EXPERIENCE FROM TWO SMALL QUANTITY RH-TRU WASTE SITES IN NAVIGATING THROUGH AN EVOLVING REG.pdfVIP

WM’03 Conference, February 23-27, 2003, Tucson, AZ 1 EXPERIENCE FROM TWO SMALL QUANTITY RH-TRU WASTE SITES IN NAVIGATING THROUGH AN EVOLVING REGULATORY LANDSCAPE Jennifer Biedscheid and Murthy Devarakonda Washington TRU Solutions, LLC 6100 Seagull Lane, Suite 202, Albuquerque, NM 87109 Jim Eide Battelle Columbus Laboratories 505 King Avenue, Columbus, OH 43201 Dennis Kneff Energy Technology Engineering Center P.O. Box 7922, Canoga Park, CA 91309-7922 ABSTRACT Two small quantity transuranic (TRU) waste generator sites have gained considerable experience in navigating through a changing regulatory landscape in their efforts to remove the TRU waste from their sites and proceed with site remediation. The Battelle Columbus Laboratories Decommissioning Project (BCLDP) has the objectives of decontaminating nuclear research buildings and associated grounds and remediating to a level of residual contamination allowing future use without radiological restrictions. As directed by Congress, BCLDP must complete decontamination and decommissioning activities by the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2006. This schedule requires the containerization of all TRU waste in 2002. BCLDP will generate a total of approximately 27 cubic meters (m3) of remote-handled (RH) TRU waste. Similarly, the Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) is scheduled to close in 2006 pursuant to an agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Boeing Canoga Park, the management and operating contractor for ETEC. ETEC had 11.0 m3 of RH-TRU and contact-handled (CH) TRU waste in storage, with the requirement to remove this waste in 2002 in order to meet their site closure schedule. The individual milestones for BCLDP and ETEC necessitated the establishment of site-specific programs to direct packaging and characterization of RH-TRU waste before the regulatory framework for the WIPP disposal of RH-TRU waste is finalized. The lack of large infrastructure