These are assumptions. We think there are good reasons for these assumptions, so I think to critically review assumptions, because as a friend of mine always used to say, assumptions drive conclusions, and they do. So we need to really pay close attention to assumptions. MS. DEERING: That's really a good point. MR. CAMPBELL: In terms of just in addition to what Ray said, the whole issue of defense in depth is a key to why we're looking beyond the corrosion issues related to the waste package. And the idea here is that our vertical slice will focus on the waste package and corrosion issues. But we really needed to look at the other components of the system that contribute to performance in the absence of the waste package. And those are, you know, in package chemistry, in drift chemistry, transport to the accessible environment. And those, basically, the three key areas outside of container life and container performance that need to be looked at. And you know, one of the things that we have to be aware of is that the conceptual models built into everything into TSPA do necessarily leave things out. So the question is, in that process has something very important been left out. So that's part of what we're going to look at in the context of this meeting. MS. DEERING: That sounds really good. Do you want to talk about your work? MR. CAMPBELL: I think Ray's actually covered most of the things. We have three consultants in different areas, RAD transport, Jim Clark. Paul Schuman's a corrosion expert, and we have Marty Steiver (phonetic) coming in, and kind of divvied it up in terms of individual responsibilities to look at different areas based upon their expertise. And we're not coming here to draw conclusions, but to, rather, put our heads together and, you know, see if there are general trends that we see in our individual analyses that warrant, you know, further analysis and more focus. I think that's -- I've tried to cast the questions that each of us will, you know, bring to the table in terms of the questions that were posed in the vertical slice template. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. And I think one of the things that I'm hopeful that we'll find in the vertical slice exercise with the TPA and TSPA is whether or not we indeed have a baseline or a reference point to work with. There's two things that I think we want to get out of the TSPA that make the process sound. One is a kind of a realistic appraisal of what the real risk is of this repository. The other is what will -- addresses this issue that we keep raising about integration and interaction and systems interaction and what have you. And that's the issue of context and perspective. So if we can get some sense on the basis of the current design specifications, what the safety issue is, what the risk really is, including of course it's uncertainty, and get the sense of how all the pieces fit together that lead to that estimate of risk, then that will help all these other exercises greatly in terms of saying, well, how relevant is this, this or that issue, and what kind of backup lines of defense really appear to be important here. So we'll be looking for that. We're a little behind in the TSPA vertical slice exercise from the others. Part of the problem is we've been anxious to have the full benefit of the TSPA SR and also the technical exchange meeting that keeps getting scheduled and rescheduled. But I think we'll be able to have something in -- for the November -- or for the March meeting that will allow us to at least talk to it in terms of the scope, but I don't think we'll be as far along as the other three. DR. LARKINS: John, are you saying that when Ray and Andy finish their exercise and identify the areas where they see a need for more information or a better understanding on their part that they need to fold us into -- CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Right. DR. LARKINS: -- looking at the TSPA -- CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. DR. LARKINS: -- to see. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: There's got to be something we do that tells us -- DR. LARKINS: How do we do that? CHAIRMAN GARRICK: -- the importance of these individual pieces and parts. DR. LARKINS: Yes. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: And right now, that is the TPA TSPA, and we can criticize it and we should, but what we should be doing is saying, okay, how can we overcome these problems that we have with it, because somewhere along the line we have to ask ourselves, is -- has enough work been done. DR. LARKINS: Yes. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Is the analysis adequate? And we certainly need to be guided on how far we go in this whole issue of trying to resolve uncertainties. And if we find ourselves -- and I think Milt was alluding to this a little while ago -- if we find ourselves in a position where an issue is being addressed and another order or magnitude of change in the uncertainty isn't going to impact it, then you know, we need to -- we'd like to know that and we need to move on. DR. LARKINS: I think it sounds like it would be worthwhile having the staff involved in some of these, because if you're going to come back later on and say, you know, how have you taken these issues into consideration in your analysis, either with TPA or reviewing TSPA, they ought to get to understand how these insights came about doing this vertical slice approach. So I didn't know whether you'd planned on -- MR. CAMPBELL: We do. DR. LARKINS: Okay. MR. CAMPBELL: And we haven't had a chance to talk to them until we kind of settled upon our approach. As you point out, the integration into the vertical slice for TSPA is part of this plan, and actually, 4 and 5 of our meeting goals was to feed into TSPA. If you will, what Ray and I are doing is kind of a process level model, look-see. And what John and I intend to do is more of a higher level TSPA model looking back. And hopefully, we'll be able to make those connections. And then, as you point out, having staff involved and discussions with staff is intended. It's just we haven't set anything specific up at this point. DR. WYMER: It seems to me that one of the important points with respect to this TSPA thing is what John already alluded to, namely, the propagation of uncertainties, plus the issues of what do you lose in the abstraction, in particular a couple processes. DR. LEVENSON: I think, you know, there's two pieces that I have in the way, and one is the propagation of the uncertainties, but we're spending a lot of time looking at details. And if in fact in the abstraction process those things are wiped out, why are we spending time assessing whether something is done properly if it doesn't propagate through, not only the uncertainty, does it itself propagate through? And it's why I think we have to -- I think this vertical slice thing can't just be a vertical slice through the KTIs. I think we have to take one or two at least and follow them through the abstraction process into the TSPA, to see what it really means. MR. CAMPBELL: The focus of the issues, this isn't intended to be a random walk through either the process models, AMR, PMRs or TSPA. We've allowed the modeling that's been done to date, both by the staff and TPAs, the TPA analyses and by DOE and their TSPA analyses to help guide the picking of the issue areas to look at. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. This Committee has always been pushing for some indication of how much safety are we getting from what. We've always wanted that. When we talk about introducing engineered barriers, we've talked about being able to quantify the contribution of individual barriers, at least to the extent that it's reasonable. And I think when it comes to simplifying a specific model we want to know what the impact of that is, you know. Ray was talking about assumptions. Some analysts will say assumptions are the curse of any -- of the truth because you don't want to assume your way out of reality. And that's why we keep pushing for, well, let's understand first what is our best shot at how this thing really does perform. And then we can start whacking away at how good this part of the analysis is and that, and get to the issue of assumptions. But I think we've already been talking about in the TSPA vertical slice of trying to back out the critical assumptions so they're more visible and in terms of their impact on something like a realistic assessment of what the risk is, what the performance is. Then we can choose to be as conservative as we want, but we need a reference. So we need that baseline to know, to be able to measure how conservatively we might be making some of these estimates. How about the -- how about yours, George? Are you satisfied that we can achieve what we want with this process in the -- on the one that you're in charge of here? DR. HORNBERGER: Yes. I mean, and I think that Lynn actually laid out the guts of it in her outline last time. And as long as, at least the way I envision it, we're talking a slightly more narrow view than what Ray and Andy have just outlined for the chemistry, and that is to focus, really, primarily on the flow paths in the saturated zone. There are obviously lots of other issues that touch upon that, but to the extent that we can, given our limited availability of time and resources, I would like to see us focus as tightly as we can on the issue that we described. And I think if we do that there's plenty to look at. It's not as if -- that just makes it easy. MS. DEERING: Yes. I think George and I, based on the piece that you wrote, George, this helps tighten it up even more. And I feel like now it's just a matter of starting, getting started. DR. HORNBERGER: Yes, I do, too. MS. DEERING: And whether the data's been provided or not, I don't feel it's going to hang us up. It's more the fact that it's been asked for, and from a risk perspective is it the right data to ask for, and maybe make the assumption that it will be provided. DR. HORNBERGER: Right. MS. DEERING: And maybe we have an idea of whether that's -- how realistic that is or not, I don't know. You know, we already know there's problems in getting data in terms of permitting from Nye County. Some of that alone is problematic. Just getting data, even if there's funding, is not necessarily easy and something you can count on happening. But so I'm keeping that in mind. I think we've got plenty to work with. And we'll talk and I'll talk with the staff, and come March we'll put together something, you know, that shows we've actually cut into this a little bit, which we haven't done yet. See, that's true in all of our cases. I think we're sort of on the edge here. We've been defining what we want to do and whether it's even -- you know -- sort of a feasibility assessment: is it even reasonable to consider can we go there before we get too involved? And I think that's exactly where we should be right now. DR. LARKINS: Sound like, yes, this is going to be somewhat iterative in nature. MS. DEERING: Yes. DR. LARKINS: You're going to go through this one time, and then you're going to discover things and then you're going to need to go back and take another look at these things. MS. DEERING: And each one so closely links to another, like George's and mine, it definitely bumps up against the retardation issue and the alluvium, you know, first defining flow paths, how much water even goes into the alluvium. And then so there's going to be, I think, the staff here, we've been meeting weekly, or we've been trying. We've sort of tapered off from that, but once we get started on these, we ourselves need to, once we share insights with each other, where we stand, you know, what works, what doesn't, so we'll make a commitment to do that. