Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
8/29/2014
Utah’s Division of Radiation Control is set to release on Sept. 8 the Safety Evaluation Report for its evaluation of EnergySolutions’ performance assessment for the disposal of depleted uranium (DU) at its Clive disposal facility, according to Division of Radiation Control Director Rusty Lundberg. Utah’s release of the DU SER comes in the wake of Texas’ decision last week to amend the license for Waste Control Specialists to allow the disposal of DU at its site in Andrews, Texas. A seven-week public comment period will follow the Utah SER release, with an expected decision date by early December, Lundberg said. “On September 8, we will be releasing for public comment the Safety Evaluation Report (SER) prepared by our technical contractor regarding our evaluation of the DU performance assessment,” Lundberg said in an email response. “The public comment period will conclude on October 24. We have scheduled two public meetings—one on September 23 and another on September 24 to receive comment. We have published on our web site (under our EnergySolutions area) the DU PA documents and will continue to do so with the SER and public participation information.”
EnergySolutions submitted Clive’s performance assessment for DU back in 2011 following the Utah Radiation Control Board’s 2010 decision to require a quantitative compliance period for DU out to 10,000 years, with a second qualitative review out to peak dose (approximately 2.5 million years). Subsequently, the state required additional information and a revised design for a DU disposal cell, which EnergySolutions resubmitted this summer. According to EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker, the performance assessment will show the site is capable of DU disposal. “We look forward to the results of the [Division of Radiation Control] and third party independent technical review of the performance assessment,” Walker said. “Science should be the determining factor as to whether or not any waste stream can be disposed at Clive. We believe that the Performance Assessment will demonstrate that Clive is suitable for the long term disposal of depleted uranium.”
