Question: What is the status of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

project?

Answer: The WIPP Project continues on schedule and within cost estimates. Two shafts have been constructed from the surface to the facility depth of 2,150 feet and approximately 2.5 miles of tunnels completed. A warehouse has been completed on the surface and is now being used as a temporary office building. Water storage tanks have also been completed.

Additional construction now underway includes increasing the diameter of an existing shaft to become the primary waste handling shaft and a new shaft which will be the facility exhaust shaft. Mining of the area for experiments is underway. Access roads, a railroad spur, and a water pipeline are also under construction.

Major construction still to be initiated includes the waste handling building which will be used for receiving radioactive waste and for administration space. Construction of the exhaust filter building, to filter exhaust air from storage areas will start this summer. Construction of on-site power and water distribution systems will also be started this summer.

WIPP OPERATIONS SCHEDULE

Question: WIPP construction is now scheduled for completion one year earlier than was indicated last year, and yet the operational date remains the same. Please explain.

Answer: The WIPP Project has developed its plans and schedules on the basis of actual or firm commitment data such as fixed price contracts. This data is available for the construction activities and indicates an earlier completion. Detailed planning and requirements for the necessary operational tests and check-outs, demonstrations, and pre-operational reviews and approvals have not been developed. In addition the plans for preparation, certification and shipment of TRU waste from other defense sites are based on the original operational date. Therefore, the Project has not changed its milestone of October 1988 for first receipt of waste. Activity is now underway to complete the planning and definition of requirements necessary to review or confirm that target date as soon as possible.

Question: When will you complete your latest estimate of the total estimate of cost for this project?

Answer: We expect that a final cost estimate for the WIPP Project will be available in May. By that time all important contracts will have been awarded.

INCREASED FUNDING FOR THE DEFENSE WASTE PROCESSING FACILITY

Question: Please justify the $107 million increase in costs for the Defense Waste Processing Facility, DWPF. Please explain the impact of a reduction to the increase over FY 1984 funding.

Answer: That increase ($107 million) is not an increase in the total cost of the facility. The increase above the 1984 level is

necessary to keep the DWPF construction on schedule, to minimize costs, and avoid operational impacts.

The requested FY 1985 funding is slightly less than that identified for the project in last year's budget, and, because the project is going well, we have reduced the total estimated cost, TEC, from $910 million last year to $870 million this year. With the requested funding, we can take advantage of the favorable

construction climate that exists and possibly further reduce costs in the construction phase of the project.

The FY 1985 funding will continue the design work to about 80 percent complete by the end of the year. It will continue construction of the main processing building and support facilities, and continue procurement of essential materials and equipment. The FY 1985 funding will also continue the testing of critical equipment and systems to insure the DWPF will operate with minimum problems. All of these efforts are necessary for operation of the DWPF in 1989 as planned.

If the funding were reduced to the FY 1984 level, it would delay the project by 9 months to one year, increase the total cost by $30 to $40 million, and cause serious operational problems at Savannah River. The Savannah River waste management program has been planned assuming that DWPF will be operational by the end of 1989. If DWPF is delayed we would have to slow down nuclear material production operations, delay the program to get waste out of the over 30 year-old tanks which could have significant safety impacts, or build new waste tanks on a crash basis. None of these options is desireable.

STATUS OF WASTE TRANSFER PROGRAM

Question: Please describe the status of the waste transfer program at Richland, Savannah River and Idaho.

Answer: There are high-level waste, HLW, transfer programs at Savannah River and Hanford to improve the safety of interim HLW storage. At Idaho, liquid waste is routinely processed to a dry granular product and stored in underground bins designed to maintain their integrity for several hundred years.

The objective of the Savannah River waste transfer program is to have all high level waste in high-integrity double-shell tanks by the

end of FY 1994. There are 51 HLW tanks, specifically;

is

27 high-integrity double-shell tanks, 16 older "cup-and-saucer" tanks (the secondary steel liner is 5' high and the concrete encasemenc full height), and 8 single-shell tanks. The HLW from one single-shell tank and one badly cracked "cup-and-saucer" has been removed. HLW will be removed from the remaining single-shell and the two other badly cracked "cup-and-saucer" tanks by the third quarter of FY 1988. The rate of completion of the

Savannah River waste transfer program is, of course, dependent on outyear funding and overall program priorities.

In the Stabilization and Isolation Program at Richland, free liquids from 149 old single-shell tanks are removed and evaporated, and the resulting concentrated liquid is stored in double-shell tanks. The single-shell tanks, containing only moist salt cake, are then isolated by sealing off any connections through which liquid could inadvertently be introduced into them. This program is scheduled to be completed in FY 1989.

FUNDING FOR NEW TANKS

Question: What new tanks are funded at each site, and what is the requirement for new tanks beyond those funded to date?

Answer: Eight new double-shell tanks, begun in 1983, are under construction at Hanford, and will be operational in April 1986. Based upon the planning assumptions in the 1983 budget, no additional tanks were expected to be required at Hanford. However, since that budget submission, additional missions have been proposed for Hanford, such as the Special Isotopes Separation facility, and extended N Reactor operations. In addition, the volume of waste produced by ongoing programs has greatly exceeded the original estimates. At this time, it is not clear how many additional tanks will be required, or when they will be needed. No additional tanks are required at Savannah River if the Defense Waste Processing Facility remains on schedule.

