Mr. Larry Camper. Director 

Division o f Wasle Management 

and Environmental Protection 

Department of Energy 

Savannah River Operations Office 

P.O. Box A 

Aiken . South Carolina 29802 

JUL 2 6 2012 

Office or Federal :uld SI:!le iVlatcria ls 

,mel Environmental Management Programs 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory COlllmission 

11545 Rockvill e Pike. Mail Stop T SF5 

Rockville, MD 20 852-2738 

SU BJECT: Additional Response to Teclillical Evalllatioll Rcport for Revised P Cljol"lI/(Il/ce 

;\sses.\'/IIcllf f()r lilt' Sol/stolle! Disposal Faciliry (If Ihe Sm'ulllwh River Sife, SOlllll 

Caro/il/a ,mel Lcllcr or Concern 

Rdcrcllccs: I) Lell cr o f Concern (T ype IV) Rcg;lrding US Depa rt ment o f Energy Disposal 

Ac ti vit ies at the Savannah Rive r Si te Sah stonc Disposal Facilit y (Lencr, Salorius 

to Gilbei'lson dilted 4/30/ 12) 

2) Tecllll i<.:al Evaluation Report for the 2009 Pe rformance Assessment for th e 

Sal tstnne Disposal Faci lit y at tile Sava nnah Ri ver S it e (Le tter. Ca illpe r to 

Gilbe rtson, ci <lt ecl 4130/12) 

3) Tr,l!lsmina l of Updated Saltstonc Disposal Facilit y (S DF) In forill a ti on 

Developed si nce Aug ust 20 II (I_cIICr. Spcars to Camper datcd 6/13/12) 

4) Leiter of Concc rn (Typc IV) Rcga rd ing US Department o f Encrgy Disposa l 

!\<.:tivities at ti ll! Savannall ~i ve r Site Sal tstone Disposal Fac ilit y (I_cHeL Spca rs 10 

Satorius, d<lted 7/ 12112) 

T his lellcr is in furth e r response to the Leiter of Concern (Reference I) and associ ated 'l'echni cal 

Evaluation Rcport (T ER) (Refcrence 2), This lell er supplements the information previollsly 

provided to the Nuclear Rcgulatory COJllm ission (N RC) by References 3 and 4, Thc Dcpartlllcnt 

of Energy (DOE) appreciates NRC's revicw o f the DOE's Pellon//(/I/ ce A S.H'SSII/ell/ fo r I11l' 

Sa/wone Di.l"/mm/ F(u:i/ify (If ,lie S(lI'wlI/{/II Nil'a Si/e dated Oc tober 2009 (SDF PAl. The 

Enclosure identifies DOE's approache s to address NRC's T ER and LeHe r of Concern. 

This transmillal <llong with References 3 and 4 completcs DOE's cOlllmitment described in 

Reference 4 to respond to NRC's T ER :uld Lener of Concern prior to in itiat ing disposal 

operations in Saltstone Disposal Unit (S OU) 2. As previollsly stated in Rcfe rencc 4, disposal 

operations are scheduled to resumc in SDF later this fisc al year (FY). bcginning with SOU 2 in 

August 2012. After rilling S OU 2, ope rations in S OU 3 and 5 are alHicipatcd to occur through 

FY 2015. 

Consistent with DOE's performance assessmc nt maintenance program described in the 

enclosure, DOE will consider NRC's SDF T ER and Letter of Concern when performing new 

modcling, incorporHting any availabl e new in formation described in the A!lachmcnts to the 

Enclosure for "I! planl\ed SOr: operations. DOE would like to engage in technical discllssions 

with NRC staff btcr this year prior to perform ing the ncw modeling activities. DOE anticipat cs 

completi ng the ncw model in g late next calcndar year. DOE inte nds 10 provide thc ncw 

information to NRC and South Caroli na Department of Health and Envi ronmental Control in 

advance of mldition,l l disposal operations (i.c. SDU 6 and s ubseq uclII units) 10 facilitatc NRC's