DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD

January 10, 1997

A. DOE Intent to Not Meet DNFSB Commitments: On January 10, Mr. Gubanc attended a DOE- RL and Prime Contractor (FDH, BHI and PNNL) public meeting with the regulators, Indian Tribes, and citizen stakeholders. A complete copy of the presentation package is being sent to DNFSB-HQ. Highlights are as follows:

1. Attendees: The DOE-RL Manager and each of the site contractor presidents, or their deputies, were present.

2. Approval Status: During the meeting, FDH stated that the FY 97 budget values being presented had the approval of DOE-RL. DOE-RL did not disagree.

3. Overall Hanford Budget: Hanford's FY97 budget (both requested and approved) is $1.3 billion. There is no Hanford allocation being held back by either DOE-HQ or DOE- RL. "Emergent" workscope amounting to $160 million is unfunded.

4. Recommendation 93-5, Tank Characterization: DOE-RL intends to "revise implementation plans" for 10 of the 23 remaining open 93-5 commitments. This includes the following cuts for FY97:

Reduce sample truck crews from 4 to 3. (A reduction to 2 is being considered.)

Rotary core samples reduced from 36 to 24.

Vapor samples reduced from 42 to 30.

Tank characterization reports reduced from 40 to 19; 18 characterization reports will use historical data only as opposed to physical tank sample data.

5. Recommendation 94-1, Spent Fuel and Plutonium Stabilization: Most 94-1 commitments remain intact. Fuel removal start dates will be delayed up to five months (more detail is provided in item B. below). Pu-polycube stabilization and the Pu handling system upgrade will be deferred for one year.

6. DNFSB Legislation: During the meeting, DOE-RL was reminded of the requirement in 42 USC 2286d, SEC. 315.(f).(2) which requires the Secretary of Energy to inform the President and Congress if funds are insufficient to implement a DNFSB Recommendation.

We suggest the Board discuss this matter directly with DOE-HQ and DOE-RL management.

B. Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Project: On January 8th, Mr. Ogg met with DOE-RL and EM-65 to discuss progress and the proposed path forward for the project. DOE-RL provided a copy of the Technical Baseline Validation Team Final Report (Rasin Report) which will also be forwarded to DNFSB HQ. The validation team found no significant technical difficulties within the SNF project but recommended that the technical baseline documentation be streamlined and formalized.

DOE-RL also presented the new proposed schedule for the SNF project. This schedule shows a start date for removal of SNF from the KW basin on May 31, 1998, five months later than the Recommendation 94-1 milestone date. Completion of SNF removal from the K basins is now scheduled for July 31, 2001, seven months later than the 94-1 milestone. DOE-RL stated that five months of the delay is due to technical and safety reasons and that the remaining two months of delay in the completion date is due to budgetary constraints. DOE-RL is preparing justifications for these schedule slippages and will present them to Congress, EM-1 and the Board next week.

C. BHI Nuclear Safety: On January 9th, Messrs. Ogg and Gubanc received a briefing from DOE- RL (AME) and Bechtel Hanford Inc. (BHI) on the Bechtel nuclear safety program. BHI presented their approach to Preliminary and Final Hazard categorization, which serves to identify the level of review required by DOE-RL. BHI also presented their approach to performing the hazards analyses and safety analyses that will form part of the authorization basis for BHI activities. Since the N-basin authorization basis documentation was recently revised, BHI used it to demonstrate their new approach.

While the hazards analyses and safety analyses for N Basin appear to have identified controls that will provide adequate protection for the workers and the public, the overall hazards analyses/safety analyses methodology deserves further review by the Boards' staff in order to make a determination of its adequacy for application to other BHI activities. We are forwarding a copy of the N-basin authorization basis documentation to Farid Bamdad for review.

D. Emergency Preparedness: On January 7, Messrs. Ogg and Gubanc toured the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located in the Federal Building. DOE-RL advised that existing EOCs located in the 200E and 300 Areas will be deactivated and consolidated at the Federal Building EOC by April 1, 1997. The next site emergency exercise is planned for mid-June 1997.

E. DOE-RL Regulatory Unit for TWRS Privatization: This week, DOE-RL advised that its regulatory office for TWRS privatization will be near full staffing by February 2, 1997. The majority are persons with NRC experience. Until a permanent person is found, NRC is rotating its staff members through the office on a monthly basis. A public meeting is planned for February 5th to announce the regulatory office's plans for interacting with the public.

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Board Members