April 15, 2014 

MEMORANDUM TO: Gregory Suber, Chief 

Low-Level Waste Branch 

Environmental Protection 

and Performance Assessment Directorate 

Division of Waste Management 

 and Environmental Protection 

THRU: Christepher McKenney, Chief /RA/ 

 Performance Assessment Branch 

 Environmental Protection 

and Performance Assessment Directorate 

Division of Waste Management 

 and Environmental Protection 

FROM: Adam Schwartzman, Systems Performance Analyst /RA/ 

Performance Assessment Branch 

Environmental Protection 

and Performance Assessment Directorate 

Division of Waste Management 

 and Environmental Protection 

SUBJECT: TECHNICAL REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING 

PROGRAMS AT IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY IDAHO 

NUCLEAR TECHNOLGY AND ENGINEERING CENTER 

(PROJECT NO. PROJ0735) 

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff performed a technical review of the 

environmental monitoring program reports prepared by Gonzales Stoller Surveillance, LLC, a 

contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and the 

Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (Idaho DEQ). This review, which addresses 

Knowledge Management Area 4 (KMA 4) in the NRC’s technical evaluation report for the Idaho 

Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC), evaluates DOE compliance with the 

performance objective found in 10 CFR 61.43 related to protection of individuals during 

operations. This review considered environmental monitoring activities conducted at INTEC 

and INL, in general, from January 2011 through September 2013. 

CONTACT: Adam Schwartzman, FSME/DWMEP 

(301) 415-8172 
 -2- 

As a result of this review NRC staff continues to have reasonable assurance that the 10 CFR 

61.43 performance objective related to protection of individuals during operations will be met. 

Other than some increases in radioactivity levels detected during March and April of 2011 

following the Fukushima accident, NRC staff found the monitoring results to be consistent with 

monitoring reports reviewed in previous years. In general, radioactivity levels remained the 

same or continued to decrease. 

Based on the findings from this review and those from previous years NRC staff feel that it is no 

longer necessary to perform a separate annual review of the environmental monitoring 

programs and exposure assessment calculations associated with INL. The NRC staff will 

continue to include environmental monitoring and exposure assessments as part of the onsite 

observations. DOE should also continue to provide information to the NRC on specific 

violations of requirements related to workers and the general public (10 CFR Part 835 or DOE 

Order 5400.5) during its waste disposal operations as well as other environmental monitoring 

issues that may be of concern. This includes information regarding worker or public dose 

exceedance within a reasonable timeframe of their occurrences. 

Enclosure: 

Technical Review of Environmental 

 Monitoring Programs at the Idaho 

 National Laboratory Idaho Nuclear 

 Technology and Engineering Center 

 
 -2- 

As a result of this review NRC staff continues to have reasonable assurance that the 10 CFR 

61.43 performance objective related to protection of individuals during operations will be met. 

Other than some increases in radioactivity levels detected during March and April of 2011 

following the Fukushima accident, NRC staff found the monitoring results to be consistent with 

monitoring reports reviewed in previous years. In general, radioactivity levels remained the 

same or continued to decrease. 

Based on the findings from this review and those from previous years NRC staff feel that it is no 

longer necessary to perform a separate annual review of the environmental monitoring 

programs and exposure assessment calculations associated with INL. The NRC staff will 

continue to include environmental monitoring and exposure assessments as part of the onsite 

observations. DOE should also continue to provide information to the NRC on specific 

violations of requirements related to workers and the general public (10 CFR Part 835 or DOE 

Order 5400.5) during its waste disposal operations as well as other environmental monitoring 

issues that may be of concern. This includes information regarding worker or public dose 

exceedance within a reasonable timeframe of their occurrences. 

Enclosure: 

Technical Review of Environmental 

 Monitoring Programs at the Idaho 

 National Laboratory Idaho Nuclear 

 Technology and Engineering Center 

ML14092A559 

OFC DWMEP DWMEP DWMEP DWMEP 

NAME ASchwartman TMoon CMcKenney ASchwartzman 

DATE 4/3/ 14 4/7/ 14 4/15/ 14 4/15/ 14 

OFFICIAL RECORD COPY