Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
1/17/2014

Taking the time pressure off talks with the state of Nevada over disposal of a controversial batch of uranium-233, the Department of Energy has unloaded material from shipping casks it had planned to send to the Nevada National Security Site for disposal. The shipping containers were due for recertification this month and after an initial working group meeting with Nevada officials in November, DOE officials had hoped shipments would begin in early 2014 (WC Monitor, Vol. 24 No. 45). But DOE instead unloaded the material, which although costly, was a positive development, Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Director Leo Drozdoff said this week. “They didn’t want that maintenance demand to drive the issue. So they’ve agreed to do that maintenance and therefore the urgency of January went away. I don’t take from that that they are willing to wait for an undetermined amount of time, but they didn’t want to short-circuit that,” Drozdoff told WC Monitor.

In question are 403 canisters of Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Project (CEUSP) material in DOE’s inventory of uranium-233 being stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Building 3019. Disposal of that material at NNSS was opposed last year by Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), leading to the formation of a working group on the issue. “The Department’s discussions with the State of Nevada and local officials regarding the shipments of the Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Program materials from the Oak Ridge site are ongoing,” a DOE spokesperson said in a statement this week. “Together, we continue to make progress as we thoroughly address issues and concerns related to the shipments. Considering these current discussions, the Department decided to unload the shipping cask containing the CEUSP materials, a process completed Thursday, January 9, in order to perform required annual maintenance and recertification inspections on the cask. The Department is committed to addressing the concerns of State of Nevada officials and providing them with information they request regarding these shipments.”

The maintenance is a routine annual recertification for the NAC Legal-Weight Truck shipping casks, which is being performed by contractor NAC International, and the casks will be sent back to Oak Ridge after recertification. Due to high costs, in 2011 DOE switched its plans from downblending the entire store of uranium-233 at ORNL’s Building 3019 for disposition to an approach of shipping about half the stockpile to the Nevada National Security Site for direct disposal, including the CEUSP material. DOE had originally planned to complete the first CEUSP shipments in 2013, and the delays due to the political concerns have led to increased costs for the Department, which is currently spending about $2.6 million per month on the project.

Congress Has Questions for DOE on U-233

Congress also has some questions for DOE regarding the uranium-233 at Oak Ridge in the Fiscal Year 2014 omnibus spending bill approved this week, requiring within 90 days a lifecycle cost estimate of the program supporting removal of all uranium-233 by 2019 and an analysis of the cost and schedule implications if the material is not disposed of at NNSS. It also provides $45 million “to expedite the removal and disposition of special nuclear materials stored in Building 3019 due to continued safety and security risks” and directs DOE to “establish a new funding line to provide for the costs of storage and transport of materials, maintenance of Building 3019, maintenance and upgrade of Building 2026, and any other costs that are needed to support ultimate disposition of the legacy materials.”

Drozdoff: Working Group Making Progress

Last fall DOE and Nevada formed the working group, led by DOE Acting Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs Brad Crowell and Sandoval’s General Counsel Michon Martin, and state officials hope it could lead to a long-term political process for CEUSP and other future missions at NNSS. The next meeting for the group is slated for late January, Drozdoff said, noting that the first meeting in November was a success. “The working group is paying dividends just in terms of having a better understanding of DOE’s needs, and them having a better understanding of our needs. The level of communication and discussion and digging below the surface a little bit has been good,” Drozdoff said.            

Transportation issues still need to be resolved on the CEUSP material, Drozdoff said, noting that DOE recently had a meeting with state and local officials on the topic. “We’re still getting reports back, and we are going to be doing work ourselves with our local governments on transportation and what that’s all about. We need to hear from DOE on the feedback they’ve got from local governments and we’re going to be doing the same. That’s still a big part of CEUSP in particular,” Drozdoff said, adding later, “We are making progress in terms of understanding each other, but there are still questions to be answered. The fact that they did this maintenance removes a key hurdle. We are going to get together in late January to see where we stand on the balance of things.”

Drozdoff said that the success of the working group so far leads him to believe that it can lead to broader discussions on the future of NNSS. “The bottom line is that no matter what gets determined on CEUSP, DOE and the NNSS facility is important to DOE and it is important to the state,” he said. “Therefore having as good a relationship as possible is something that I think everyone would agree upon. What we want to try to do is use the working group to dig down deeper on issues as opposed to getting caught up in generalities. In that regard it’s productive. In the end of the day, are we still going to have disagreements? Maybe, probably. But at least they will be focused and understood and well-vetted.”