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: On the basis of a preliminary look-see does anybody, any of the members have any concerns that are rather significant at this point that ought to be telegraphed in terms of either the modeling or the input information, that is to say, the data? DR. LEVENSON: I have one question, John, and that is, it goes back to the template from the KTI meeting that Rich and I attended. We certainly got nothing that would let us address the last question, namely, what's the risk significance of the issues being discussed. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. DR. LEVENSON: There was no discussion whatsoever. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: At your meeting? DR. LEVENSON: Yes. MR. MAJOR: There was a debate. I mean, the Department of Energy would come out and make a presentation and they would claim the colloids didn't contribute much to the overall dose, and therefore, it didn't need to be considered much further than they already have. And then you have the NRC staff on the other hand saying, well, you know, we're a bit skeptical about that; have you considered A, B, C and D. DR. LEVENSON: Yes, but that was on specific, very narrow things, not relevant, really, to the overall question of risk. I mean, because whether you do or don't generate colloids is one little piece. Then you've got questions of transport of colloids and trapping and you got all these other things so that the things were addressed bit by bit. The risk did not to me appear to be a basic part of the issues of what was important or why. MS. DEERING: Can Bret Leslie make a comment? He wants to comment on that issue. MR. LESLIE: This is Bret Leslie, from the NRC staff. And I agree with the assessment. I attended the first one of these technical exchanges, and at the first one they didn't even have any insights into risk. And we requested that they try at the beginning of these meetings to put a TSPA overview so that we could understand things, and DOE was very reluctant to go into this in much detail. And therefore, what they agreed to provide at this because they felt it was the purview of TSPA, that they didn't want to have to repeat the TSPA meeting in every one of these meetings. So what they're trying to do to help put the risk perspective for the NRC staff in place is to look at, for instance, colloids, which was one of the topics, and say, this is how we dealt with colloids generation, which is one of the topics we were talking about. So I agree with that but we're somewhat limited by what DOE is going to provide us, you know. DR. LEVENSON: But what that would indicate is the templates that we're using for vertical slices is -- the risk issue should be deleted from each individual one and maybe ought to be a separate one, if they're treating it separately. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Well, this is all a matter of style and how it's done, but one argument could be that -- to take the position that, well, as a matter of fact, that's exactly what we should be doing. That is to say, what we should be doing is every time an issue comes up, start with the TSPA and ask ourselves, where does that issue appear in the one analysis that we have defined as integrating everything and bringing all the pieces and parts together. As a matter of fact, I'm reminded of when we really began to make progress on the WIPP performance assessment was when we did just exactly that. We took the position that we're not going to have anymore discussions of technical issues without it first being put to the test of the PA. And so whenever we would start a presentation we started with the idea of, well, where does this issue fit in the grand scheme of things, and the measure for -- the grand scheme measure is the performance assessment until something comes along better, and then go from there so that people are using a legitimate reference in the discussion. So you know, it may be that just what DOE is saying we should avoid here is exactly what we should be doing. And maybe that's something for us to consider. MS. DEERING: Well, is there also the other half of it, which is NRC's risk insights, you know, because that's important, too, because NRC has done -- has in its pocket some of its own ideas about what's important. And I don't know to what extent that has been shared with us. I mean, but I think one on one that that would be a reasonable thing, for us technical staff to talk to NRC technical staff and try to help out along those lines. You know, it's not something that probably you're going to hear in a public meeting. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. Yes. DR. WYMER: The problem is, is that lots of different -- there's a lot of kinds of risk, and it seems to me that if you don't discuss risk as you have in your outline for this vertical template, you're going to miss a lot of risk. If you take a sort of a top-down view you're not going to unearth some of the risk that you will unearth by a detailed discussion within the AMRs and the KTIs. So and then there are sort of overall risks that are not specific technical risks, but have to do with risks of whether something in fact will be accepted or not accepted in a broader sense, because of public outcry or because of some regulation or because of something else. So there's different hierarchies of risk and I think to get at some of the technical risks you really got to get into the nitty-gritty. Then you decide based on the overall plan of approach, the TSPA, the TPAs, whether or not the risks that you've unearthed are relevant risks, and you weed them out if they're not. But I think you're going to miss them if you don't go into the details. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Okay. We've had a request to -- from a public citizen group to make a comment. MS. GUE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm Lisa Gue with Public Citizens Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. Certainly, we're very interested to follow along in your vertical slice process. And we share some of the concerns that your committee has stated, and also the Technical Review Board, with respect to the uncertainties of the most recent outlines available from the Department of Energy. The specific comment I'd like to make jumps back to the beginning of this discussion with respect to the sufficiency report that NRC will issue referencing the SRCR document. And I want to bring to the attention of this Committee some of the very serious concerns that Public Citizen, together with other -- working together with other public interest groups nationally, and also State of Nevada groups, have on the SRCR document and the process leading up to its release. I guess there's three main concerns, or I'd categorize our concerns into three areas, anyway. First of all, this of course is not a legislative document. It's not specifically outlined as part of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. But the DOE has chosen to use the SRCR as -- in order to fulfill the requirement for public comment on a final recommendation. And our concern with respect to the opportunities for public comment is that the last formal opportunity that the public had to comment on the Yucca Mountain process was in response to the draft Environmental Impact Statement. Yet, as members of the public we have not yet received any feedback as to how or if our previous comments have been integrated into the proposal. And yet -- and so now we are seriously questioning whether we will in fact participate in the SRCR comment period, simply because we have no indications of how worthwhile it is for us to spend our time trying to understand these very technical documents, if in fact our comments are not taken into account. I guess our second main concern is the timing of the report. As you know, the SRCR was originally scheduled to be released at the end of December of last year. And that was due at a time -- or according to that original schedule and also according to looking at the overview that was prepared, the SRCR was to be making comments on the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site prior to the finalization of several key scientific studies, and also prior to the finalization of key regulations, most notably, the EPA Radiation Protection Guidelines. And we feel that this is really a very inappropriate display of premature confidence on the part of the DOE, and we would extend that to the NRC's sufficiency report, too, if it's released before the consideration of how this site would be able to meet these standards that have not yet been released. And certainly, several specific aspects of your conversation could fit into this category with respect to, for example, the regulatory period, which is one aspect of those EPA regulations which now appear that they won't come out before the change in administration, and therefore, will be delayed to an uncertain point, hopefully in the new year. And finally, I guess I want to bring to your attention -- hopefully -- I'm sure you're already aware of this, but the internal memo that was leaked, written by a DOE contractor, TRW, and attached to this overview of the SRCR document, and that surfaced last December, has seriously damaged, I guess, the credibility of the DOE's site characterization process in the public mind. The indications, both of the overview itself and more specifically stated in the leaked memo were that, first of all, the technical suitability of the Yucca Mountain site was not the first priority of the DOE, but rather, to offer a financially and politically possible solution to the industry's nuclear waste crisis. And secondly, that this document was available to be used by presumably industry lobbyists to garner support for the Yucca Mountain Project in Congress. Certainly, it's inappropriate, of course, for a federal agency that's been specifically mandated to study the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site to have, even via its contractors, such a blatant and obvious display of bias. And it really has, like I say, undermined the credibility of this process and been very discouraging to members of the public who have been participating in good faith in the various opportunities for public involvement in the process. And now, it seems that in fact from the perspective of the DOE, a favorable recommendation for the Yucca Mountain site is in some ways a foregone conclusion. So into that context, and I'm sure you're aware that, in fact, we work together, like I say, very closely with citizens groups in Nevada and other national groups, and as well, the federal delegation from the -- the congressional delegation from the State of Nevada in looking at this problem and drawing attention to it. And I'm sure you're aware that the SRCR has actually now been delayed pending the results of an Inspector General investigation. But I did just want to bring to your attention that into this context there are actions of the NRC, as well, that serve to further undermine the public's confidence in this process. One of those is the prelicensing conversations on the key technical issues, which sometimes seem to be phrased or framed in the sense of moving towards the inevitable licensing of the Yucca Mountain Project, in terms of when the license application is submitted rather than if, when clearly and formally the situation still is if, and other -- or I guess actions of other divisions of the NRC further feed into this sense. And I'd just bring to your attention, I know I've raised it to you before, the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the private fuel storage proposal, which was drafted by the NRC and which makes explicit reference to a Yucca Mountain facility as the eventual destination of waste that would be stored at the PFS facility. So I just -- I appreciate the opportunity to comment to you today and I want to make you aware of those issues, and technical issues and also procedural issues, I guess. We're very aware that the Yucca Mountain proposal lies at the intersection of very challenging science and challenging public policy considerations. And both of those require, I guess, a process which displays optimal integrity. And neither the science nor the policy will be accepted by the public without a process that displays that level of integrity. Thank you. