Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
1/9/2015
The Department of Energy and the state of Nevada have formalized a working group process that began after controversy over proposed shipments of uranium-233 to the Nevada National Security Site for disposal, and is including a focus on issues including waste acceptance criteria and low-level waste classification, Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Director Leo Drozdoff told WC Monitor this week. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval (R) signed a memorandum of understanding in late December outlining priorities for the working group moving forward. “We’ve now identified the areas of shared interest. The meetings themselves will become the places to report progress,” Drozdoff said. “We’ve set the agenda for future meetings, and that’s a very good development that comes out of this MOU.”
High-level DOE and Nevada officials began quarterly meetings in late 2013 after opposition within the state to DOE’s proposal to ship a batch of uranium-233 from Oak Ridge to NNSS for disposal. The material in question is comprised of 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. DOE and Nevada have still not reached a resolution on the future of the material, and at this point officials say there is no timeline for a decision. DOE had originally planned to complete the first CEUSP shipments in 2013, but the subsequent delays have led to security and storage costs estimated to add up to about $2.6 million per month.
CEUSP: ‘Not Ducking’ But ‘Not Forcing’ The Issue
The new MOU includes five discussion topics that cover waste acceptance criteria, low-level waste classification, expanded and additional missions for NNSS, public health and safety and communications and education. However, the CEUSP material will continue to be on the agenda, Drozdoff said. “This is an important issue for DOE. There are still outstanding discussion items. We’re not ducking those. But we’re not forcing them either,” he said. “The CEUSP discussions will continue to take place. We’ll continue to fine tune the issues and concerns that we want to work through and DOE wants to work through.”
Refining Waste Acceptance Criteria
Issues still being discussed regarding the CEUSP shipments include local communication, transportation and the larger issue of waste acceptance criteria for NNSS. Refining the waste acceptance criteria for the site could avoid situations like what has occurred with CEUSP, Drozdoff said. “Over the course of discussions we’ve had in the last year-and-a-half, this is clearly an area that probably needed some improvement on everybody’s end. It’s been a lesson learned on all sides,” he said. “Waste acceptance criteria was brought most into focus because of the CEUSP campaign and certainly what we put into place we believe will seek to avoid those situations in the future.”
The working group could create an expectation for discussion around potential future changes to the waste acceptance criteria, Drozdoff said. “We’ll work with folks that we know waste acceptance criteria matters,” he said. “We’ll be able to get input and discussion with relevant stakeholders, whether that’s locals or whether that’s at the state level.”
A Closer Look at Low-Level Waste Classification
The DOE-Nevada agreement also highlights low-level waste classification, and calls for an “independent scientific body” to review the classification system. That could potentially include institutions such as the National Academy of Sciences or a university. “Anybody who deals with low level waste on a routine basis knows that there is a broad spectrum of waste out there. You can get anything from used keyboards to stuff that’s maybe just below some of the criteria for TRU [transuranic] waste,” Drozdoff said. He added: “As we continued to look at what’s important to DOE and to the state, this is an issue that rose to the top.”
Drozdoff is hoping the report from an independent organization will help clarify the issue. “It’s entirely possible that somebody may look at this and say ‘it works.’ Another potential outcome is that you look at the distinctions made on some of these other radwaste, so there is maybe too broad of a spectrum,” he said. “We would hope that it would take the form of a report with some recommendations or affirmation that everything is fine.”
MOU Came About ‘Organically’
The formalization of the working group process in an MOU at this point in time came about organically, according to Drozdoff. “When we started to see things like meaningful engagement at the [local] level and being appreciated then we started to see some of the decisionmaking in terms of other waste streams, I think it sort of organically grew,” he said. “We all knew if it was going to work it would be something we’d want to memorialize longer than right now. Obviously someday there will be a different secretary of energy and governor of Nevada. This will be a good tool, not only for these two principles and their push to improve relations, but something that future principles could look at.”
The Department of Energy also emphasized the importance of the MOU. The agreement “formalizes a long-standing and productive relationship between the Department and the State of Nevada,” Moniz said in a statement. “I have been very pleased with the positive interactions of both parties to date and look forward to collaborating further on matters associated with the Nevada National Security Site in the years to come.”
