Frank Marcinowski Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Compliance

Office of Environmental Management

U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Program

EM’s Radioactive Waste Management

2007 Intergovernmental Meeting

October, 2007

2

EM Program

• EM is re-focused on providing complex-wide leadership in management and disposition of DOE waste streams- Zero tolerance for non-compliance with requirements

• Pending organizational changes in the Office of Regulatory Compliance (EM-10) will improve integration of waste and excess nuclear material disposition efforts– Move of EM’s nuclear materials program activities to

EM-10

• DOE’s waste management policy remains unchanged • DOE’s Waste Management Programmatic Environmental Impact

Statement and Records of Decision are still valid

3

High-Level/Liquid Waste Management

• Tank retrieval progress• “Section 3116”/Waste Incidental to Reprocessing

DOE Order 435.1 • Allow residual waste (tank heels) to be left in place

and managed to meet LLW requirements • Tank closures at Idaho and Savannah River• Saltstone Status• Facility highlights

– Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford resumed construction– Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at Idaho for Sodium

Bearing Waste

4

Transuranic Waste

• Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Summary– 50,831 m3 of defense transuranic waste disposed – Completed 6,109 shipments

• Remote-handled (RH) shipments began in January– 65 RH shipments received to date– Ramp up in RH shipments at INL continues (increased to 4

shipments per week in September)

• WIPP must be recertified by EPA every 5 years– First recertification approved in March 2006– Second recertification application under development for

submission in March 2009

Shipment data as of 10/1/07

5

Transuranic Waste (continued)

• Removed legacy transuranic waste from 13 sites• Shipments from large generator sites continue

– FY 2008 shipment goal is 25 contact-handled transuranic (CH-TRU) and 6 remote-handled (RH-TRU) transuranic shipments per week

• Site highlights– Idaho National Laboratory

• Completed 2,414 shipments of contact- and remote-handled TRU waste to WIPP.

• Idaho was the first shipper of RH-TRU waste and has shipped 65 shipments to date.

Shipment data as of 10/1/07

6

Transuranic Waste (continued)– Los Alamos National Laboratory

• Completed 329 shipments (including 59 of the 235 total drums of their high-activity waste)

– Savannah River Site• Completed 809 shipments of contact-handled TRU

waste to WIPP.• On June 30, 2007, SRS also met the TRU waste

shipping milestones agreed to with the State of South Carolina ahead of schedule.

– Richland• Completed 367 shipments of contact-handled waste to

WIPP.

Shipment data as of 10/1/07

7

Low-Level/Mixed Low-Level Waste

• DOE has reinstated DOE-wide life-cycle waste forecasts– Waste Information Management System

http://wims.arc.fiu.edu/WIMS– Development of disposition planning tools continues

• On-site disposal continues at most sites, but volumes requiring off-site waste disposal continue to drop

• Taking steps to optimize disposal operations at the Nevada Test Site– Increased review of waste generators sending waste to

Mixed Waste Disposal Unit– Transition to direct funding disposal operations

Off Site LLW/MLLW Disposition has Declined

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

FY

Th

ou

san

ds

of

cub

ic m

eter

s

Comm

NTS

TBD

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Low-Level/Mixed Low-Level Waste

• Site/campaign highlights– West Valley Demonstration Project drum cell cleanout is

complete and shipments to NTS will complete by the end of October.

– Mound OU-1 LLW to Clive (over 450 railcars of soil debris so far this year)

– Astabula and Fernald complete in early FY 07 • Fernald Silo 1 and 2 waste stored at WCS pending disposal.

• Toxic Substances Control act Incinerator continues to operate as DOE-wide treatment solution– 1,000,000+ pounds of TSCA waste burned this fiscal year

10

Greater-Than-Class C LLW Disposal

• EM has initiated efforts to develop an Environmental Impact Statement for GTCC LLW Disposal– Notice of Intent published in July 23, 2007

– Public scoping process completed September 21, 2007

• DOE is evaluating disposal alternatives for 2,600 m3

of commercially generated GTCC, as well as 3,000 m3 of DOE “GTCC-like wastes”

• The Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires DOE to report to Congress on alternatives evaluated in EIS and await their action before issuing a Record of Decision.

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Programmatic Developments

• DOE programs remain responsible for their newly generated wastes– Encourages waste minimization

• EM continues to facilitate DOE-wide integration – Disposal cost analysis guidance in preparation– Review of commercial disposal exemption requests– Working with Federal Project Directors to solve

waste disposition issues

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Materials Disposition

• Efforts continue to ensure unneeded, surplus nuclear materials are processed for disposition

• These plans are integrated with waste disposal plans• Planning underway for limited SNM and SNF campaigns to

support consolidation (FY 08 and beyond)• Construction of the DUF6 conversion facilities continue

– NEPA analysis for disposal sites underway

• U233/Building 3019 Stabilization Project continues– Future processing will prepare U233 for permanent disposal

• EM supports Departmental efforts to ensure disposition for small volume material streams, as well

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Background slides

• LLW/MLLW— If practical, disposal on the site where generated— If on-site disposal not available, at another DOE disposal Facility— At commercial disposal facilities if compliant, cost effective, and in the

best interest of DOE• TRU Waste

— If defense, dispose at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)— If defense determination pending, safe storage awaiting future disposition

• HLW and SNF— Stabilization, immobilization/treatment if necessary, and safe interim site

storage until geologic disposal is available

DOE Order 435.1, Radioactive Waste* Management, Establishes Policy & Framework for Waste Disposition Activities

* Other documents define plan for interim management of special nuclear materials (SNM); excess SNM disposal plans are integrated with waste plans

DOE’s Waste Disposal Complex

Hanford

Pantex Plant

Brookhaven

Knolls

Princeton (PPPL)

Savannah River

Oak Ridge

ITRIGeneral Atomics

ETECSandiaSLAC

LBNL

LLNL

Ames RMI

ANL

Fermi

Portsmouth

Paducah

Mound

BCL

Bettis

Kansas CityNTS

INL

CERCLA Disposal Facility

Fernald

Regional LLW Disposal Facility

DOE Generator Site (no on-site disposal facility)

LLW Operations Disposal Facility

MLLW Operations Disposal Facility

Legend

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for TRU disposal

LANL

Sandia

WIPP

West Valley

Yucca Mountain repository for HLW/SNF disposal

Sites are closed

Rocky Flats

DOE Waste Management Policy:LLW and MLLW: If practical, disposal on the site at which it is generated. If on-site disposal not available, at another DOE disposal facility. At commercial disposal facilities if compliant, cost effective, and in best interest of the DepartmentTRU waste: If defense, disposed at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, New Mexico. If non-defense, safe storage awaiting future dispositionHLW and SNF: Stabilization, if necessary, and safe storage until geologic disposal is available

Presentation of Waste Forecast Data in WIMS: Disposition Map for Kansas City Plant AFTER

Presentation of Waste Forecast Data in WIMS: Shipments from Idaho National Laboratory AFTER