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Before you sit down can I ask you a question? MS. GUE: Yes. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: You said regarding your first concern about the SRCR that you had received no feedback from DOE on previous comments. Will you remind me again what specific comments those were and what form they took? MS. GUE: I was referring in general to the comments that were made, both in writing and through participation in formal meetings, on the draft Environmental Impact Statement. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. MS. GUE: So we were hoping that we would have -- the public would have access to the final Environmental Impact Statement to be able to see how those comments were integrated prior to the comment period on the final -- on the recommendation by the DOE. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Okay. MS. GUE: But as it happens, the comment period on the SRCR is scheduled to close just as the final Environmental Impact Statement is scheduled to be released. And as you pointed out, all those time lines are now somewhat in question, but that's the best information we have. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Okay. I understand. MS. GUE: Yes. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Thank you. MS. GUE: Thank you. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Thank you. Did you want to make any comments on the thermal effects, vertical slice, Milt? DR. LEVENSON: No. I think most of the comments -- CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Better pull that mike down. DR. LEVENSON: Okay. Most of the comments arising from the meeting we attended have already been made. I would like to pursue the possibility of having a one on one session with somebody from the NRC staff to have what I would call a guided tour through the AMRs, the PMRs, the abstractions, the modeling and to the total system performance assessment of one of some quite narrow issues, either the question of, does all of the water really always move away from the drift in both the pre-closure and post-closure time? Or a guided tour and assessment of what really are the differences regarding water movement and transport if the temperature is 110 degrees centigrade versus 95 degrees centigrade. Been a great deal of discussion and assumptions about importance of boiling. I've not seen any technical information or discussion as to why it's important. I mean, superficially, there's no inflection in the vapor pressure curves. So I would really like that. You know, I'd be willing to take the time and come and have a one on one, somebody lead me through why these issues are handled with a basic assumption. I mean, is there support in the AMR, in the PMR? Or do they turn out to not be so important during the abstraction? CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. DR. LEVENSON: And I don't know whether it's appropriate, but that would really help me evaluate the total process. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: I think it is appropriate and I think it would be very helpful. Okay. Lynn, where are we? MS. DEERING: Well, it sounds like we're wrapping up this session. With the anticipation of March, we will come in here having started -- getting a good start on these reviews. And I'll -- CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Right. DR. WYMER: With view graph presentations? Is that what you were suggesting? MS. DEERING: Yes. Well, how much time do you think we need next month to do -- maybe set aside at least a couple hours? DR. LEVENSON: Half an hour for each one, anyway. MS. DEERING: March, next meeting. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. DR. LEVENSON: February is saturated without this going. MS. DEERING: Yes. That gives us two months, which I think is good. That's just what we need. So we'll put at least two hours on the Agenda. DR. LEVENSON: I would like to then have my one on one sufficiently in advance of the next meeting. MS. DEERING: Okay. So are you -- is your little team going to organize that? DR. LEVENSON: I'll organize it. MS. DEERING: Okay. DR. HORNBERGER: Sounds like it'll be the entire month of February. MS. DEERING: Yes. You know, I might -- I just wanted to add, the NWTRB meeting coming up the 30th and 31st, I think is going to be extremely informative about some of DOE's -- let me just try to explain what I understand about it. The schedule's going to be on the website today, and I'll peel that off and bring it back after lunch. But the TRB is going to attempt to ask DOE very pointed and specific questions of a technical nature about its analysis. And a lot of this I -- DR. LEVENSON: Is that a new format? MS. DEERING: Yes. There's no -- that's going to be -- and DOE, of course, knows what the questions for the most part, I think, are going to be. But DOE's essentially going to walk the Board through how it's treating -- I don't want to say tracing a particle all the way through, but that's the impression I'm getting. Now, when I look at the Agenda we'll see, but you know, flow and transport in the unsaturated zone, waste package issues and waste package degradation, juvenile failure, flow in the saturated zone. You know, it's really attempting to shake out the uncertainties, the hard questions, and see what we really understand now. DR. LEVENSON: What's the date of that meeting? MS. DEERING: The 30th and 31st. It's in Amargosa Valley, of January. DR. LEVENSON: January. MS. DEERING: I just wanted to put that out as -- I'm planning on attending that and I -- for George's and my vertical slice we think there's going to be some real valuable stuff in there. But if others are interested, we'll look at the Agenda this afternoon. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Are you going? DR. HORNBERGER: No. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Okay. Any other comments from Committee members, staff, George, Ray? DR. WYMER: I've said my piece. MR. MAJOR: May I share one -- CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. MR. MAJOR: -- thing with the Committee members? Following each of these technical exchanges the staff and the DOE do a summary. And in that summary they capture the highlights of the meeting and they also capture the additional information that the staff is looking for and that DOE agreed to provide. And I'm going to hand you a copy of the summary from this last meeting. I guess the staff does a valiant effort and an awful lot of work goes into putting these things together. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. MR. MAJOR: They do it at the meeting and then they're signed and agreed to by the senior NRC person there and the senior DOE individual. So if you want to get a sense as to the types of things that come out of these meetings, when you get this brief summary it'll give you some idea of what comes out of these. It shows you how they're moving towards resolution. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Okay. DR. HORNBERGER: Something had occurred to me and I don't know if this is -- will help it be possible or perhaps it may even be trivial. It strikes me that in some of our discussions about the risk implications of different assumptions or as we dig into things, how big an affect things might have, or at least some insights. I know Andy has done some work with the TPA code. It's even, at least in my mind, perhaps feasible to either look at what the staff has done in the way of looking at things in terms of sensitivity analyses, and try to get at things that way. Or possibly, you know enough about it that if there were special purpose runs to be done, either you could ask somebody to do them or potentially even do them yourself. Is that totally out of the possible? MR. CAMPBELL: It's possible; it's possible. It would take me a little bit of time to tool up, back into that mode. What you're referring to is when we had Cheryl Hawkins here -- DR. HORNBERGER: Right. MR. CAMPBELL: -- as a summer intern. And you know, frankly, I was relying heavily on Cheryl's computing capabilities to run that. I'm familiar enough with it I could do it. It might not be the most efficient use of my time, but it certainly would be worthwhile to be able to go back to the staff and say, have you guys looked at this. DR. HORNBERGER: Look at this. MR. CAMPBELL: To these particular combinations of things. DR. HORNBERGER: Right. MR. CAMPBELL: And so we do have -- DR. HORNBERGER: Let me just -- MR. CAMPBELL: -- at least some tool. And in fact, we actually have a tool that was all there. Now, it might require a little bit of change to adapt to the latest version of TPA, but there was this tool that Cheryl put together that allows us to look at kind of -- what do they call it Kilmagoroff, (phonetic) Smirnoff type of sensitivities. MS. DEERING: Isn't that George's tool? MR. CAMPBELL: Yes, it is, by the way, George's original tool, but Cheryl did a lot of work to make it work on the TPA code. And I mean, the insights, I gave you a thick document that Cheryl wrote up as a final report last November that kind of gives you how the insights from that analysis compared to staff insights. And there was a good comparison. DR. WYMER: One of the problems with respect to the code that sort of came out of this meeting we attended, there's an awful lot of stuff at room temperature in the databases, but there's precious little outside of room temperature in the chemistry area. And then also, in some of the minerals that form -- there really aren't data, the thermodynamic data that you need in order to decide which compounds take precedence over other compounds with respect to what's going to form. So there are some fairly significant data deficiencies, it seems to me, especially with respect to temperature, but also with respect to just fundamental thermodynamic data for stability of mineral phases. MR. CAMPBELL: Yes. There's, I mean, in general there's a lot of room