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1 UNITED STATES NUCLEAR WASTE TECHNICAL REVIEW BOARD TRANSCRIPT SUMMER 2014 PUBLIC MEETING Wednesday August 6, 2014 Marriott Residence Inn Taylor Crossing East and West Rooms 635 West Broadway Street Idaho Falls, Idaho 2 NWTRB BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT Rodney C. Ewing, Ph.D., Chairman, NWTRB Jean Bahr, Ph.D. Steven M. Becker, Ph.D. Sue B. Clark, Ph.D. Gerald S. Frankel, Sc.D. Linda K. Nozick, Ph.D. Kenneth Lee Peddicord, Ph.D. Paul J. Turinsky, Ph.D. Mary Lou Zoback, Ph.D. NWTRB EXECUTIVE STAFF Nigel Mote, Executive Director Debra L. Dickson, Director of Administration NWTRB SENIOR PROFESSIONAL STAFF Gene W. Rowe Bret W. Leslie Roberto T. Pabalan Daniel S. Metlay Daniel G. Ogg Karyn D. Severson, Director, External Affairs NWTRB ADMINISTRATION STAFF Linda Coultry, Program Management Analyst NWTRB INTERN Elaina R. Anderson 3 I N D E X PAGE NO. Call to Order and Introductory Statement Rodney C. Ewing, Ph.D. Chairman U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board . 6 Overview of DOE Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Gary DeLeon Director Office of Nuclear Materials Disposition, Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy . 12 Questions/Discussion. 29 Status of Work Done to Date on Multi-Canister Overpacks (MCOs) and Standard Canisters Multi-Canister Overpack Roger McCormack CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company. 45 Status of Work Done to Date on Standard Canisters and Multi-Canister Overpacks Brett Carlsen Idaho National Laboratory . 54 Questions/Discussion. 70 Fuel Drying Activities at Hanford and Idaho Fuel Drying Activities by the Environmental Management Program at Idaho National Laboratory Barbara Beller Federal Project Director Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office. 78 Hanford Multi-Canister Overpack Drying Roger McCormack CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company. 87 Questions/Discussion. 95 4 I N D E X (Continued) PAGE NO. FY14 DOE R&D in Support of the High Burnup Dry Storage Cask R&D Project William Boyle Director Office of Used Nuclear Fuel Disposition Research and Development, Office of Nuclear Energy, Department of Energy. 101 Questions/Discussion. 126 Public Comments . 140 Lunch . 147 Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Waste at Idaho National Laboratory Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel at the Idaho National Laboratory - Office of Environmental Management Barbara Beller Federal Project Director Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office. 148 HLW Management at the INL Mark Shaw General Engineer Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office. 160 Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel at the Idaho National Laboratory - Office of Nuclear Energy Lance Lacroix Director Facility & Infrastructure Support Division Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office. 164 Questions/Discussion. 174 Management of Aging Storage Facilities and Spent Nuclear Fuel Management of Aging Storage Facilities and Spent Nuclear Fuel Barbara Beller Federal Project Director Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office. 195 5 I N D E X (Continued) PAGE NO. Hanford Spent Nuclear Fuel Facility Aging Roger McCormack CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Company. 211 Questions/Discussion. 213 Examination and Transportation of Damaged Spent Nuclear Fuel Barbara Beller Federal Project Director Department of Energy, Idaho Operations Office . 229 Questions/Discussion. 236 Public Comments . 245 Adjourn Public Meeting. 253 6 1 PROCEEDINGS 2 8:00 a.m. 3 EWING: So good morning. Welcome to the meeting of the 4 Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board in Idaho Falls. We are 5 pleased to be back. Looking on our record of visits, this is 6 our third time in four years, so clearly Idaho is an 7 important part of the Board’s efforts and interest. 8 Today we’ll be addressing a number of issues 9 related to the storage, transport, and disposal of DOE spent 10 nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. We note that 11 many of the issues discussed are also relevant to the fate of 12 spent fuel generated by commercial nuclear power plants. The 13 presentations and discussion today are designed to inform the 14 Board as we complete a report on the management of DOE spent 15 nuclear fuel. 16 I’ll go into more detail about the meeting agenda 17 in just a few moments, but first, for those of you who may be 18 unfamiliar with the Board and its mission, let me say a few 19 words about the Board. 