Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
9/11/2015
SUMMERLIN, NEV — EnergySolutions remains on track for an October submittal date for its responses to Utah’s questions concerning its depleted uranium performance assessment, EnergySolutions’ Senior Vice President Jason Williams said this week at the 2015 RadWaste Summit. “We are in the process of addressing those concerns, and are confident we will be able to satisfy the concerns raised,” Williams said. “Once we are adequately able to address these, we are confident that Clive will be suitable for long-term storage of DU.” The response would then be reviewed by a third party, with the expectation of a public comment period to begin in May of 2016, and a possible Utah decision on the PA by October 2016.
Following the release of the state’s analysis of the PA earlier this year, EnergySolutions requested the suspension of the review process after eight problem areas emerged in the state’s Safety Evaluation Report. The Department of Environmental Quality found that the PA meets requirements for protection of the public and inadvertent intruders, but the SER found EnergySolution’s PA deficient in eight areas, including areas related to the evapotranspiration cover, infiltration, erosion of cover, frost damage, effects of biological on radionuclide transport, clay liner, GoldSim quality assurance, and deep time analysis.
EnergySolutions submitted Clive’s performance assessment for DU back in 2011 following the Utah Radiation Control Board’s 2010 decision to require a quantitative compliance period for DU out to 10,000 years, with a second qualitative review out to peak dose (approximately 2.5 million years). Subsequently, the state required additional information and a revised design for a DU disposal cell, which EnergySolutions resubmitted last year. Once EnergySolutions submits its responses, DEQ will start the seven week public comment period.