temperature, you know, 25 C type of data maybe going up to 50 C, and you have a little bit around three or 400 C just before you get to the critical point. And then you don't have data until you get way up into real high temperature pressure regimes that you have -- DR. WYMER: Yes. MR. CAMPBELL: -- deep within the earth. The way that's generally handled is that the thermodynamics people do these correlation type of, you know, thermodynamic extrapolations. DR. WYMER: You can do some of that, yes. MR. CAMPBELL: Which can bound thermo data to some degree, but you're right. There's not a lot of data at this 100 to 300 degree range. DR. WYMER: The argument's made that before it's important the temperature's down again before it ever seems to be. And that, of course, is an issue, not an answer. MR. CAMPBELL: And processes occur much faster at these higher temperatures. DR. WYMER: Yes. MR. CAMPBELL: That's why it pops up as an issue. I guess the real question for us is, are these kinds of extrapolations done sufficient to bound the problem? Are they sufficiently conservative to bound the problem so that, you know, the fact that you don't actually have the data but you're relying on some basic properties of Gibbs' Rule or whatever, to get that -- some estimate of the data that you need, is that sufficiently robust in the temperature pressure regime you're interested in to answer the question. DR. WYMER: And it's another case of whether sometimes you're drifting off into assumptions, again, too, and solving your problem by assumptions. So the whole thing is complicated. MR. CAMPBELL: And I'm sure Dr. Steindler will raise those issues, true to form. (Laughter) CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Any other comments, questions, concerns? (No response) CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Okay. Well, I think what we'll do is -- don't we have some lunch meetings? MS. DEERING: Yes. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. So why don't we adjourn and get ready for that, and then come back here at 1:00 o'clock for the discussion on entombment, okay? (Whereupon, the foregoing Meeting went off the record 11:35 a.m., and went back on the record at 1:05 p.m.) . A-F-T-E-R-N-O-O-N S-E-S-S-I-O-N (1:05 p.m.) CHAIRMAN GARRICK: The meeting will come to order. The next item on our Agenda is the Entombment Option Decommissioning Power Reactors. The member that will lead the discussion on this is Dr. Wymer. Ray, it's your subject. DR. WYMER: Hi, Stephanie. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Hello. How are you? DR. WYMER: Fine. We're struggling with this, and I'm sure you are, too. And so we thought we'd just have a sort of a discussion. Now, if you want to use some view graphs, I understand you might want to, that's fine in answering these questions. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. DR. WYMER: But entombment doesn't seem like an unreasonable idea to us, but there seem to be some major stumbling blocks to it. The greater than Class C issue is certainly a biggie. And then the -- getting decommissioning done in six years after a license is terminated is another potential problem that ties in with Class C waste a little bit, maybe. And whether or not we need changes in the Waste Policy Act, and there are many, many facets or hurdles to it, and whether or not you can safely seal up and leave in place a reactor vessel, and what are the implications of that. And so we just wanted to kick this around. You have these six issues. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Questions, yes. DR. WYMER: And then I don't know whether you wanted to proceed using view graphs addressing each of the issues and talk from those. But in general, we just wanted to exchange ideas and get some notion of what the staff's developing, revolving position is, insofar as you can do that. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. DR. WYMER: In this kind of a meeting. MR. LARSON: I didn't give them to her in any priority order, Ray. So you may have a specific -- DR. WYMER: Each one of them is a difficult problem. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. What I do is I have them on presentation and I also have them -- I'll put them up. DR. WYMER: Fine. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: And we've kind of answered them in bullet style. So I guess -- DR. WYMER: Okay. And then later on as the conversation goes on, I guess if we have the Nuclear Energy Institute representative, we'd like to get their point of view on these issues to sort of broaden the base from which we're trying to address them. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. DR. WYMER: Okay. So if you just want to start off, that's fine, and then we'll talk as we go. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. As Ray said, my name is Stephanie Bush-Goddard. And the ACNW Committee sent us about six questions that -- okay -- that they wanted us to answer. And I would also like to ask if my colleagues in the audience that are also working on the entombment scenario, in particular Carl Feldman and Bob Nelson, if they would like to comment on the questions to help along. DR. WYMER: Sure. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: The first question was how to handle the question of GTCC waste. And in doing that we're developing a rule-making plan and an advanced notice of proposed rule-making. So the suggestions that I'm giving as the answers are not necessarily the Commission's view, but are discussions that we are developing. If you look on page 2, we're developing an option in the rule-making plan to establish performance objectives and technical requirements for an entombment facility. (Pause) CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Go ahead. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. And in here we're addressing GTCC wastes that these requirements might be under a new part. They might be similar to some of Part 61 requirements. Some of them may be pathway analysis and performance requirements. And in doing this we can address some of the 1,000 year limitations that the License Termination Rule has. So that's one way we're addressing greater than Class C, maybe just developing a new regulation particular to an entombed facility, and specifically to handle GTCC waste. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: At reactor sites only. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: At this moment we're looking at even expanding that to maybe other nonreactor facilities. Yes. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Have you resolved the question of threshold values and what have you? MS. BUSH-GODDARD: No. We're definitely in the preliminary stages. We've had the package to go around for office concurrence only once. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: And like you said, we had so many difficult issues. We've had to have a couple of management meetings and numerous working group meetings just to get over the basic things. So no, we haven't -- DR. WYMER: No. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: -- looked into that. DR. WYMER: I can certainly understand that. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Another option is concentration averaging; as we know, what happened with the Trojan reactor case where they did concentration averaging over the reactor pressure vessel. So that's another way to handle GTCC. And in doing that now we will not necessarily be classified as GTCC waste, and then won't have those limitations on it. DR. WYMER: Now, was that reactor vessel filled with concrete? Was that empty? MS. BUSH-GODDARD: I'm not sure. Do you know, Dr. Feldman? DR. FELDMAN: Yes. It's filled with grout. DR. WYMER: Yes, grout. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. DR. WYMER: Grout. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: You've got to speak into a microphone. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. Yes, it was filled with grout. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Got the answer. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. DR. WYMER: Thanks. Okay. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: So there's two ways of handling it. DR. WYMER: Is it considered that those reactor vessels will be sealed so that effectively nothing can get inside, anything that attacks it would be from the outside? MS. BUSH-GODDARD: There's two ways to look at that. Over time you could have the possibility of something leaking out of the concrete or the steel structure. So I think in the pathway analysis that you would have to do, you would have to consider all pathways. And that's, you know, something, water or whatever getting in and then bringing the radioactivity out. DR. WYMER: Is it considered that there'll be other contaminated materials that might be thrown into the reactor vessel and then grouted in place in there, or? MS. BUSH-GODDARD: At this particular time -- do you mean things like spent fuel? DR. WYMER: No. No. No. No. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: I was just going to say. DR. WYMER: No, other contaminated -- DR. FELDMAN: Control rods. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Oh. DR. WYMER: Yes, contaminated metal and parts of the reactor itself. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: That are outside? DR. WYMER: That are not part of the containment vessel, but which are part of the reactor. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Oh, I don't know. We haven't got to that detail yet. DR. WYMER: Okay. That seemed to me in thinking about it that that might be a rather important consideration. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. DR. FELDMAN: Hi. I'm Carl Feldman. I just commented the -- I'm over here. Actually, let me move more -- I'm sorry. The idea is a general idea, so we would put in various low level waste materials or whatever in the reactor vessel, and then grout the whole thing in. DR. WYMER: Okay. DR. FELDMAN: Or you might not even grout it, depending on how -- what the content is. DR. WYMER: Yes. Yes, that does have implications with respect to how valid the volume averaging -- DR. FELDMAN: Yes. DR. WYMER: -- concept is. DR. FELDMAN: Yes. DR. WYMER: Yes. DR. FELDMAN: Again, this is preliminary. So depending upon how much -- whether they want to use greater than Class C waste or not, and what the options are, are still open right now. DR. WYMER: The reactor vessel would have sealed lid on it. DR. FELDMAN: Yes, the reactor vessel would be sealed and you might or might not grout it, depending upon what's in there and the pathway analysis and the whole show. DR. WYMER: Yes, okay. These are the kind of things we need to get so we could think intelligently. