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OFFICE OF A 

## Mr. J. R. Stroble IR AND RADIATION 

## Manager, National TRU Program Carlsbad Field Office U.S. Department of Energy P.O. Box 3090 Carlsbad, NM 88221-3090 Dear Mr. Stroble: On Apri128, 2010, the Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) requested approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of a Tier 1 change to extend the calibration range of the High Efficiency Neutron Counter (HENC) No. 2 nondestructive assay (NDA) system at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), an action that was identified as a Tier l change in the LANL baseline inspection report. EPA conducted a Tier l evalua.tion of the requested change at LANL on May 25-26, 2010. [See EPAs report (Docket No: A-98-49; II-A4-139, November 2010).] At that time, we determined that the range extension for the HENC No. 2 to accommodate assaying CH TRU wastes in lead-lined 55-gallon (208-liter) drums was technically adequate. However, as a pre-requisite for our approval of the change, we required CBFO to provide completed NDA batch data reports (BDRs) to serve as objective evidence of the HENC No. 2's performance. Before BDRs could be generated, CBFO had to develop other characterization capabilities at the site. LANL CCP has developed these capabilities for lead-lined drums and has been able to provide the BDRs. CBFO provided relevant BDRs on Feb 23, 2012. EPA evaluated the BDRs and has determined that they confir,m the adequacy of the system using the extended calibration and therefore EPA approves the Tier l request. A summary of that evaluation is enclosed. 

## If you have any questions regarding this approval, please contact Rajani Joglekar at (202) 343-9462 or Ed Feltcorn at (202) 343-9422. Sincerely,


## Tom Peake, Director Center for Waste Management and Regulations

Enclosure

Intemet Address (URL) • http://www.epa.gov

Recycled/Recyclable • Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100 % Postconsumer, Process Chlorine Free Recycled Paper

## cc: Electronic Distribution

Ed Ziemianski, CBFO Courtland Fesmire, CBFO QA Norma Castaneda, CBFO Mike Sensibaugh, CCP Tim Hall, NMED Raymond Lee, EPA HQ Site Documents

## Enclosure Summary Report Environmental Protection Agency's evaluation of batch data reports to complete approval of the High Efficiency Neutron Counter (HENC) No. 2 for use with lead-lined drums at Los Alamos National Laboratory This completes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of a Tier 1(T1) change to expand the calibration range of the High Efficiency Neutron Counter (HENC) No. 2 to accommodate lead-lined drums. The HENC No. 2 is a nondestructive assay (NDA) system in use at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Los Alamos National Laboratory-Central Characterization Project (LANL-CCP) waste characterization program for contact-handled (CH) transuranic (TRU) wastes. Technical Review On April 16-24, 2012, EPA Contractor (SC&A) personnel P. Kelly and R. Gogliotti reviewed the following three HENC No. 2 BDRs: • 2LANDA0941 • 2LANDA0932 • 2LANDA0942 The review used the applicable portions of the NDA checklist that has been used to inspect CH TRU NDA systems since 2005. The checklist is presented in Table 2 below. Because of the small sample size, SC&A performed a 100% review of the BDRs, including spot checks of specific calculations from each BDR. There were no concerns regarding the technical or compliance-related aspects of the HENC No. 2 BDRs, and all BDRs were adequate. Approval This completes EPA's T1 evaluation and approval of the HENC No. 2 for use with lead-lined drums. No findings or concerns were identified during either the onsite Tl evaluation or the review of the BDRs, and no changes were made to the LANL tiering table as presented in the baseline inspection report. Previous EPA's approvals of the LANL-CCP CH TRU waste characterization program are shown in Table 1. Table 1. EPA's Aporovals of LANL-CCP CH Waste Characterization Program

Approved Activity EPA Inspection Number, Approval Dates Docket Number LANL-CCP CH Baseline Approval LANL-CCP-05.06-8

— 

### June 21, 2007 A-98-49, II-A4-88 T 1 Change

– 

### Extension of range for the High October 28, 2007 A-98-49; 11-A4-91 Efficienc Neutron Counter (HENC) No. 2 T I Change

– 

### Extension of range for the High December 7, 2007 A-98-49, II-A4-95 Efficiency Neutron Counter (HENC) No. 1 

## Based on the results of this evaluation of the HENC No. 2 BDRs, EPA approves the LANL-CCP HENC No. 2 NDA system for assaying lead-lined drums.

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