UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460


## JAN 1 2 2007 OFF~e OF AIRAND RADIA~ 

### Dr. David Moody, Manager Carlsbad Field Office U.S. Department

of Energy P.O. Box 3090 Carls bad,NM 88221-3090 Dear Dr. Moody This letter providesthe resultsof the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency's (EPA) baseline inspection

of the remote-handled

(RH) transuranic

(TRU) waste

characterization programimplemented

by the CentralCharacterization Project(CCP)at the Idaho National Laboratory(INL) (Inspection Number EP

A-INL-RH-CCP-06.06-08). In JuneandAugust 2006, EPA conducted a baseline

inspection

ofINL-CCP's RH TRU waste characterization

program to assess the characterization

ofRH TRU wastein accordance with EPA regulations

(40 CFR 1

94.8(b)(3),

40 CFR 1

94.8(c)and40 CFR 194.24). During the inspection,EP

A assessed

thetechnicaladequacy

of the characterization

performed

through acceptable

knowledge,

dose-to-curie,

andvisual examination. EP A's inspection

teamidentified onefinding and six concerns in the areas

of visual examination

andacceptable

knowledge. The Department

of Energy's(DOE) Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) adequately responded

to EPA's findings andconcerns

andthereareno openissues resultingfrom this inspection. In accordance

with 40 CFR 194.8,

EP A issued a Federal Registernotice on November8, 2006,announcing

EP A's proposed

approvalof the RH TRU waste characterization

programat INL-CCP. This Federal Register notice alsoopened

a 45-daypublic comment period on our proposed

approvalandannounced the availability of the inspection report (Air Docket No: A-98- 49; II-A4-69). EP

A received

onesetof public comments on the proposed

INL-CCP inspection report. Both Section9 andattachment C of the enclosed

inspection

report, includethe public comments

and EP A's responses. Although this letter and inspection report establish

a baseline

for the RH TRU waste characterization

programat INL-CCP, this approvaldoes not authorizeDOE to dispose ofRH TRU wastefrom INL-CCP at the WasteIsolation Pilot Plant (WiPP). As stated in the enclosed inspectionreport,the waste tracking system

known asthe WIPP WasteInformation System

Intemet AOff86s (URL) 8 hI1p:/'-.epa.gov Recycled/Recyclabie 8 Printed with Vegetable 011 Bued k*s on 100% Postconsumer. p~ C~ Free R~ Paper

## 2

(WWIS) was not operational for RH wasteat the time of EPA's baseline inspection. EPA's baseline approvaldesignates

the initiation of the WWIS for RH waste asa Tier 1 change

and thereforerequiresEP

A approval

prior to implementation. As a result of comments submitted

by DOE on the proposed baseline approval,EP

A is alsoevaluating

a modified visual examination procedure

asa Tier 1 change

and DOE's request for Tier 1 change

addressing

real-timeradiography

(RTR) to the INL-CCP wastecharacterization program. The resultsof theseINL-CCP Tier 1 evaluations will be communicated

to DOE under separate correspondence

andwill be posted

on the EPA websiteat www.e~a.gov/radiation/wi~~ Approval Summar\' 

### EPA approves

the disposal

ofretrievably-stored,RH TRU, debriswaste,ascharacterized by INL-CCP, according

to the conditionsand limitations specified by this letter and inspection report. This letter andthe final inspectionreport havebeen placedin the EPA docket (Air Docket No. A-98-49, ll-A4-72) andposted on the EPA websiteat www.eQa.gov/radiation/wiQQ. EP A approves

the following RH TRU wastecharacterization processes

and equipment

at INL-CCP: (I) The AK process

for RH retrievably-stored TRU debris in onewastestream, designated

by INL as INL WasteStream No. ID-ANLE-S5000, Lots 1 through20, which aredefmedby CCPasa debriswastestream in CCP-AK-INL-500, Revision3 (2) The radiological characterization process using dose-to-curie

(DTC) and modeling-derived scalingfactorsfor assigning radionuclide

values to one RH wastestream

for which the scalingfactorsareapplicable, asdescribed

in CCP-AK-INL-501, Revision 1 (3) The VE of audio/videomediaprocess used for a total of nineteen

(19) retrievably-stored RH debriswaste

drumsincludedin threebatchdatareports(BDRs) - BDR Nos. RHlNL VE6000I, RHINLVE60002,and RHINLVE60003 As requiredby 40 CFR 194.8, any changes

to these waste characterization

activities from the dateof the baseline

inspection

must be reported

to, and, if applicable,

approved

by EP A, according

to the enclosed

table. Changes to the approved

waste characterization

program that aredesignated

in the enclosed table asTier 1 must be reported to EP A prior to implementation. DOE may implement Tier 2 changes

prior to EPA approval;however,DOE must provide periodic reportsof these

### 3

changes to EP A. The attached

inspection

report providesadditionaldetailson the typesof activitiesthat areconsidered Tier 1 andTier 2. If you haveanyquestions, please contactRajaniJoglekar

at (202) 343-9462

or Ed Feltcom at (202) 343-9422. 

# .P Sincerely, 

## -:JUU.« -" 

## Juan Reyes, Director '0 

### RadiationProtectionDivision Enclosures Electronic Distribution Frank Marcinowski, DOE HQ Lloyd Piper, CBFO Vernon Daub, CBFO Ava Holland, CBFO Courtland Fesmire,

CBFO Norma Castaneda,

CBFO Martin Navarrete,

CBFO Dennis Miehls, CBFO Allison Pangle,

CTAC WayneLedford, CTAC 

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