Status of the CAR

Technical Review

The NRC staff is proceeding

with its technical review of

the Construction

Authorization Request (CAR),

and still expects to issue its

draft Environmental Impact

Statement (EIS) by February

28, 2002, followed by its draft Safety

Evaluation Report (SER) on the CAR by April

30, 2002. The staff has determined that a

second request for additional information (RAI)

on the CAR will not be needed. In most areas

of the technical review, the staff has no

significant outstanding issues. However, in

some areas, additional clarifications and

information are still needed to complete the

review. The staff believes that these

clarifications and the additional information can

be more effectively and efficiently obtained

through public meetings, in-office reviews at

Duke Cogema Stone & Webster (DCS) offices

in Charlotte, North Carolina, and phone calls. 

Areas where additional clarifications or

information is needed include:

1. Chemical safety.

2. Criticality safety.

3. HEPA filter efficiency.

4. Facility worker safety.

5. Fire protection.

6. Instrumentation and control (I&C).

(Continued on page 3 - REVIEW)

TECHNICAL REVIEW

OF MOX QA

PROGRAM COMPLETED

On October 1, 2001 the NRC staff

completed its technical review of the DCS

MOX Project Quality Assurance Plan

(MPQAP) and approved it for construction

activities, including design, procurement, and

fabrication. The NRC staff concluded that

the MPQAP with additional commitments

submitted by DCS (1) adequately described

its QA program for construction activities,

(2) meets the requirements specified in the

regulations in 10 CFR 70.23(b) and, (3) will

provide reasonable assurance of protection

against natural phenomena and the

consequences of potential accidents.

(Continued on page 3 - see QA)

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 December 2001 

 Vol. 1, No. 4 

 

Late Breaking News

The Atomic Safety Licensing Board

Panel (ASLBP) has issued its ruling on

standing and admissibility of

contentions in regards to intervention

petitions submitted by several

Petitioners. The ASLBP Memorandum

and Order dated December 6, 2001, can

be found in ADAMS at accession

number ML0134100850. Also see the

article on page 2 regarding the prehearing conference in North Augusta,

South Carolina, on September 21, 2001.
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 2 - December 2001

Waste Management

at the MFFF

I

f the proposed Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility

(MFFF) is built and operated, it will generate various

types of waste, all of which must be anticipated and

managed in accordance with local, state and federal laws. 

The purpose of this article is to provide a short summary of

the major types of waste DCS has described in its CAR

and Environmental Report, and how each waste category

would be managed.

The manufacture of mixed oxide fuel

assemblies from plutonium oxide powder

would require many process steps involving chemical and

physical changes to the uranium and plutonium oxides. 

Wastes would be generated by each of these steps and the

form of the wastes -- either gas, liquid or solid -- would

depend upon what happens during each step. 

Gaseous wastes would be treated so that the contamination is

reduced to acceptable levels before being released

through the facility stack to the atmosphere. Such waste

would be generated mostly in the facility’s gloveboxes and 

(Continued on page 4 - see WASTE)

TRANSPORTATION

 

 of Mixed Oxide Fuel

In the U. S. Department of Energy’s

(DOE’s) “Surplus Plutonium

Disposition Final Environmental Impact

Statement,” DOE evaluated impacts of

shipping weapons-grade plutonium and

mixed oxide fuel. Shipments of

weapons-grade plutonium and fresh

mixed oxide fuel would be made by

DOE using its Safe Secure

Trailer/Safeguards Transport

(SST/SGT) system. While details of

this transportation system are classified,

some of the system’s more general

features may be discussed. Each

SST/SGT unit includes enhanced

structural supports, enhanced

protection against fire damage, armed

couriers, an armored tractor to protect

the shipping crew, advanced

communications systems, and real-time

monitoring of the vehicle’s location and

status.

(Continued on page 5 - see TRANSPORT)

NRC Judges Hold Pre-Hearing Conference in CAR Legal Proceeding

On September 21, 2001, in North Augusta, South Carolina, a three-judge panel established by the

Chief Administrative Judge of the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel heard oral

arguments on whether to admit contentions submitted by hearing petitioners Georgians Against

Nuclear Energy (GANE); Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL); Donald Moniak; 

and Environmentalists Inc. (EI). Some of the several contentions discussed related to security

issues, seismic issues, and the controlled area boundary at the site of the proposed MFFF. GANE,

BREDL, Mr. Moniak, and EI had earlier filed requests for hearing on whether the NRC should

approve the CAR submitted by DCS in February 2001. The judges are expected to issue a decision

in December 2001 granting or denying each of these pending hearing requests.

