Coalition defends legal challenge against unprecedented high-risk truck shipments of highly radioactive liquid waste

Political cartoon by Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News. Buffalo, NY, as well as Thousand Island, NY, are the two most likely border crossings for these shipments, although others could also be used. DOE has invoked security-related secrecy on the routing and timing of the shipments.Attorneys Terry Lodge of Toledo, OH, and Diane Curran of Washington, D.C., legal counsel for an environmental coalition that includes Beyond Nuclear, have filed a Reply Memorandum to the D.C. Circuit Court in defense of a lawsuit against unprecedented truck shipments of highly radioactive liquid waste (also referred to by the U.S. Department of Energy, obscurely, as irradiated target material, or, even more obscurely, as HEUNL, short for highly enriched uranyl nitrate liquid).

See the PLAINTIFFS' REPLY MEMORANDUM, here.

And see the related PLAINTIFFS' MOTION TO SUPPLEMENT THE RECORD, here.

Oral arguments are set for January 18, 2017 in Washington, D.C.

Additional Background

The 100 to 150 high-risk truck shipments would travel more than a thousand miles, from Chalk River Nuclear Lab, Ontario, Canada, to Savannah River Site (SRS), South Carolina, U.S.A. The most likely border crossings are at Buffalo, NY (see political cartoon, left) and Thousand Islands, NY, although other border crossings are possible. The shipments would pass through multiple states. (See map, below left. A full size, legible route map is linked here. Another potential route, this one through the Buffalo, NY border crossing, is shown in a 2013 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission document.)

Ottawa Citizen map showing one of the more likely shipping routes from Chalk River, ON to SRS, SC for highly radioactive liquid waste truck shipments. (See larger sized map linked in entry, right.)The coalition (which includes Beyond Nuclear, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, SRS Watch, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Lone Tree Council, Sierra Club, and Environmentalists, Inc.) has been watch-dogging this issue since the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) unprecedented, high-risk scheme first came to light in 2013. It initiated a legal challenge in August 2016.

The U.S. environmental groups are joined by Canadian colleagues in resisting the shipments, including Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Sierra Club Canada Foundation, Durham Nuclear Awareness, Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County, and National Council of Women of Canada.

The coalition's expert witnesses, Dr. Gordon Edwards of Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility and Dr. Marvin Resnikoff of Radioactive Waste Management Associates, have calculated that the highly radioactive liquid waste is four times more concentrated in hazardous radioactive Cesium than even the infamous high-level radioactive waste liquids at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. Thus, even an exceedingly small amount of the highly radioactive liquid waste bound from Chalk River to SRS, if spilled into surface water, could ruin even an exceedingly large volume of drinking water, by violating the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act radioactivity concentration limits. (See Drs. Edwards' and Resnikoff's expert declarations filed in the previous submission by the coalition's legal counsel.)

To make matters worse, the NAC LWT shipping containers to be used have exhibited major quality assurance violations. Besides that, as Dr. Resnikoff has testified, the NAC LWT containers could breach and release their contents, even in a relatively low temperature, short duration fire in a real world transport accident (or attack).

There have also been multiple alarming associated incidents, including accidental drops of irradiated nuclear fuel, at both Chalk River and SRS.

For more information on these particular shipping risks, and additional ones, see Beyond Nuclear's Waste Transporation website section.

NAC-LWT: Poor QA Compliance, 2015-2016

The following documents, posted at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) ADAMS data base (Agency-wide Documents Access and Management System), show the poor compliance with Quality Assurance (QA) standards exhibited by Nuclear Assurance Corporation's (NAC) so-called Legal Weight Truck (LWT) transport containers for irradiated nuclear fuel, and other highly radioactive waste.

In addition to solid irradiated nuclear fuel (also called solid irradiated target material), bound from Chalk River Lab, Ontario, Canada for Savannah River Site, South Carolina, U.S.A., remarkably the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed to use jury-rigged NAC-LWT shipping containers (designed for solid irradiated nuclear fuel) to transport highly radioactive liquid wastes (also called liquid irradiated target material, or HEUNL, short for highly enriched uranyl nitrate liquid) from Chalk River to SRS.

The 100 to 150 highly radioactive liquid waste truck shipments are unprecedented and very high-risk. They would travel more than 1,000 miles from Chalk River to SRS. They would most likely cross the international border at Buffalo and/or Thousand Islands, New York, although other border crossing points are possible.

NAC-LWT: Poor QA Compliance, 2015-2016:

(1.) 10 CFR 71.95 Report Evaluation Form, Report Date: October 19, 2016, Report Submitted By: NAC International, Package Model No.: NAC-LWT, Docket No.: 71-9225, Report ADAMS Accession No.: ML16295A332.

(2.) Letter to W. Fowler re: Next Potential Revision to Part 71: Notice of Issues Paper and Public Meeting. ADAMS Accession No. ML16313A132. Letter dated November 9, 2016.

