An NRC quarterly newsletter providing licensing information on a Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility

 Mixed Oxide Xchange

U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission NUREG/BR-0284 March 2003 

 Vol. 3, No.1

 NRC Issues Draft Environmental Impact Statement

On February 20, 2003, the NRC staff began

distributing for comment a Draft Environmental

Impact Statement (DEIS) pursuant to the

requirements of NRC’s 10 CFR Part 51,

“Environmental Protection Regulations for

Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory

Functions.” As required by the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the DEIS

evaluates the environmental impacts of the

proposed MOX facility. Additionally, the DEIS

evaluates the impacts of the no-action alternative,

which is the continued storage of surplus

weapons-grade plutonium at existing Department

of Energy (DOE) sites. Continued storage would

be expected to have no impact on air quality, water

quality, waste management, cultural resources, or

soils. The economic cost would be lower than that

for the proposed action. However, continued

storage would meet none of the DOE’s goals for

the plutonium disposition program, which are to (1)

reduce the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation

by ensuring that surplus stocks of weapons-grade

plutonium are converted to a proliferation resistant

form, (2) reduce the number of locations at which

such plutonium is stored, and (3) reduce the risk of

such plutonium falling into the hands of rogue

states and terrorist groups. 

The primary benefit of operation of the proposed

MOX facility would be the reduction of surplus

weapons-grade plutonium inventories.

 Operation of the proposed MOX facility would be

expected to produce insignificant air quality

impacts, and no surface water impacts. 

The existing waste management systems

at DOE’s Savannah River Site, where the

proposed MOX facility would be built,

would not be adversely affected. 

After weighing the costs and benefits of

the proposed action and comparing

alternatives, the NRC staff made a

preliminary recommendation that the

proposed license to DCS be issued, with

conditions to protect environmental

values. 

Comments on the DEIS will be accepted

until May 14, 2003. Comments may be

mailed to the address listed in the DEIS

or submitted through the MOX web page:

http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fa

c/mox/licensing.html .

CORRECTION TO THE MOX DEIS

Subsequent to issuance of the DEIS, the

NRC identified an error in the calculation

of accident doses. The error is an

overestimate of the 1-year accident doses

to members of the public. The NRC will

discuss the cause and impacts of this

error at the public meetings scheduled for

March 25-27, 2003. When the doses

have been recalculated, the NRC will post

an errata sheet on the MOX Website and

mail copies to recipients of the DEIS.
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 2 - March 2003

Status of MOX DSER Open Items

The NRC Draft Safety Evaluation Report for the MOX facility was issued last year on April 30,

2002. This draft report identified a

total of 56 open, or unresolved, items

from the staff’s safety review. The

staff identified an additional 10 open

items during the ongoing review of

additional information, which includes

the revised Construction Authorization

Request that was submitted on

October 31, 2002. During the period

from April 2002 to February 2003, 40

of the open items have been closed

leaving 26 open items. The status of

open item resolution is shown by

category in the table (right). The

resolution of these issues will be

discussed in Revision 1 to the Draft

Safety Evaluation Report, scheduled

to be issued on April 30, 2003.

Technically complex open items in the

chemical safety area include potential

explosions, toxic chemical releases,

and the fire hazard resulting from the

presence of oxide powders and

titanium. Most of the explosion issues

are being moved toward resolution by

discussions between NRC staff and

DCS of various controls that can be

used to prevent explosions. The

primary considerations for toxic

chemical releases are assuring that

standards for potentially exposed

workers are adequate to protect their

health and safety. 

Other technically complex open items are in the areas of nuclear criticality safety (NCS) and fire

safety issues. The NCS open items primarily involve assuring an adequate margin of safety

against accidental nuclear criticality. The fire safety issues include soot and high temperature

damage to HEPA filters and fire barrier integrity. DCS will perform additional studies of system

performance and fire behavior to address these concerns. 