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: If you're going to change a rule or something wouldn't it be better just to create a entombment-specific rule and get away from the A, B, C classification completely, and establishing the thresholds for the entombment option. DR. WYMER: Our position when we framed this rule was basically using the license termination rule types of criteria. It took us forever to do that one. We're not saying those are good limits. It's just a question of making sure you have adequate pathway analysis and isolation from the environment, so working around that. But the idea there was to think about 50-82, which is the 60-year time limit, and the license termination rule and whether -- and how far you could go with those as they exist now, and what you would have to modify to be all inclusive or a broader type of entombment consideration. So that was our -- DR. LEVENSON: Is it envisioned that -- I'm having a little trouble grasping what we're talking about. Is the entombed article, would that be the pressure vessel and whatever you might put inside it? Or is it much more generic? Would you entomb a contaminated steam generator right next to a pressure vessel? What are we talking about, first of all? DR. FELDMAN: No. We're talking about the reactor containment building, vessel, et cetera, and using that as the primary entombment configuration. And whatever you want to cut up and put in there is a possibility, too. DR. LEVENSON: Okay. So it's not -- the discussion to date has been just on the vessel. DR. FELDMAN: No. DR. LEVENSON: You're not limiting it to that. DR. FELDMAN: No. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: No. DR. LEVENSON: Okay. MR. LARSON: So you're including entombments greater than Class C waste -- DR. FELDMAN: As a possibility. MR. LARSON: -- in the containment building. DR. FELDMAN: As a consideration for consideration -- as something to think about, yes. DR. WYMER: And learning a new regulation to cover that. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes, as a possibility. DR. WYMER: Perhaps. DR. LEVENSON: Or a modification. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Or a -- yes. DR. WYMER: A modification to the existing regulation. Yes, okay. But you're not really giving serious consideration to what John said; namely, we're writing another -- DR. FELDMAN: Well, I think that's another option that was -- that is coming up that Stephanie is going to discuss. There was one of these so-called option threes. I think option one was leave it alone. Option two is modify it by modifying maybe 50-82 and the license termination rule as appropriate, and option three, one version of option three is to create a new rule. We're still toying with that kind of concept. It's not -- DR. WYMER: Yes. The precedent that I see is you did create a new rule Yucca Mountain, and that was a big deal. And I think this -- a look at entombment is a big deal. And so it's a parallel. DR. FELDMAN: Well, some of it is not that big a deal in the sense that the license termination rule -- part of the reason for this while entombmentation consideration comes about because the license termination rule allows for restricted release with conditions. DR. WYMER: Yes. DR. FELDMAN: And while that's limiting for the general entombment considerations for the reactors, nevertheless, it leads to that kind of investigation. And so it's almost more -- it's a more natural kind of process to look at it that way. At least that's why we look at it initially that way. DR. WYMER: So if you went to a restricted release mode, for example, just discussing that for a minute -- DR. FELDMAN: Yes. DR. WYMER: -- then you would -- the utility would have to come up with some sort of a long-term financial -- DR. FELDMAN: Yes. DR. WYMER: -- program that would guarantee -- DR. FELDMAN: Yes, but it's the same now, too. It's the same restrictive release for non- entombment. For whatever set-up they have, there has to be adequate financial resources to maintain it. DR. WYMER: Yes. DR. FELDMAN: It would be maintained presumably by the state or some group. DR. WYMER: Yes, now, that's a little different. DR. FELDMAN: It's different, yes, I know. I know. DR. WYMER: So there is quite a difference. DR. FELDMAN: But this is sort of a generalization of that and one way to look at it. DR. WYMER: Okay. So there's no consideration that is being given to whether or not the utility would have to be responsible or whether some governmental body would have to be responsible? DR. FELDMAN: Yes. That has to be included as part of the -- whatever look at this thing is going to -- DR. WYMER: Yes, okay. DR. FELDMAN: The other thing is, the license termination rule is limiting, too, in that the 100 millirem and 500 millirem, while that's something we would want to stay within, when you have -- if you're thinking about a very hot type of situation -- DR. WYMER: Yes. DR. FELDMAN: -- then there's the potential for exceeding that, and so you have to worry about that, too. DR. WYMER: Right. DR. FELDMAN: So. DR. WYMER: Okay. Yes. That's very helpful. This discussion is helpful. Okay. Stephanie. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. The next question is how to address the issue of engineered barriers. Once again, there are a couple of things that we're looking at. First, let's kind of look at the demonstration decommissioning criteria -- excuse me -- for the West Valley Demonstration Project, and define engineered barriers as they did, saying that if a barrier does not require an institution or a human factor to maintain its effectiveness, then it's an engineered barrier. But we're also thinking about maybe amending the regulations to clarify what an engineered barrier is. So that's -- DR. WYMER: Okay. You're -- MS. BUSH-GODDARD: And once again, that's preliminary, too, you know. DR. WYMER: You're walking on soggy ground, there. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: This is a soggy package. (Laughter) DR. LEVENSON: We can do it on dry ground. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: That's true. And then I said other, like I said, once you put out the AMPR we're going to get comments from commenters, maybe some licensee or some other entity might give us a definition of how we should define engineered barriers. DR. WYMER: Okay. You might come back to that, but let's go ahead. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. DR. WYMER: I've now had -- now, I've got to digest that. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Is that the definition, a unique definition? Is that new for engineered barrier? MS. BUSH-GODDARD: It means a -- the West Valley definition? CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. Yes. Is that what we mean when we say engineered barrier? MR. NELSON. Yes. This is Bob Nelson, Chief of the Facilities Decommissioning Section, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Waste Management. The interpretation that's expressed in the -- that -- excuse me -- that Stephanie summarized here is based on a review of past practice, how the Agency has treated engineered barriers in other cases, and also, based on the analysis of the language in the statements of consideration in the rule itself. The OGC created a rather lengthy paper addressing this, but the basic conclusion was that based on that review and past practice that if an engineered barrier did not require human intervention to maintain its effectiveness, then it should not be considered an institutional control. DR. WYMER: Okay. What would be an engineered barrier, for example? Would it be a -- MR. NELSON: I can address that, first of all generally, and then more specifically. Normally, an engineered barrier is a -- some constructed device or feature that typically is incorporated into a design, a waste design, to either limit infiltration of water or slow or retard groundwater flow or resurface water flow. DR. WYMER: Yes, that -- MR. NELSON: Around the grout. That's generally what an engineered barrier's considered to be. DR. WYMER: I would like an example or two. MR. NELSON: A cap. DR. WYMER: A cap to do what? MR. NELSON: A cap, a slurry wall, a swale. DR. WYMER: Okay. MR. NELSON: A grout curtain. DR. WYMER: Yes. MR. NELSON: All of those things would normally be considered engineered barriers. The problem with assuming calling those, then, institutional controls is that the license termination rule requires you to do an analysis when institutional controls fails. And that means a time zero assumption that all your engineered barriers vanish, which is an unreasonable, in minds of a lot of folks, an unreasonable assumption. You should be able to take credit for the barrier for as long as you can justify taking credit for it. Assuming that a cover vanishes instantaneously or a concrete wall evaporates is a little conservative. DR. WYMER: Yes. MR. NELSON: So the definition -- I'd call it an interpretation rather than a definition that OGC has proposed is that to the extent that you have to rely on human intervention to maintain effectiveness, that you can no longer count on its effectiveness. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: So it's defined in terms of the transport or movement of water? MR. NELSON: Well, that's generally how an engineered barrier is -- CHAIRMAN GARRICK: As opposed to radiation? MR. NELSON: Well, I used the -- clearly a cover wall, so affect direct radiation exposure, as will the other, as I mentioned. But the principal use of an engineered barrier has been, at least in our practice, has been focused on migration rather than controlling direct exposure, although clearly, things like a cover will have a direct impact on direct exposure. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Okay. That helps a lot. Thanks. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes, thank you. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. DR. WYMER: That's a pretty straightforward answer, no. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Well, we're saying maybe not. The approach can definitely develop within the existing acts, but the regulations might need to be changed as we were talking about, amending 50-82, maybe -- DR. WYMER: I might take the word "might" out of there. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. DR. WYMER: Say regulations need to be adjusted. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. DR. WYMER: There's no might about it, is there? Won't they have to be? MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Well, like, for instance, if you look at an option one where you don't -- there's no rule-making, you can do an entombment approach within the existing regulations, within the 60-year limit, but that might be limited. So -- DR. WYMER: With what they created, the Class C waste won't fit in there. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: No, exactly. You'd definitely have to take out the pertinent class. DR. WYMER: So that they need to be adjusted. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. DR. LEVENSON: For GTCC. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: For -- okay, yes. DR. WYMER: Yes, for GTCC. DR. WYMER: But that's in there, see. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. DR. LEVENSON: Now, even if it -- but since it's a generic it might not be GTCC. DR. WYMER: Have to go to a microphone there. DR. LEVENSON: If we're talking about a generic case then, since it isn't primarily focused on the pressure vessel, you might have cases where you want to entomb everything but the pressure vessel -- DR. WYMER: Right. DR. LEVENSON: -- at a sight, and it might not be GTCC. DR. WYMER: So that -- DR. LEVENSON: So I think this is correct. DR. WYMER: Okay. So you'd have to partition the new regulation. DR. LEVENSON: Oh, it clearly would be different if there is or is not GTCC. DR. WYMER: Yes. DR. LEVENSON: But these are all within the generic envelope they're looking at. MR. NELSON: Bob Nelson again, the Division of Waste Management. The point of the first bullet is that the entombment can be done today under the existing laws and regulations. It's only source term constraining. DR. WYMER: Right. MR. NELSON: If you reduce the source term enough you can entomb under the LTR, under the license termination rule. To some, 50-82 limits the amount of time you can allow -- you can have time to help you out on that, to 60 years. But if you remove, then, the higher activity components from the containment, you could entomb the rest under the LTR. So it's just source term constraint. DR. WYMER: I guess I'm having a sort of a semantic difficulty here. DR. FELDMAN: May I make a qualification of 50-82? Carl Feldman, research. 