(3.) Redacted - 10 CFR 71.95 Report for Instances Where the Conditions of Approval in the Certificate of Compliance Were Not Observed In Making a Shipment. Document dated October 19, 2016. ADAMS Accession No. ML16295A332.

(4.) Letter to W. Fowler re: Revision 67 of Certificate of Compliance No. 9225 for the Model No. NAC-LWT Package (TAC No. L25157) [w/Enclosure 2: Safety Evaluation Report]. ADAMS Accession No. ML16291A118. Document dated October 14, 2016.

(5.) Enclosure 1: Certificate of Compliance No. 9225, Rev. No. 67 [Letter to W. Fowler re: Revision 67 of Certificate of Compliance No. 9225 for the Model No. NAC-LWT Package]. ADAMS Accession No. ML16291A120. Document dated October 14, 2016.

(6.) Redacted - NAC International, Submittal of a Request to Revise the NAC-LWT Certificate of Compliance No. 9225, Revision 66 to Include a Change to NRU/NRX Lid Assembly License Drawing. ADAMS Accession No. ML16292A610. Document dated October 14, 2016

(7.) 10 CFR 71.95 Report Evaluation Form - Report Date: December 18, 2015, Report Submitted By: Wren Fowler, NAC International, Package Model No.: 9225, Docket No.: 71-9225, Report ADAMS Accession No.: ML16005A115.

(8.) Redacted NAC International, Inc., Submittal of 10 CFR 71.95 Report for Instances Where the Conditions of Approval in the Certificate of Compliance Were Not Observed in Making a Shipment. ADAMS Accession No. ML16005A115. Document dated December 18, 2015.

Coalition defends legal challenge against unprecedented high-risk truck shipments of highly radioactive liquid waste

Attorneys Terry Lodge of Toledo, OH, and Diane Curran of Washington, D.C., legal counsel for an environmental coalition that includes Beyond Nuclear, have filed a Reply Memorandum to the D.C. Circuit Court in defense of a lawsuit against unprecedented truck shipments of highly radioactive liquid waste (also referred to by the U.S. Department of Energy, obscurely, as irradiated target material, or, even more obscurely, as HEUNL, short for highly enriched uranyl nitrate liquid).

The 100 to 150 high-risk truck shipments would travel more than a thousand miles, from Chalk River Nuclear Lab, Ontario, Canada, to Savannah River Site, South Carolina, U.S.A.

See the PLAINTIFFS' REPLY MEMORANDUM, here.

And see the related PLAINTIFFS' MOTION TO SUPPLEMENT THE RECORD, here.

SRS Watch: Internal DOE Documents Reveal Details of Highly Unusual Canadian Spent Fuel Dropping Incident at Savannah River Site

[Please note that the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) and Canada's Chalk River Nuclear Labs are also proposing truck shipment of highly radioactive liquid waste from a medical isotope production reactor in the province of Ontario, to South Carolina, U.S.A. In fact, the highly radioactive liquid waste is bound for the H-Canyon at SRS, just as was the solid irradiated nuclear fuel bundle dropped at SRS's L-area spent fuel facility -- until it was dropped, that is. This begs the question: is DOE ready to safely ship, and SRS ready to safely handle, highly radioactive liquid waste?]

Savannah River Site (SRS) Watch released the following press release:

Savannah River Site Watch

For Immediate Release

December 14, 2016 

Internal DOE Documents Reveal Details of Highly Unusual Canadian Spent Fuel Dropping Incident at Savannah River Site; Squabbling Amongst SRS Officials over Follow-Up Meetings

SRS Official States Delay in Shipment of Liquid High-Level Waste from Canada has DOE Headquarters “In a Lather”

FOIA Documents & Photos Received by SRS Watch on December 13, 2016 are Linked Here

Columbia, South Carolina – Details about the unexpected dropping of a highly radioactive spent fuel bundle in the L-Reactor storage pool have come to light in documents released under a Freedom of Information Act request by Savannah River Site Watch (SRS Watch).   The incident, which occurred on July 12, 2016, involved a drop of Canadian NRX research reactor spent fuel as it was being moved in the storage pool in the old L-Reactor, where spent nuclear fuel from research and medical isotope reactors is stored. The incident resulted in a “timeout” in spent fuel handling operations. During evaluation of the incident, DOE expressed concern about the situation impacting the shipping schedule of more NRX spent fuel from the Chalk River Labs in Ontario.   An “L-Area Technical Review Board” was convened the review the incident, which appears to have been caused by lifting cables twisting and falling free from lifting slots in the fuel assembly, causing the fuel to release and fall back into a storage basket.  Though the event was unanticipated and could have damaged the fuel, DOE has reported no such damage and no release of radioactive materials. The height of the drop is unclear but appears to be between 8-10 inches and 2 feet.