Category Closed Items Open items

Remaining

Institutional 1 0

Site Description 0 1

Financial 0 2

Safety Assessment 3 1

Criticality Safety 4 6

Fire Safety 5 3

Chemical Safety 6 5

Radiation Safety 1 0

Environmental 2 0

Aqueous Polishing 9 6

MOX Processing 3 1

Ventilation Systems 0 1

Instrumentation &

Control

1 0

Fluid Transport 1 0

Fluid Systems 4 0

Totals 40 26

Status of Open Items
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 3 - March 2003

DISCOVERY PHASE OF

 MOX HEARING

The NRC staff is evaluating a construction

authorization request (CAR) submitted by Duke

Cogema Stone & Webster (DCS). The staff must

approve the CAR before DCS would be authorized

to begin building the proposed MOX fuel fabrication

facility. The staff plans to issue a final safety

evaluation report on the CAR in the fall of 2003.

An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board was

established in 2001 to consider legal and technical

arguments being made by groups opposing the

CAR, and the Board is now governing the discovery

phase of the hearing. Discovery is a process

common to many legal proceedings, and gives

hearing participants the opportunity to learn the

details of an opponent’s positions -- and the

identities of any expert witnesses -- before

evidence is presented to the Board for a decision. 

So far in the discovery process, one of the groups

opposing the CAR -- Georgians Against Nuclear

Energy (GANE) -- has submitted written questions

(interrogatories) to DCS, which DCS has now answered. These questions relate to GANE’s legal

and technical arguments (contentions) previously admitted by the Board into the CAR proceeding. 

DCS has likewise sent questions to and received answers from GANE. Together, DCS and

GANE have now identified several expert witnesses. As a further part of the discovery process

over the next several months, DCS and GANE have the option of taking sworn testimony

(depositions) from the opposing expert witnesses. The NRC staff will not be subject to any

discovery processes until after it issues its final SER. 

USE OF MOX IN

OPERATING

REACTORS

On February 27, 2003, Duke Power

submitted an application for

amendment of the Operating Licenses

for the Catawba and McGuire Nuclear

Stations. The amendments, if

granted, would allow the use of four

MOX lead test fuel assemblies in one

of the McGuire or Catawba units. 

The application relies on several

Topical Reports that have previously

been submitted for staff review. Duke

has requested that the staff complete

its review of the application by August

2004 in anticipation of loading the fuel

assemblies into one of the units in a

Spring 2005 refueling outage.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

March 25 DEIS Public Comment Meeting, Savannah, GA

March 26 DEIS Public Comment Meeting, N. Augusta, SC

March 27 DEIS Public Comment Meeting, Charlotte, NC
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 4 - March 2003

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards

Mail Stop T-8A33

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001

 Lead Editor: David D. Brown

 Editor: Donna Skay

 Design and Production: Linda M. Gross

 

Mixed Oxide Xchange is published quarterly to highlight recent news and events associated with the

NRC’s licensing of a mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility. We welcome your suggestions for

improvement of this newsletter. If you have comments or suggestions, you may contact us at

moxfeedback@nrc.gov. To subscribe or unsubscribe, please send an e-mail to subscribe@nrc.gov. All

issues will be e-mailed unless you provide your mailing address and indicate your preference to receive

copies by U.S. Postal Service.

ALPHABET SOUP

(commonly used acronyms in this newsletter)

ASLB Atomic Safety and Licensing Board MFFF Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility

CAR Construction Authorization Request MOX Mixed Oxide

DCS Duke Cogema Stone & Webster MPQAP MOX Project Quality Assurance Plan

DEIS Draft Environ. Impact Statement NCS Nuclear Criticality Safety

DOE Department of Energy NEPA National Environmental Policy Act

DSER Draft Safety Evaluation Report NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission

GANE Georgians Against Nuclear Energy PM Project Manager

IROFS Items Relied on for Safety QL Quality Level

HEPA High Efficiency Particulate Air SPD Surplus Plutonium Disposition

NRC’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Infoweb

To find meeting summaries, updates related

to the proposed MFFF, frequently asked

questions, and past issues of the Mixed

Oxide Xchange. Go to

http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cyclefac/mox/licensing.html.