50-82 is for case specific approval. DR. WYMER: Yes. DR. FELDMAN: So provided it's some kind of a health and safety situation. So it could go way beyond the 60 years, if it were health and safety. DR. WYMER: I'm having a little problem with the words. I guess to me entombment meant something different than what it means to you. In one case you've just got a little old waste disposal facility on site. In the other case, you got a reactor vessel that has some activity in it and you're entombing it. Those are two different things in my mind. Now, maybe they're not in yours. DR. FELDMAN: The GIS that we did back in I guess '88, entombment dealt with putting something in some kind of a barrier and going to a termination of license through decay. DR. WYMER: No. DR. FELDMAN: That's the -- I'm sorry -- that's the original concept. Now, you know, what they want to call it now, I don't know. But -- DR. WYMER: Yes. DR. FELDMAN: -- the idea is to terminate -- everything we structured in the decommissioning rule and GIS was to terminate that license. DR. WYMER: I had a narrower view of it. My view was that what this entombment thing was all about was to enable you to -- the utility to save money by leaving the reactor vessel in place then -- DR. FELDMAN: Yes, sure. Sure. DR. WYMER: -- entomb it, and that's a much narrower point of view than what I'm hearing expressed now, and I think it needs to be sorted out a little bit better. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Well, that's -- we are in the rule-making plan stage now, and I think what we're doing is trying to put all the options on the table. DR. WYMER: Okay. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Whereas, I think in the past it was considered strictly as a decommissioning- type activity. DR. WYMER: Yes. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: But now, we are also looking at the possibility of maybe it being more-so a disposal-type activity as opposed to decommissioning. DR. WYMER: Right. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: But these are only options that are on the table. DR. WYMER: Sure. And that's all we -- I realize that's all we're discussing. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. DR. WYMER: But I wanted to make it clear that there was some confusion in my mind, and I suspect that there is -- my mind is not the only one that's -- DR. FELDMAN: I think it's a broadening of the Commission paper that requested entombment of power reactors. DR. WYMER: Yes. DR. FELDMAN: But that just basically talked about power reactors and decommissioning. DR. WYMER: Yes, and that's the context in which I was thinking about it. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. DR. WYMER: And I guess I would prefer to continue thinking about it that way. DR. LEVENSON: Well, that's why I had asked the question I asked. DR. WYMER: Yes. Okay. Well, okay. You see what my problem is. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. We talked about the 50-82 limits, and I assume that you meant the 60- year decommissioning time limit or time limit for decommissioning? DR. WYMER: Yes, that's one of the big points in there. Yes. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. Like I said, the LTR, as both Carl and Bob said, might limit some facilities. If we keep the 60-year time limit, we might not be able to keep the LTR. DR. WYMER: Yes. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: But also, a question is, if credit can be given to engineered barriers for dose reduction, we might be able to meet the 60-year limit or shorten it. So the question is to what extent can dose reduction credit be given. DR. WYMER: Yes. I guess I was thinking in terms of lengthening it. So you're talking in the opposite direction. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Well, no, I'm talking in both -- I'm talking in all directions -- DR. WYMER: Okay. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: -- actually. DR. WYMER: Okay. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: If you can give little dose reduction credit you would have to lengthen the 60-year time frame. DR. WYMER: Yes. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: So I think that's the question that we're also struggling with. DR. WYMER: And if you allow the barriers to evaporate, then you also -- we're going to have to lengthen the time. DR. FELDMAN: When we did the license termination rule we had no entombment concept at all. We weren't even -- we weren't looking at that at all. DR. WYMER: Yes. I realize that, yes. This is an extension. DR. FELDMAN: Sure, yes. DR. WYMER: Yes. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. DR. WYMER: Okay. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Is waste concentration averaging applicable and acceptable? Talked about the Trojan Reactor case and there, permission was given by an agreement state. We don't have an answer on this one yet. But in looking at it, DOE was given the responsibility for developing a national disposal strategy and we were given the responsibility for licensing. DR. WYMER: Yes. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: So waste -- you know, that's kind of a gray area, you know. I think they're waiting on us for some lead in this, and we're looking to see what they want to do. So I don't have a definite answer for this, either. DR. WYMER: Yes. One of the reasons I asked the question about, is the containment vessel going to be sealed, is if it is and you can make some case for it staying sealed for awhile, then you can't really do concentration averaging because -- volume averaging, because you can't use the internal volume if no water gets in there. And if the radioactivity doesn't disperse itself inside that volume then there's no logic to using volume averaging, just because it would all be external and there's no volume there on the outside of the container. So there's a logical, technical problem there, as well. And it's, just exactly what do you mean by volume averaging? That's also relevant to the question of how much trash do you throw inside the vessel? DR. FELDMAN: Yes. DR. WYMER: If you throw a lot in there and it has a lot of radioactivity -- DR. FELDMAN: Right. DR. WYMER: -- relative to what's induced in the -- DR. FELDMAN: Right. DR. WYMER: -- in the containment vessel, then volume averaging makes sense. But if you throw the waste in, trash in there and it's low level, then it doesn't add anything to the radioactivity and volume averaging doesn't make much sense against it. All these things are a problem. DR. FELDMAN: Well, the case in point is Trojan, where they took the vessel out intact, filled it up with some concrete or fill or whatever, then buried it in Hanford. DR. WYMER: Yes. DR. FELDMAN: It has a volume-averaged type of currie concentration so that they could meet the low-level waste criteria. DR. WYMER: But that does assume that you're going to get dispersion of that -- DR. FELDMAN: Yes. DR. WYMER: -- of the radioactivity within that grout. DR. FELDMAN: Ultimate -- yeah, yes, it does. DR. LEVENSON: Ultimately. DR. WYMER: Ultimately. DR. FELDMAN: Ultimately. DR. WYMER: Yes, ultimately. Okay. Well, these are problems. DR. FELDMAN: Yes. DR. WYMER: Okay. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Then the last question was, should the facility be monitored during the entombment period, and how? As we talked about, we haven't really developed the definition of an entombment period. You know, for example, is it a decommissioning, or is it a disposal or just whatever. So it's hard to answer that question. However, if you adopt the LTR criteria, then once the license is terminated, of course, and you meet the requirements, the entombment facility is no longer monitored. DR. WYMER: Yes. Yes. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: However, the other option that we're suggesting is that you develop these performance objectives and technical requirements, and in that period of time you would have to do some monitoring until you terminate the license. DR. WYMER: Yes. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Under whatever criteria. DR. WYMER: So it's your sort of general approach that if you expand on this regulation or write a new one, that it'll be broad enough and go in enough different directions that now matter what the utility decide to do, you got them surrounded. If they decide to go to a restricted license termination, then there's some -- some provision has to be set up for institutional management. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. DR. WYMER: If you change the regulation with respect to greater than Class C so that you can have greater than Class C on the site, then that's another deal that has to do with engineered barriers and has to do with modeling to demonstrate containment. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. DR. WYMER: So you're going to cover it; every way it might go, you've got it covered. Is that -- that's your general approach? MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes, to put all the options out. DR. WYMER: And entombment is going to be kept as a broad term, rather than one that applies fairly specifically to reactors, containment vessels. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Well, not necessarily so. If we get comments back, you know, it depends on I guess how the comments go, and you know, how the Commission wants to proceed on what we send up and what we suggest. So it could be only limited -- it could be the decommissioning only of power reactors. DR. WYMER: Yes. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Where you have to meet the license termination rule, and maybe extending the 60-year time frame. DR. WYMER: Yes. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: So it just depends. DR. WYMER: It would be cleaner to separate it out cleanly for reactors, since that's a whole separate -- in my judgment -- a whole separate class of thing quite apart from low-level waste disposal sites. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. MR. LARSON: But then you got intermediate things like a hot cell, which you could look at that as a containment in the sort. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. MR. LARSON: But you're saying you don't know whether you'd consider that or not, as opposed to Ray's end thing of a low-level waste disposal facility. So you know, the Committee was going to comment the last time, but they expected that they would get AMPR, the plan within a couple of weeks. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. MR. LARSON: And the Committee'd probably be interested in what the current schedule is or when they expect to see something because, you know, they haven't seen the logic as to anyone of these approaches. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Well, exactly. I can say that we did get an extension today. DR. WYMER: We understood that. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: And this is an extension to extend the Commission date of sending the rule-making plan and AMPR up to SECE (phonetic), I believe it's June 1st. DR. HORNBERGER: That was a blessing, wasn't it? MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Oh, definitely a blessing. So we're still at the drawing table. DR. HORNBERGER: Yes. Well, we can't really prepare a letter until we see a lot more definition, until you people -- until you clarify all of these issues and what exactly -- how you're going to deal with it. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Now, we are sending paper off for office concurrence, and I think you all are on that distribution, and that's going to be within two weeks, definitely within two weeks. DR. WYMER: Well, that'll -- okay -- that'll be something, yes. Well, that's all very helpful, Stephanie. We appreciate your bringing us up to date, and it clarifies a lot of -- well, it doesn't clarify a whole lot, but it explains a lot to me. It's no more clear to me than it is to you. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Exactly, yes. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: It sounds like this is kind of a variation on the theme of in situ disposal. Is there a general category of disposal that if you would look at it rather than in the context of entombment that would give you greater flexibility on licensing? Have you considered a general approach to in situ disposal? MR. NELSON: I think -- excuse me. Bob Nelson again. The staff's trying to flesh out the options that it's presenting us have raised a lot of these types of questions. And after we got past option one, which is just let the license termination rule handle it and don't make any changes, we got into all of these things. Is it just -- should it just be focused on reactors or are we -- are there things here that would have -- that are more generic and would apply to in situ type disposals? The question of how to treat engineered barrier really kind of launched this discussion because we were moving forward to the Commission with a position on engineered barrier versus institutional controls on West Valley. And we saw that a position on that needed to be taken that was consistent with what we were doing at West Valley, or we had to have a clear reason why there should be some other approach taken for "entombment." So that discussion kind of drove us into, well, aren't there other generic issues here that we need to consider. So the long answer to your question, but yes, it did open the generic question. So we were looking at, one, don't do anything. That was pretty clear. The other option was, okay, well, let's make some possible -- option two was -- some changes, like for example, extending the time limit in 50-82, maybe clarifying the definition of engineered barriers and some other things. In other words, making some modifications, minor modifications to a set of regulations. And then the third option was, well, let's just develop something new for this thing. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. MR. NELSON: Whatever this thing is. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Well, if we -- MR. NELSON: And that's really been the focus of the staff's development -- CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. The idea here is that if we're really trying to move in the direction of a RIPB, risk informed performance base practice of regulation it would seem that you could define a category of conditions that would apply to all in- place disposal situations and be done with it. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: That's definitely an approach. DR. WYMER: A comment -- CHAIRMAN GARRICK: But remember that we're not trying to define the way the staff's going to go. What we're trying to do is frame options that we can put out in an AMPR to get a discussion going and get some feedback, along with some focused questions on those options. So we're not narrowing down what we want to do. We want to make the options broad enough that it covers a reasonable span of potential paths forward on this topic. MR. NELSON: That's exactly what I'm getting at. DR. WYMER: Yes. MR. NELSON: Because otherwise you get into a situation, well, we've done this for reactors and now we're going to do this for hot cells. Then we're going to do this for waste storage facilities. We're going to do this for fuel fabrication facilities. We're going to do this for reprocessing and so on and so forth. DR. WYMER: It's a fine balancing act between being so general that you can't work with it and being so specific that you've got a hundred cases. DR. FELDMAN: Could I just comment? The approach for the reactor was that it was sort of a natural thing, and if you were going to go -- I'm sorry -- if you were going to go for an entombment and you wanted some sort of easier path to follow, then reactors are the types of things, especially power reactors, because they're not -- they're nice -- they're sort of tidy. You have all sorts of barriers built into them. You have decay processes that are fairly robust in some situations and you have, then, as part of the metallurgical structure you don't readily -- wouldn't expect them to readily leach out, depending upon how you treated them and so on. And so that was why this was a fairly reasonable way to go initially, and if you broaden it too much, as you say, then you run into a lot of problems. DR. LEVENSON: I have a question, John. We talk about power reactors, but you really aren't. You're talking about PWRs. DR. FELDMAN: No. DR. LEVENSON: BWRs aren't -- don't have containment buildings. I mean, they're -- DR. FELDMAN: Well, yes. Yes. DR. LEVENSON: -- significantly different -- DR. FELDMAN: Yes. DR. LEVENSON: -- problems. The pressure vessels are -- DR. FELDMAN: Sure. DR. LEVENSON: -- a factor of two or three thinner. The problems would be quite different. DR. FELDMAN: But they're are -- you're right, but there are engineering compensations even for those, depending upon -- DR. LEVENSON: But they're different. DR. FELDMAN: They're different, yes, they're different. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. DR. WYMER: Okay. Well, it really has been helpful, Stephanie. It gives a good feeling of where we are at the present time, and we appreciate your coming in and sharing these problems with us, and your struggles toward solving them. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: I think Andy has another -- DR. WYMER: Are there other questions? MR. CAMPBELL: Yes. Actually, the more you talk about the entombment option, the more it sounds like a Part 61 site when you think in terms of the total number of curries and so on. How are you going to resolve all the various limits in Part 61 with respect -- I mean, in essence, if you go down this road you're not sending anything to a Part 61 site which would normally have gone to a low-level waste site. You're disposing of it on site, but within Part 61 -- I mean, Trojan's a special case because it went to an already existing Part 61 site, and therefore, met the siting requirements and so on and so forth that you normally associate with a Part 61 low-level waste site. Now, you're talking about reactor sites, which more often than not were chosen because they're near water. They're not necessarily stable for all kinds of long time frames. You're talking about greater than Class C waste, which is under Part 61 not considered -- generally not considered suitable for near surface disposal. You've got a lot of issues with Part 61 and how are you going to deal with that? DR. WYMER: Well, I'd sort of like to solve this discussion if we can and give Paul Genoa here a chance to give us the NOI perspective on this thing, if you will, Paul. MR. GENOA: Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate this opportunity again. I'm Paul Genoa with the Nuclear Energy Institute, and have been looking at the issue of options for operation and decommissioning of power reactors primarily. And many of the questions you've asked today have been asked by our members, as well. Fundamentally, our thinking is that at the early stages that clearly we believe that there are options for decommissioning facilities other than digging them up and moving them to another part of the country, and it can be done safely, we believe. The license termination rule, being a performance-based rule, really begs the question, well, how can you interpret that. Is there a way to meet the license termination criteria by simply isolating the material at a facility on site in a way that it doesn't exceed the performance-based rule? We think the answer's yes. Unfortunately, it gets very quickly complicated. Initially, our proposal at the NRC's workshop in entombment -- and we would very much like to see the name change. We think that the name is confusing. We think something like enhanced SAFE store or enhanced isolation or any number of other words might be better. But fundamentally, we thought that there are a range of options all the way from operating the plant routinely, as you always have, sending all the waste to a low-level waste facility, coming to decommissioning, doing chemical cleaning, perhaps to scour out all the active you can reasonably scour from the facility, perhaps even removing the greater -- the Class C components from the core, putting them into storage like fuel oil with the fuel, and ultimately just leaving the facility itself on site, which would be a very lower activity. That would be on one end of the extreme, and the other, as you've mentioned, is the possibility of actually entombing the reactor itself. Now, the question of engineered barriers, I think that shouldn't be confused with institutional controls. Clearly, if you're going to leave residual activity and you're going to have a restricted release scenario as envisioned by the LTP, there will be ongoing institutional controls that will -- must be in place. And it has to be outside the operator's hands, and the operator will be responsible for funding of all sorts of active maintenance over time, and for funding those institutional controls. But they're going to have to be doable controls, probably a state or federal government control. But you know, that can be explored clearly outside of the operator's control. Certainly, it would be easier to do institutional controls for 130 years than 1,000 years. And so, you know, often we believe that we'd like the option, but it would be nice to walk before we run, and perhaps to show that the entombment can be managed for any type of a facility with a constrained source term within it. But then if you want to also look at some special conditions that would allow greater than Class C to be entombed within the structure, that would certainly make sense, but it would raise the bar considerably. We just hope that the debate doesn't get like, like in clearance, where we only talk about metals. In reality, it's a much broader rule. The same thing with entombment. There are a variety of scenarios that could be envisioned. We think on the issue of engineered barriers