“As damage to the spent fuel could have had negative impact to workers and operation of the L-Area spent fuel facility, it is imperative that DOE adjust its procedures to make sure such a potentially harmful incident never happens again,” said Tom Clements, director of SRS Watch.  “DOE must now fully inform that public as to what steps it’s taking to improve spent fuel handling procedures in the aftermath of the incident involving dropping of the Canadian spent fuel.”

An “Occurrence Report” dated July 13 called event the “Inadvertent NRX Fuel released from Fuel Tool.” That report summarizes the event:

On July 12, 2016, during the unloading and bundling of National Research Experimental (NRX)-5 fuel from the NRX basket in the unloading station, an NRX fuel assembly was being removed from basket position 4. After the fuel assembly was raised 24 inches for fuel identification per procedure, the assembly became disengaged from the NRX tool and fell back into its original basket position. Fuel handling was stopped and a timeout was called. Limiting Conditions for Operations 3.1.4 was entered to allow Spent Fuel Project (SFP) Engineering and Nuclear and Criticality Safety Engineering to determine status of compliance with the nuclear safety data sheet. SFP Engineering is inspecting the NRX tool in use to help determine the cause of the disengagement.

After the timeout – “Limiting Condition for Operation” (LCO) was called, the “Spent Fuel Project (SFP) Engineering” and “Nuclear and Criticality Safety Engineering” groups were called in to analyze the situation and determine the cause for the fuel to be dropped.  Their final report was not released in the FOIA documents sent to SRS Watch.

The FOIA documents reveal a testy email exchange between DOE officials ensued after the incident as there was argument over who was authorized to attend incident-review meetings and if the incident would impact NRX spent fuel shipments from Canada.  The internal squabble arose as the L-Basin is operated by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) and the spent fuel “take-back” program in under the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), causing officials to clash over their respective jurisdictions.

Of note, in a July 15 email from the NNSA official, concern was expressed about attention being drawn to the issue of shipment from Canada of NRC and NRU reactor spent fuel and that of liquid high-level nuclear waste, which DOE calls “Target Residue Material” in order to downplay the fact that it is a deadly brew of highly radioactive isotopes:

“My HQ is always very interested in the NRU/NRX and TRM shipment schedule and perceived hiccups.  The TRM delays are what’s really got them in a lather, unfortunately that means the NRU/NRX program is getting a little additional attention.  Once the TRM gets going, I’m hopeful NRU/NRX will fall a bit off the radar (fingers crossed).”

###

Notes:

FOIA documents and photos on NRX spent fuel incident, received vial mail on December 13, 2016, are linked here:

http://www.srswatch.org/uploads/2/7/5/8/27584045/foia_nrx_spent_fuel_incident_dec_1_2016.pdf  

Contact: Tom Clements Director,

Savannah River Site Watch Columbia, South Carolina

tel. 803-834-3084

cell 803-240-7268

srswatch@gmail.com

http://www.srswatch.org/

https://www.facebook.com/SavannahRiverSiteWatch

Update on December 16, 2016 by admin

The Aiken Standard has reported on this story.

Environmental coalition rebuts DOE attempt to have case dismissed re: highly radioactive liquid waste truck shipments

Political cartoon by Adam Zyglis of The Buffalo News. Buffalo, NY, as well as Thousand Island, NY, are the most likely border crossings for these shipments. However, others could be used as well. DOE has invoked secrecy regarding the routing and timing of shipments, on security grounds.On Nov. 22nd, Diane Curran of Washington, D.C. and Terry Lodge of Toledo, OH -- legal counsel for an environmental coalition that includes Beyond Nuclear -- filed a motion in the Washington, D.C. federal district court, entitled MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS' OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND PLAINTIFFS' CROSS-MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (see corrected version, dated Nov. 29, 2016).

Dr. Gordon Edwards (Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility) and Dr. Marvin Resnikoff (Radioactive Waste Management Associates) provided expert declarations in support of the coalition's case (click on links at their respective names, above, to see the declarations).

In short, Dr. Edwards testified that a mere couple of ounces, out of just one of the 150 shipments, could radioactively contaminate the massive Georgetown Reservoir, the drinking water supply for the District of Columbia, at very unsafe levels, rendering it unsafe to drink. Dr. Resnikoff testified that the woefully inadequate standards for seals, valves, and O-rings on the jury-rigged shipping containers risks failure and leakage, even in the event of a below-design basis fire temperature and duration.

This is the latest filing in the environmental coalition's challenge against the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) unprecedented scheme to truck highly radioactive liquid wastes. 100 to 150 high-risk truck shipments -- from Chalk River Nuclear Lab, Ontario, Canada to Savannah River Site, South Carolina, U.S.A., more than a thousand miles -- could begin as soon as mid-February, 2017 if the DOE gets its way, and the legal appeal dismissed. The most likely border crossing points include Buffalo and Thousand Island, NY, although DOE is keeping routes and timing secret under a cloak of security.

Update on December 6, 2016 by admin

On Dec. 6, 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) filed a Motion to Strike, in opposition to our environmental coalition's appeal. DOE also filed a Combined Reply on the same day.