At the pre-hearing conference, the three-judge panel also heard oral arguments on whether GANE,

BREDL, Mr. Moniak, and EI had established their standing to contest the CAR, and on GANE’s

motion to dismiss the proceeding or hold it in abeyance. 
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 3 - December 2001

(QA - continued from page 1)

The review was documented in a safety

evaluation report (SER), and followed the

procedures stated in NUREG-1718, “Standard

Review Plan (SRP) for the Review of an

Application for a Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel

Fabrication Facility,” dated August 2000. The

SER identified the QA criteria required for the

MOX QA program, the DCS commitments

and the staff conclusions. The NRC staff

verified that MPQAP and DCS commitments

adequately described how the 18 QA program

areas (criteria) will be implemented, and

included definition of the process, methods,

and criteria for identifying the functional

requirements and grading of QA controls for

structures, systems and components.

(Review - continued from page 1)

On October 11, 2001, the staff held technical

discussions with DCS in a public meeting. On

October 16-18, 2001 and November 27-29,

2001, the staff reviewed CAR supporting

information at DCS offices in Charlotte. Both

the meeting and the in-office reviews proved to

be an effective and efficient means to obtain

information needed by the staff in furtherance

of its technical review. The staff plans to use

similar methods as its review of the CAR

continues. 

As a result of the October 11 meeting and the

in-office reviews, DCS committed to provide

additional information requested by the staff. 

Publicly-available summaries of the October 11

meeting and the in-office reviews will describe

the additional information requested by the

staff. The staff continues to be mindful of the

need to ensure that the review process is

transparent to the public and that the basis for

its decisions is fully documented.••

Questions and Answers

Q: Who are members of the Duke Cogema Stone & Webster (DCS) consortium?

A: Duke Engineering & Services, Inc. (DE&S) is a world-wide nuclear engineering, licensing,

and environmental services company. DE&S works on developing advanced reactor designs, and

the related issues of spent fuel management, environmental remediation, decontamination, and

decommissioning. DE&S is an affiliate of Duke Energy Corporation.

COGEMA Inc. is a French company that has offered nuclear fuel services to the U.S. nuclear

community since 1982. The COGEMA group provides products, services, and engineering in

uranium mining, conversion and enrichment, uranium and mixed oxide fuel fabrication, spent fuel

management, nuclear waste storage, transportation, and site remediation.

Stone & Webster designs plutonium processing, packaging, and storage facilities and is currently

engaged in several plutonium-related facility projects across the U.S. It is also a major supplier of

architectural and engineering services for nuclear power plants. 
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 4 - December 2001

 

 on Appe tit 3

 Alphabet Soup

 (Commonly Used Acronyms in this Newsletter)

ASLBP Atomic Safety Licensing Board Panel

BREDL Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League

CAR Construction Authorization Request

CFR Code of Federal Regulations

DCS Duke Cogema Stone & Webster

DES Duke Engineering & Services, Inc.

DOE U.S. Department of Energy

EI Environmentalists Inc.

EIS Environmental Impact Statement

 GANE Georgians Against Nuclear Energy

HEPA High Efficiency Particulate Air (filter)

I&C Instrumentation and Control

LLW Low Level Waste

MFFF Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility

MOX Mixed Oxide

MPQAP MOX Project Quality Assurance Plan

NRC U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

QA Quality Assurance

RAI Request for Additional Information

SER Safety Evaluation Report

SGT Safeguards Transport

SRP Standard Review Plan

SRS Savannah River Site

SST Safe Secure Trailer

TRU Transuranic

(WASTE - continued from page 2)

process vessels. The equipment that DCS proposes to use to mitigate potentially radioactive emissions to

the atmosphere include scrubbing columns, demisters, and high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters.