PROBLEMS WITH LEAKING TANKS

Question: What problems do you still encounter with leaking tanks at each site?

Answer: There have been no confirmed releases to the environment from any high-level waste tanks at Hanford within the past 3 years. However, three tanks previously suspected of leaking were confirmed as having leaked at an earlier time: Tank 110B, 200 East Area, built 1943-44, released less than 10,000 gallons containing less than 4300 curies of cesium-137, leak confirmed 1981; Tank 104TY, 200 West Area, built 1951-52, released approximately 1400 gallons containing approximately 560 curies of cesium-137, leak confirmed 1981; Tank 203B, 200 East Area, built 1943-44, released approximately 300 gallons containing a negligible quantity of cesium-137, leak confirmed 1983. When these tanks were initially suspected of leaking, they were taken out of active liquid service, the supernatant liquid was removed, and studies were started to confirm their status. There have been no leaks from any double-shell tanks at Hanford.

There have been no releases to the environment directly from any tanks at Savannah River during this time period. However, on December 29, 1983, approximately 100 gallons of HLW was released from the inlet riser of Tank 13H, a single-shell tank used as a feed tank for an evaporator. The tank has been in service since 1956 and is in the H Area tank farm. The HLW spill was detected by a radiation alarm and contained about 600 curies of radionuclides, principally cesium-137. No increased concentrations of cesium-137 were detected in the Savannah River, since most of the spill was contained through activation of the existing storm water diversion system. The high radiation level on the top of the tank has hampered access to investigate the precise cause of the leak, but temporary lead shielding has been erected and decontamination of the tank area with water and oxalic acid is proceeding as are several contamination abatement projects regarding the drainage system and treatment of the waste collected in the lined retention basin. It is estimated that total cleanup costs of the tank and the retention basin will exceed $3 million. Based on the data now available, it will probably be necessary to modify similar tanks to avoid future spills and to simplify cleanup actions if spills do occur. Recent inspections of the single-shell tanks have revealed the existence of cracks or sites at which liquids are entering some of these tanks. Monitoring has not indicated that any waste has leaked into the environment, but this possibility cannot be precluded in the future. The Department is evaluating what actions should be taken to avoid such an

Occurrence.

DOE WASTE INVENTORY

Question: Please describe the quantity and status of the various classes of nuclear waste at each site.

Answer: The Office of Defense Waste and Byproducts Management is responsible for the safe and environmentally acceptable management of 3 types of nuclear waste located at sites under defense program control.

Data on the specific quantities of high-level waste, HLW; transuranic waste, TRU; and low-level waste, LLW, can be best shown in the accompanying chart, which I would like to enter for the record.

*Sites managed by other than the Office of Defense Waste and Byproducts Management, including inactive DOE sites

HLW is managed at three of our sites. Our basic strategy at all three sites is to safely store and monitor the waste pending implementation of long-term plans for waste disposal. At Savannah River, the long-term program is underway with the construction of the Defense Waste Processing Facility, DWPF, which is scheduled to begin operation in 1989. Waste in older tanks is being transferred to new, high-integrity double-shell tanks for safer interim storage. As part

of the waste transfer program, the HLW at Savannah River is being prepared as feed for the DWPF.

At Hanford, liquids are being removed from the older tanks, and are being transferred to new high-integrity double-shell tanks for safer interim storage. After removal of liquid from the old tanks, the tanks are isolated from the storage system and the environment in order to preclude any possibility of inadvertent additions of waste to the tanks, and to minimize the possibility of release of waste to the environment. All fresh HLW generated from PUREX plant operation is being stored in the new tanks.

At Idaho, acidic liquid HLW is stored in high integrity stainless steel tanks. After a short period of time, the waste is routinely converted to a dry granular powder, in the New Waste Calcining Facility, then stored in underground bins. Only operational levels of liquid HLW are stored in tanks at Idaho. Essentially, the waste is calcined at approximately the same rate at which it is produced.

Transuranic waste, TRU, is managed at six of our major sites. Since 1970, TRU has been retrievably stored and monitored to assure that safe storage continues and to reaffirm the retrievability of the waste in an intact state. At all of our sites, programs are underway to certify TRU for emplacement at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, WIPP. The volumes do not reflect the estimated 30 percent reduction in the volume of waste which is expected to be realized when the waste is retrieved, analyzed, and sorted according to the new TRU waste concentration limits. Some TRU contaminated material was buried prior to 1970, when the TRU waste category was established. We will continue to monitor this waste in place and will take remedial actions, if necessary, to assure continued isolation of the waste from the environment.

Low-level waste, LLW, is disposed of at several of our sites. The volumes include waste at both active and inactive sites. Low-level waste is disposed of, as it is generated, by shallow-land burial in trenches. The waste burial facilities are routinely monitored and stabilized and, if so indicated, remedial actions are taken to assure the continued safety and isolation of the waste from the environment.

At all of our sites, volume reduction is a key element in our waste management strategy. Liquids are routinely concentrated by evaporation in order to reduce the potential for environmental release and to reduce the requirements for new storage facilities. With solid waste, compaction operations and improved waste generation reduction and segregation operations significantly extend the lifetime of existing storage and disposal facilities.