20 The Board is an independent federal agency in the 21 Executive Branch. We are not part of the DOE or any other 22 federal agency. The Board was created by the 1987 amendments 23 to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, and we are charged with 24 providing an independent evaluation of the technical and 25 scientific validity of DOE activities related to implementing 7 1 the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. These DOE activities that we 2 review include transporting, packaging, and disposing of 3 spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste. Now, I want to 4 emphasize that our charge and interest are specifically 5 focused on spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste. The 6 Board reports its findings and recommendations to Congress 7 and to the Secretary of Energy. 8 The eleven Board members are appointed by the 9 President from a list of nominees submitted by the National 10 Academy of Sciences. The Board members serve as part-time 11 employees, special federal employees, but we are fortunate in 12 that we have a very talented full-time staff, and the full- 13 time staff are located at the table just to your right. 14 Normally I go through and do individual 15 introductions, but today I think I’ll forgo that process 16 simply to save time and because we have a hand-out at the 17 back of the room, which gives you a little more detail on the 18 charge of the Board; and on the back are pictures of the 19 Board members with a description of our affiliations and 20 disciplinary interests. One thing to note is that this Board 21 has a wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines 22 represented, and I think this is one of the strengths of the 23 Board in that we’re able to address issues from many 24 different scientific and technical perspectives. 25 I want to encourage you to engage Board members and 8 1 staff members during breaks and after the meeting. We value 2 your comments and the interactions that we have with 3 technical staff from DOE, but also from the informed and 4 concerned public. 5 So that saves us a little bit of time. 6 Now let me say a few words about today’s agenda, 7 and the first thing to say is, we’ve scheduled two 8 opportunities for public comment. The first will be at the 9 end of the morning, and the second will be at the end of the 10 afternoon session. If you’d like to make a public comment, 11 please sign up on the list that’s at the back of the room. 12 In addition, if you don’t want to make a public comment but 13 you have written materials that you would like to submit, 14 we’re happy to receive those; and those written materials 15 will become part of the record of this meeting and will be 16 included in the posting that we do of the transcripts and 17 presentations that are associated with this meeting. So you 18 will be able to enter your thoughts into the record of this 19 meeting. 20 For today’s agenda the first presentation will be 21 made by Gary DeLeon, who is Director of the Office of Nuclear 22 Materials Disposition in DOE’s Office of Environmental 23 Management. Gary will describe activities underway at DOE-EM 24 that are relevant to the management of DOE-owned spent 25 nuclear fuel. Following Gary’s presentation, Brett Carlsen 9 1 from Idaho National Laboratory and Roger McCormack of CH2M 2 will describe the status of DOE’s work on standard canisters 3 and multi-canister overpacks. The Board looks forward to 4 these presentations, which will address issues such as how 5 the standard canisters and multi-canister overpacks will be 6 transported, whether they can be used in a variety of rock 7 types for geologic disposal, and the status of their 8 certification. 9 After a short break, Barbara Beller of the Idaho 10 Operations Office and Roger McCormack will discuss fuel- 11 drying activities at both Hanford and INL. Drying the fuel 12 is necessary for preparing it for transport and disposal 13 off site. 14 Following this discussion, Bill Boyle, the Director 15 of DOE’s NE Office of Used Fuel Disposition, will describe 16 research in support of DOE’s High Burnup Dry Cask Storage 17 Research and Development Project. The Board is particularly 18 interested in learning how this work can be applied to issues 19 related to commercially-generated spent nuclear fuel. 20 We’ve set aside 20 minutes at the end of Bill’s 21 presentation for our first public comment session. 22 After lunch Barbara Beller, Joel Case, and Lance 23 Lacroix, all of the Idaho Operations Office, will kick off 24 our afternoon session with a discussion of the management of 25 spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at INL. 10 1 Barbara and Lance will walk us through activities related to 2 the management of sodium-bonded spent nuclear fuel and 3 aluminum-clad spent nuclear fuel at the site. 4 Following this discussion, Barbara and Roger will 5 discuss how aging storage facilities and spent fuel are being 6 managed across the DOE complex.