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### APR 2 5 2013 OFFICE OF AIR AND RADIATION

J R Stroble, Manager National TRU Program Carlsbad Field Office U.S. Department of Energy P.O. Box 3090 Carlsbad, NM 88221-3090 Dear Mr. Stroble: This letter provides the results of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) continued compliance inspection of the waste characterization (WC) program for contact-handled (CH) transuranic (TRU) waste at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in Idaho Falls, ID. This inspection occurred on two separate occasions, namely, October 30 — November 1, 2012 and February 26, 2013. As a result of this continued compliance inspection, EPA confirms that the CH TRU waste characterization program implemented by the Idaho Treatment Group (ITG) is technically adequate and compliant with 40 CFR 194.24 requirements. The enclosed report (EPA Air pocket No. A-98- 49; II-A4-173) gives the details of the EPA evaluation of the program. In October 2006, EPA approved CH TRU waste characterization activities at AMWTP performed by another entity (see EPA's Baseline Approval Report A-98-49; II-A4-66, in the EPA Air pocket). In October 2011, ITG took over the AMWTP's waste characterization program and in doing so, ITG adopted "as is" the existing CH TRU waste characterization program (see Item (2), section 6.1 of the enclosed report for details). ITG also adapted relevant CH TRU waste characterization documents, and they serve as a basis for the continued characterization of CH waste containers from the Idaho Cleanup Project and other DOE TRU sites with small quantities of CH TRU wastes. The continued compliance inspection discussed in this report, therefore, was necessary to determine technical adequacy of the ITG-implemented processes, procedures, equipment and training of personnel involved. In accordance with 40 CFR 194.8(b), during this on-site inspection, EPA sampled the following TRU waste characterization activities and processes: • Acceptable knowledge (AK) for CH wastes • Nondestructive assay (NDA) systems used for characterizing CH TRU wastes

Intemet Address (URL) • http://www.epa.gov Recycled/Recyclable 9 Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100% Postconsumer, Process Chlorine Free Recycled Paper• Real-time radiography (RTR) for CH TRU waste

• Visual Examination (VE) for newly generated CH TRU waste During the inspection, EPA issued two concerns in the area of AK and RTR which have been resolved. EPA continues to approve ITG's CH TRU WC program in the configuration observed during the two inspections and is consistent with the limitations described in the baseline inspection report and the January 2013 Tier 1 approval report cited in Attachment A. EPA confinms that ITG has appropriately implemented and informed EPA of Tier 2 changes since October 2011. If you have any questions, please contact Rajani Joglekar (202 343-9462) or Ed Feltcorn (202 343- 9422). Sincerely,

Tom Peake, Director Center for Waste Management and Regulations

Enclosure
cc:electronic distribution Alton Harris, DOE EM Joe Franco, CBFO Norma Casteneda, CBFO Marcus Pinzel, CBFO Ben Robert, DOE ID Gerry Wells, DOE ID Dave Haar, ITG Site Documents, CBFO/LANL Jon Edwards, EPA