By Phil Egidi (CO), Chair, E-25 Committee on Decontamination and Decommissioning
I attended the American Nuclear Society Winter Meeting November 12 – 16, 2006 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Over 1,500 people attended the conference, with a large international contingent. The theme of the conference was “Ensuring The Future In Times Of Change, Nonproliferation And Security.” Among the plenary speakers were Senators Pete Domenici (R- NM) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) by video hookup from Washington D.C. They were not able to predict how the recent changes in Congress would affect the nuclear renaissance that appears to be just over the horizon. With respect to waste, Sen. Domenici is concerned about the fate of Yucca Mountain, now that Sen. Reid is in the majority. “We will see where the axe falls,” he said.
Sen. Bingaman also made similar remarks relative to the benefits of the Energy Policy Act, and focused on his work on an amendment to the Act that will provide funding for training of scientists and engineers, and also noted that the current Administration provided zero funding for the program. He was named Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for the 110th Congress on November 14.
Dale Klein, newly appointed Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission also made a plenary speech. Klein’s vision is that NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) must continue to be a strong regulator, and he noted that “an accident anywhere has an impact everywhere.” Regulators want no surprises, and so part of the effort is to figure out where the next surprise is going to come from. He believes there are not enough research efforts and that between 2006 and 2008, NRC will increase their staff by over 200. Commissioner Lyons was also in attendance at the conference.
President Bush’s proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership was a hot topic of discussion. There was a spirit of anticipation in the air. Past meetings have focused on the maturing of nuclear power and decommissioning issues; this meeting had less on those subjects or environmental issues, and much more on new reactor technologies and designs. One decommissioning session focused on the use of intentional mixing of soils to meet disposal criteria and also a presentation was made on subsurface characterization and estimation of risk. Homeland security issues also were subjects of multiple sessions at the conference. Numerous papers addressed issues surrounding the development and use of fast reactors, and other new designs. A CD of the proceedings (over 1,000 pages) came with the registration. To obtain a copy, contact Sue Smith at the CRCPD Office of Executive Director.
I was asked to represent the States on a discussion panel on “Current Issues in Environmental Risk.” The Chair of E-24 also serves as liaison to the Inter-Agency Steering Committee on Radiation Standards cleanup subcommittee, and it was through this relationship that SY Chen invited me to represent the States at the meeting.
Stewart Walker, EPA/OSWER (Environmental Protection Agency/Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response) made a presentation on CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) Radiation Risk Assessment Policy and Guidance that included an overview of CERCLA remedy selection and risk assessment approach to radionuclides, available and planned guidance, and tools for radiation risk assessment. Three tools that are under development are a building Preliminary Remediation Goals (PRG) calculator, an outside surfaces PRG calculator, and a radionuclide ecological benchmark calculator.
Dan Strom of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory made a presentation on NCRP 146, Approaches to Risk Management in Remediation of Radioactively Contaminated Sites. The general consensus of the panelists is that EPA and NRC have gotten past the issue and are working cooperatively. One conclusion of the report that was highlighted is the important role States play in these projects, and that EPA and NRC did not engage the States as well as they could have in the discussions.
SY Chen of Argonne National Lab made a presentation addressing probabilistic approaches to predicting future land use. This is basic to the selection of scenarios when setting up the models to calculate cleanup values.
My presentation was titled “States Perspective on Current Issues in Environmental Risk.” States often take a pragmatic approach to dealing with these issues, as was concluded in NCRP 146. I also provided a brief overview of risk-related issued presented in SECY-03-069, and the following revisions to NUREG 1757.
All in all, this was a very informative conference. It was a pleasure to represent CRCPD at this event. ANS currently has a call for papers for its next decommissioning workshop to be held September 16 - 19 2007 in Chattanooga, TN.