**Environmental Management**

**Committee Meeting Minutes**

**Wednesday, August 20, 2008, 5:30 p.m.**

**DOE Information Center**

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+----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| **[Committee Members             | **[Others Present]{.underline}**  |
| Present]{.underline}**           |                                   |
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| John Coffman                     | Dave Adler, Department of Energy  |
|                                  | (DOE-ORO)                         |
| Betty Jones                      |                                   |
|                                  | Miranda Clower, ORSSB             |
| Gloria Mei                       |                                   |
|                                  | Spencer Gross, Spectrum           |
| Ron Murphree, Chair              |                                   |
|                                  | Ted Lundy, ORSSAB                 |
| Tim Myrick, Vice-chair           |                                   |
|                                  | Bill McKay, EnergX                |
| ##### Bob Olson                  |                                   |
|                                  | Bill McMillan, DOE                |
| Maggie Owen                      |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| #####                            |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| ##### [Absent]{.underline}       |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| Rhonda Bogard                    |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| Darryl Bonner                    |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| Claire Campbell                  |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| Susan Gawarecki                  |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| Luther Gibson                    |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| Charles Jensen                   |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| John Kennerly                    |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| Lance Mezga                      |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| Norman Mulvenon                  |                                   |
|                                  |                                   |
| ##### Kerry Trammell             |                                   |
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+

**[Operation of TRU Waste Processing Facility]{.underline}**

Mr. McMillan began the presentation by saying an additional facility had
been built recently at the TRU (transuranic) Waste Processing Center
(TWPC) for storing packaged contact-handled (CH) waste to go to the
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico for disposition. The
facility will also be used for staging incoming waste for treatment from
Bechtel Jacobs, Co. (BJC).

Mr. McMillan then introduced Mr. McKay, the EnergX deputy general
manager for the TWPC. The main points of Mr. McKay's presentation are in
attachment 1.

TWPC is located on Hwy. 95 about ½ mile north of the bridge that crosses
the Clinch River. The work scope for the center includes processing of
four waste streams:

-   Supernate liquid waste -- completed in 2004; 430,000 gallons

-   CH TRU debris waste; 1500 cubic meters

-   Remote-handled (RH) TRU debris waste; 600 cubic meters

-   TRU tank sludge; 2,000 cubic meters.

Processing of CH and RH TRU is currently underway. Processing of sludge
is due to begin in 2013. The center has also treated low-level and mixed
low-level waste that was sent to the Nevada Test Site for disposal.

Mr. McKay said waste coming from BJC to the center comes from the
backside of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and does not travel over
public roads.

CH TRU is defined as having less than 200 millirems of radiation on
contact. It can be processed by hand by workers wearing protective suits
or using engineered barriers such as gloveboxes. RH TRU is material
having readings greater the 200 millirems on contact. It must be handled
remotely within a shielded 'hotcell.'

Mr. McKay reviewed the CH processing activities (Attachment 1, pages
13-16). TWPC has been processing CH TRU since December 2005. A number of
enhancement have made at the center including on-site macro
encapsulation, a drum venting system, and additional storage space.

Mr. McKay noted milestones to be met by the end of the fiscal year in
September (Attachment 1, page 17-19). Certification for shipment of CH
TRU to WIPP is expected in September. The FY 2008 production milestone
of 187 cubic meters is behind two to four weeks because of delays in
acceptable knowledge reports and waste certification activities running
behind. Mr. McKay said an additional shift will be added to get the
schedule caught up.

The first shipment of CH TRU to WIPP is scheduled for late September,
but shipment can't be made until certification has been achieved.

TWPC began processing RH TRU in May 2008. Mr. McKay showed a number of
photographs of workers remotely handling and packing RH TRU (Attachment
1, pages 20-33). He explained how they remotely cut and package the
debris in the shipping containers. The RH Production Status Summary is
noted in Attachment 1, pages 34-38. Certification for shipping RH to
WIPP is expected in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The FY 2008 milestone for processing 35 cubic meters of RH has
encountered a number of challenges. The development of acceptable
knowledge reports does not support production goals. Waste from the
Radiochemical Engineering Development Center at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory was the first to be processed. Development of an isotopic
model was problematic so the waste stream was split into three groups --
Group 1 was waste generated after 1991; Group 2 was generated between
1979 and 1991; and Group 3 was generated before 1979. Only Group 1 has
an isotopic distribution model developed.

The Group 1 casks had high dose waste. The first waste cask was
processed without incident. Others had high neutron doses, high decay
heat, or exceeded the 72-B shipping cask criteria. This led to a
revising of the cask processing sequence. Only 10 of the 17 drums from
the Group 1 cask can be shipped.Limited RH storage capacity limits
processing.

To mitigate these problems, production has shifted to Group 3 casks,
most of which are expected to be CH level waste.

Because of a significant amount of waster found in two of the Group 3
casks it's expected that most of the waste will be wet and will have to
be dried. Mr. McKay said TWPC is working with the Tennessee Department
of Environment and Conservation to find a disposition path for the cask
water.

Mr. McKay said the sludge will account for about 46 percent of all the
remaining waste volume and 72 percent of the remaining waste
radioactivity. He said an innovative processing methodology is being
developed that will be safer and more reliable. The process design is in
the critical decision 1 stage. The plan calls for solidifying sludge
rather than drying it, which allows for most of the waste to be sent to
the Nevada Test Site as low-level waste. He showed a diagram of the
process (Attachment 1, page 41).

Work on sludge will be a 24 hour, 7 day process.

At one point in his presentation Mr. McKay said there could be about 10
percent of waste containers that do not have a disposition path. Mr.
Myrick asked if that could be a problem. Mr. McKay said some
modification may have to be made but he didn't expect it to be an
expensive problem.

Mr. Myrick asked about operating costs. Mr. McKay and Mr. McMillan said
cost across the lifecycle to 2013 is about \$500 million. Annual
operating costs are about 40 million with the highest being \$60
million. The fluctuations are due to the number of shifts.

**[Discussion of any possible recommendation on
presentation]{.underline}**

The committee didn't see a need for any recommendation, but felt
periodic updates on the progress of processing and shipping TRU would be
useful. An update was placed on the FY 2009 work plan for August 2009.

**[Election of chair and vice-chair for FY 2009]{.underline}**

The committee elected the chair and vice-chair for FY 2009. Mr. Myrick
nominated Mr. Murphree to serve as chair. Mr. Olson seconded and the Mr.
Murphree was elected unanimously.

Mr. Murphree nominated Mr. Myrick as vice-chair. Mr. Olson seconded and
Mr. Myrick was elected unanimously.

**[Develop work plan for FY 2009]{.underline}**

The committee developed its FY 2009 work plan (Attachment 2) based on
suggested topics by DOE, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation during the August
annual retreat.

**[Action Items]{.underline}**

*Closed.*

1.  Mr. Adler will determine if there will be a public comment period on
    a permit modification to ship remote-handled transuranic waste in
    lead-lined canisters as contact-handle waste to the Waste Isolation
    Pilot Plant. **Closed.** Mr. Adler said there would be a public
    comment period if a decision is made to follow the proposal, but he
    said it could be months before a decision is made to do that.

    The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

    Attachments (2) are available on request from the ORSSAB support
    office.

    rsg