DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD

May 23, 1997

1. DNFSB Activity Summary: Harry Waugh was on site all week assisted by Charles Keilers.

2. W79 Dismantlement Program: In response to continued pressure from DOE/AL, the W79 management team has prepared a new recovery plan which will be presented to DOE/AL management next week. The plan's objective is to expedite dismantlement startup by roughly 4 months. The plan concentrates all DMSO dissolution efforts on Work Station No. 1, which was originally intended to be used for training. The plan calls for Trainer 6B No. 1 cell activity to occur July 10-16 followed by Trainer 6B No. 2 between August 7-13. Disassembly of the first WR unit would follow beginning November 26. To accomplish this schedule, it is assumed that there will be a single integrated external review; that approval for bay activities will be obtained by a revalidation/enhancement approach versus a new NESS; and that the NEHA Report for cell activities will be expedited. Additional details will be available next week.

3. W69 SS21 NESS: On May 9, Waugh reported to you that M&H is attempting to resolve a number of issues identified during the W69 NESS. Other issues have been identified by the HAR team and are being tracked with the NESS issues. Among all these issues is a question regarding seismic capacity of the ceilings and cranes in the 12-64 bays. In particular, updated analyses, coupled with existing roof cracks, may result in the need for either structural upgrades or relocating W69 operations to other facilities.

4. 12-116 S/RID delay: Backfit construction for the new SNM staging facility (12-116) is currently scheduled to begin around August 1, 1997. Last week, we reported that the engineering Standards/Requirements Information Document (S/RID) for 12-116 will not be done by then, as originally planned, and that it apparently has been delayed by disagreements on what is needed and how the S/RID will be used. Progress has been made this week, and it now appears that M&H may submit the 12-116 S/RID by the end of August. Also, lessons learned are being factored into future backfits (i.e., the potential surplus pit storage facility in Building 12-66). The staff (Keilers) is continuing to follow this.

Copy to:

Board Members

Ron Barton

Ray Daniels

Les Ettlinger

Davis Hurt

Wally Kornack

Steve Krahn

Jim McConnell

Farid Bamdad

Cindy Miller

Chuck Keilers

Matt Moury

Chip Martin