The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission on Aug. 22 approved reserving a set amount of disposal capacity at the compact facility for certain “small quantity” generators.
The addition to the Texas Administrative Code passed unanimously without discussion by the commissioners present at a meeting in Austin, alongside an amendment redefining small-quantity generator.
Texas and Vermont are the only members to the compact, through which their low-level radioactive waste is disposed of at a facility in Andrews County that is owned by Texas and operated by Waste Control Specialists. However, 34 other states without their own disposal facility can send low-level waste to the site at higher charges and with approval from the Compact Commission, which administers the agreement.
The new section in the Texas Administrative Code sets aside 2,000 curies per fiscal year only for small-quantity generators in states that are not party to the compact. It also gives the commission the authority to increase that set-aside amount, as needed based on national demand, but only for one fiscal year at a time.
Under the amendment to the code, a small-quantity generator produces no more than 200 cubic feet or 100 curies of low-level waste per year, and is not a nuclear power plant, electric utility, or the U.S. Defense Department. That eliminates the prior annual maximum of 100 cubic feet, along with language from the Administrative Code specifying that “the curie level of such waste is minimal as compared to the curie limit in the Compact Facility’s license as determined by the” Compact Commission.
The changes take effect only after the final rule package is published in the Texas Register, which will set an effective date. That is usually 20 days from the date of publication, commission Executive Director Leigh Ing said by email on Aug. 23: “So the rule will go into effect soon, but not immediately.” The notice had not been published as of Friday.
Speaking to the commission, Waste Control Specialists President and Chief Operating Officer David Carlson said the Compact Waste Facility in the 2018-2019 fiscal year received 2,907 cubic feet, 1,839 curies, of waste from generators inside Texas and Vermont. Generators from out-of-compact states shipped 19,009 cubic feet, 163,493 curies. Cumulatively since opening in 2012, the facility has received 147,669 cubic feet, 1.6% of its full licensed capacity; and 490,407 curies decayed, 12.61% of the licensed capacity. In all, the Compact Waste Facility has 9 million cubic feet and 3.9 million curies of disposal space.
The Compact Waste Facility is one of four disposal facilities operated by Waste Control Specialists on its 14,900-acre property in West Texas.
The Aug. 22 meeting was expected to be Ing’s last as executive director after seven years on the job.
“The search for a new Executive Director is the result of Leigh Ing’s decision to not renew her contract with the Commission,” Chairman Brandon Hurley said by email on Aug. 23. “It was an amicable parting and Leigh is held in very high regard by everyone on the Commission.”
The commission is still accepting resumes for the successor executive director, who serves as the primary manager for its operations, according to Hurley. The timeline for selection is not known, as the commission does not know how many applications it will receive, or how long it will take to conduct interviews and for the selected executive director to switch jobs.
Greater-Than-Class C Waste
Earlier in the meeting, the executive director of the nongovernmental Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) Coalition made the case against shipping any Greater-Than-Class C low-level waste to a separate facility within the Waste Control Specialists disposal complex.
The U.S. Energy Department has indicated that is its preferred method of disposal for the waste, and WCS has made clear it wants the business. Currently, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering a rulemaking that could change federal regulations to allow for near-surface disposal of the waste.
SEED Executive Director Karen Hadden, based in Austin, said she wanted to raise issues about WCS operations that could impact on the specific disposal function of the compact facility.
Greater-Than-Class C waste “really is hot, it’s very, very concentrated waste, it comes from inside of nuclear reactors, it’s the metal components and other things,” Hadden said. She added: “These materials should be going, in my opinion, to a repository, these things should be going deep underground.”
Greater-Than-Class C is any low-level radioactive waste with radionuclide concentrations exceeding the limit for Class C material, as designated by the NRC. It generally encompasses activated metals, sealed sources, and other waste types generated in commercial and government nuclear operations. But GTCC can contain special nuclear material, such as enriched uranium or plutonium, that could be used in nuclear weapons.
Existing federal nuclear regulations require that GTCC waste be permanently buried within a geologic repository, unless the NRC approves a specific application for another means of disposal. There is not yet a repository for this waste, and the federal regulator has never received a disposal application.
The Energy Department is responsible for disposal of this waste type under the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985. The agency in 2016 identified its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and/or land disposal at generic commercial facilities as its preferred means of disposal. It further narrowed that down to Waste Control Specialists’ Federal Waste Facility in an October 2018 environmental assessment on disposal of GTCC waste and the similar GTCC-like waste.
The total current and future stockpile of those materials is projected at roughly 12,000 cubic meters and 160 million curies of radioactivity.
In a draft regulatory basis issued in July, NRC staff said it had determined that most GTCC waste could safely be disposed of via a near-surface facility. That would apply to the Waste Control Specialists’ site. The agency is taking public comment on the draft regulatory basis through Sept. 20, including at a public meeting this week in Austin.
“Once the public comment period is over, staff will assess all the comments, including those from Tuesday’s meeting, and will develop the final reg basis,” NRC spokesman David McIntyre said by email Thursday.
The finalized document could point the way for the NRC to update regulations on disposal of GTCC waste. Staff, in the draft, listed three options: sustaining the existing regulatory framework; preparing a new guidance without revising the rules; and carrying out a full rulemaking that would establish regulations specifically for placing GTCC waste in a low-level waste facility.
Hadden said a site-specific environmental impact statement should be required if Waste Control Specialists is to take this waste: “The region is one of climate extremes, natural disasters, there’s been earthquakes. There are concerns about worker and public exposures at this site.”
She noted concerns raised by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who in an April 26 letter to NRC Chairman Kristine Svinicki demanded that the state have a voice in disposal of GTCC waste within its borders.
When disposal might occur is an open question, with some form of action required by Congress and regulatory approvals from both the federal and state governments.
Asked about the matter during the meeting, Carlson said there is “nothing going on with the facility with Greater-Than-Class C.” The NRC development of its regulatory basis “doesn’t indicate any action on the part of the state of Texas or WCS at this point.”
The Dallas-based company intends to file comments on the draft regulatory basis, Carlson told RadWaste Monitor by email on Thursday. “The NRC staff has produced a draft Regulatory Basis document that is thorough and understandable, and WCS commends them for their work. WCS is conducting a thorough review of the document, and of its associated Technical Analysis.”
Carlson noted, though, that the Texas government would have final say on moving potentially moving forward with GTCC waste disposal in the state.
