NAC-LWT: Poor QA Compliance, 2015-2016
December 21, 2016
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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.
Article originally appeared on Beyond Nuclear (https://archive.beyondnuclear.org/).
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