Most of the liquid wastes would be produced in the process step in which the plutonium oxide powder is

dissolved in acid and then purified using a solvent extraction process. This dissolution step would involve

adding a compound of silver (Ag) to the acid used to dissolve plutonium oxide. Once dissolved, the

plutonium would be separated from gallium, a major component of the plutonium alloy used in weapons,

and residual amounts of uranium, americium, and other impurities in a solvent extraction process. To

minimize the amount of wastes produced, and to reduce the additional costs of constantly replacing

materials and managing excessive wastes, DCS proposes to recycle as much of the acid, silver, and solvent

as possible. However, the

remaining major waste

categories which must still

be managed include the

silver recovery wastes, the

highly radioactive impurities

removed from the

plutonium oxide (referred to

as the high alpha activity

waste stream), the acid

recovery wastes, solvent

regeneration wastes, and

stripped uranium stream. 

DCS proposes to transfer

all of this liquid radioactive

waste to the appropriate

Savannah River Site (SRS)

facilities in accordance with

the Waste Acceptance

Criteria defined by those

facilities.

Other liquid wastes would

include rinse water, water

from contaminated drains,

and nonhazardous liquid

wastes generated

throughout the plant. DCS

proposes to transfer these

wastes to either the SRS

Effluent Treatment Facility

or the SRS F-area sanitary

sewer system that 

(Continued on next page) 
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 5 - December 2001

 Please Note...

The NRC has launched a redesigned Web site at www.nrc.gov.

However, the Mixed Oxide Fuel Infoweb is undergoing an evaluation

and is unavailable at this time due to the situation created by the

September 11th terrorist attack. We hope to have it reinstated 

in the near future and will advise you of the status in the next 

newsletter. 

(TRANSPORT - continued from page 2)

Shipments of fresh mixed oxide fuel going to the user reactor sites -- in addition to being

carried in DOE’s SST/SGT system -- will be contained within NRC-approved transport packages

which meet the requirements of 10 CFR Part 71. DCS has contracted with Packaging Technology

to design and build the fresh fuel packages. As currently planned, each package would have the

capacity to contain three fresh fuel assemblies, and would be designed to meet various transport

accident test conditions such as a 30-ft drop, and exposure to a 30-minute fuel fire. In late

2002, Packaging Technology plans to submit to NRC an application for package

certification, pursuant to 10 CFR Part 71 requirements. ••

(Continued from page 4)

connects to the SRS’s Central Sanitary Waste

Treatment Facility, as appropriate. Solid wastes

from the proposed MFFF would include

transuranic (TRU) radioactive wastes, mixed TRU

wastes, low-level radioactive wastes (LLW), mixed

LLW, chemically hazardous solid waste, and

nonhazardous solid waste. In general, at the

MFFF, TRU wastes would contain concentrations

of more than 100 nanocuries per gram of

long-lived alpha-emitting radionuclides heavier than

uranium. Low-level wastes would be those

radioactive wastes that do not fit the definition of

TRU wastes. Mixed wastes (both mixed TRU and

mixed LLW) contain a chemically hazardous

substance in addition to being radioactive. 

Lead-lined gloves for some gloveboxes are the only

mixed TRU waste so far identified by DCS, and

DCS has stated that it may take steps to avoid

generating this waste type. One source of mixed

LLW would be solidified spent solvent wastes

containing plutonium.

The methods by which DCS proposes to handle

solid wastes varies with the type of waste. For

example, TRU wastes would be packaged and

stored in the MFFF or another SRS facility before

being transferred to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

in New Mexico. Solid LLW and mixed LLW that

can be reduced in volume by incineration would be

disposed of at SRS, a commercial facility, or

another DOE facility. Nonincinerable mixed LLW

would be reduced in volume by other methods

before disposal at a commercial or DOE facility. 

Nonincinerable LLW would also be volume

reduced by other means before disposal at SRS or

a commercial facility. Hazardous wastes would be

properly packaged and stored until they are

transferred to the SRS or a commercial facility. 

Finally, nonhazardous solid waste would be

recycled or sent for disposal at the Three Rivers

Landfill at the SRS. ••
Mixed Oxide Xchange - 6 - December 2001

 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Mailing Address

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards

Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards

Attn: Mr. David D. Brown, CHP

Mail Stop T-8A33

Washington, D.C. 20555

Public Document Room

11555 Rockville Pike 

Room #O-1F21 

Rockville, Maryland 20852

Toll Free Telephone: 1- 800- 397- 4209

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

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