you're really thinking, what are the assumptions that I can put legitimately into a dose modeling scenario that would give me an accurate dose. And as we've seen in performance assessments space for Part 61, there's been views that, well, you know, engineered barriers we can maybe credit for about 500 years. But beyond that you're -- you know -- perhaps we could count on the chemical properties of concrete or a large cementatious mass would, you know, inhibit certain isotopes from migrating. Maybe we could buy that more than 500 years. But clearly, as we see in the entombment option for everything other than greater than Class C, you only need about 130 years. Certainly, there are engineered barriers that we could count on. And what we would ask is the Commission, is it deliberate to really reflect on what we've learned our high level waste program. Certainly, engineered barriers are going to be used at Yucca Mountain or some other predecessor of that facility. And we would hope that you would recognize that those are out there and available. But institutional controls, they're currently being used by the EPA and Super Fund, and we're going to have to look at those for DOE facilities and other facilities across the country. We think that's not insurmountable. We don't believe that you need to change the Nuclear Waste Policy Act or the Low-Level Waste Policy Act, necessarily. Again, entombment could be an option that doesn't even deal with the greater than Class C waste. However, there certainly are advantages. When I was here last I offered to you that it makes us question the value of cutting up the reactor internals. Connecticut Yankee is now cleaning up from that process. They will expend about 160 MAN REM, maybe 170 in that job. Now, the difference is really not because they cut it up. It's because how they cut it up. Absent waste acceptance criteria, they made -- from DOE -- they made a decision that the safest thing is to cut up into real small pieces that'll fit into what they call fast cans or fuel-size cans. That extra cutting is what caused the extra dose. Main Yankee's going to use another approach, but they're doing it at risk because they don't have clear guidance from DOEO, what it would take to accept this material. Now, they're cutting up into bigger chunks and it's not as dose intensive. So you know, there are different ways to do this. Solving entombment is one solution, but encouraging DOE to come up with a waste acceptance criteria would certainly be another. And I guess finally, what we're looking for is options, and we would hope you'd continue to expand the thinking on this concept and perhaps change the title of this concept to allow for what we believe certainly are realistic opportunities to safely isolate materials at facilities. And my final comment would just be that we are looking at this not just as a way to save a buck. I mean, that certainly is an element of everything. There's always economic considerations. But you really need to take it in holistically. This is an opportunity perhaps to maintain some benefits at a community that has hosted a facility during its operational life. You know, why take 4- or $500 million and dig that facility up and take the facility and the dollars to some other place in the country, when perhaps it can be safely isolated on site and funds can stay in the local community for oversight, monitoring, you know, jobs for security and so forth. So the concept we view is that this would be tried as an option not by everybody, but by a facility that is industrial in nature, that will continue to be an industrial facility for sometime in the future, that looking over an entombed reactor on site would not be a large burden if it was done properly. That would reduce cost, would create jobs, oversight for the community and for the state government and the regulator and so forth. So those are some of my thoughts. DR. WYMER: Well, thank you very much. Let me ask you a technical question you probably won't be able to answer. Is it likely even that a reactor containment vessel with the induced radioactivity in it would be less than -- DR. LEVENSON: You mean a pressure vessel? DR. WYMER: Pressure vessel. I'm sorry, pressure vessel -- would be less than Class C waste at the end of 60 years? Don't you think that that vessel would be greater than Class C for longer periods of time than that? MR. GENOA: Yes, unless you cut the internals out of it. Those internals are by definition, if you separate them, those are greater than Class C. DR. WYMER: But the -- MR. GENOA: The reactor core barrels. DR. WYMER: -- but the vessel itself is -- MR. GENOA: The reactor vessel is not necessarily. DR. WYMER: Not necessarily. MR. GENOA: Yes. And just for a point of clarification, the grout at the Trojan facility was not for concentration averaging. The grout was there to fix the internal contamination, so in a transportation accident it wouldn't be released. That was part of the scenario. So -- DR. WYMER: But the volume averaging, nonetheless, took into account the internal volume. MR. GENOA: It didn't take -- I don't believe it used the volume of the dead air space. It took the activity and the activity of the radiated metal within the eight to ten-inch reactor vessel. DR. WYMER: Oh. MR. GENOA: And averaged all the activity within that mass and decided that that was less than Class C. DR. WYMER: Didn't take into account the enclosed volume? MR. GENOA: No. It actually is a mass. It wasn't a volume concentration. DR. WYMER: Yes. MR. GENOA: But we can verify that. DR. WYMER: Wasn't volume averaging; it was mass averaging? MR. GENOA: Yes. DR. WYMER: Okay. Well, thanks. Thanks. Any comments or questions of Paul while he's sitting here? MR. GENOA: I guess I answered them all. Thank you very much. DR. WYMER: Yes, well, thank you. And any other questions of Stephanie while we've got her here, or any comments? CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Well, we do have a comment. DR. WYMER: Have we got one from back here? CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes, the Public Citizen Group. MS. GUE: Thanks again, Mr. Chairman. Lisa Gue from Public Citizen. At this preliminary stage as you're considering this issue, I just wanted to remind you of Public Citizen's continuing objection to the concept of entombment as a viable option for decommissioning. Our membership across the country, including at nuclear power sites or the communities around them is certainly clearly opposed to this concept of creating no -- which would potentially create 104 nuclear sacrifice zones or low-level waste dumps across the country. And certainly, in this more broad concept that's here being described as an option, this does not seem like a reasonable or responsible policy for managing low-level waste. It becomes even more objectionable when the stated objective is to make it more cost-effective for nuclear utilities to decommission. We certainly don't feel that that's -- that that is in the public interest for the motivation for regulation. Our conviction is that nuclear utilities have accepted the burden and the cost of decommissioning when they've decided to invest in nuclear power, and that it shouldn't -- it's not acceptable for that burden to now be transferred onto the public, in violation of the spirit of the license termination requirements. DR. WYMER: Thank you. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes, thank you. DR. WYMER: Well, if there's no other comments or questions, we're right on schedule. Thank you very much, Stephanie. We'll look forward to seeing you again. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. DR. WYMER: Thanks, Paul. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. Ray, I guess what we're concluding from this is that it's premature to write a letter? DR. WYMER: Oh, yes, it is. DR. HORNBERGER: Is the staff looking for comments on their paper that's supposed to be coming out in the next few weeks? CHAIRMAN GARRICK: I don't know. DR. WYMER: Well, I think it's premature. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: It's -- have they gone? MS. BUSH-GODDARD: What was the question? I'm sorry. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Well, we're at -- the Committee has to decide whether we wish to write a letter or a report on entombment, and based on what I'm hearing here it sounds as though maybe it's premature to do that. But unless staff wants to have the opinions of the Committee about the issue in general or in some other form -- DR. LARKINS: Sounds like after you see the paper and the various options, you might -- that might be the more appropriate time or reasonable time to weigh in on this. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Yes. Yes. DR. WYMER: Certainly not before then. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: I think that's a good idea. DR. LARKINS: No. It says, clearly, the objectives still seem to be -- CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Well, unless we have some ideas that -- about the whole issue or that we have some concerns about the general direction that it was taking, I would agree, yes. MR. LARSON: Stephanie, you said it was a concurrence paper that -- MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. MR. LARSON: I mean, so it's going to be publicly released or it's going to be pre-decisional, or what's it going to be? MS. BUSH-GODDARD: No, it's definitely pre-decisional. When I said office concurrence, it's the NRC Offices. MR. LARSON: Okay. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: NRR research, that type of thing, and having their directors sign off on it. DR. LARKINS: I think we'll get it for information, probably. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes, exactly. DR. LARKINS: Yes. So you can take a look at it then and decide if it's something that the Committee wants to weigh in, or it could wait till you get comments. During the public comment period there are a number of different times when the Committee can provide comments. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Yes. Now, we're not sending it out for public comment until it's gone up the -- DR. LARKINS: No, I understand. I understand the process. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: Okay. MR. LARSON: In light of the broad scope of options that you seem to be looking at, what is it going to be, a 90-, 180-day public comment period or? MS. BUSH-GODDARD: I think right now we're looking for a 90-day comment period. But you know, that can always be extended. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Any other comments, questions? Staff? All right. Well, thank you again. MS. BUSH-GODDARD: You're welcome. DR. WYMER: Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN GARRICK: Okay. I think this brings us to the conclusion of our presentation part of our Agenda and that we're now in a position to move into a discussion and the preparation of reports. And I'd like to suggest a very short break so that the court reporter can remove his equipment and sign off, and then we'll start our reports. So we'll have a short break now. (Whereupon, this portion of the 124th meeting of the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste was concluded at approximately 2:01 p.m.)
Page Last Reviewed/Updated Monday, October 02, 2017
Page Last Reviewed/Updated Monday, October 02, 2017