[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 157 (Monday, August 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44512-44513]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-21289]
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DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD
Sunshine Act Meeting
Pursuant to the provision of the ``Government in the Sunshine Act''
(5 U.S.C. 552b), notice is hereby given of the Defense Nuclear
Facilities Safety Board's (Board) meeting described below.
Time and Date of Meeting: 9:00 a.m., September 9, 1999.
Place: The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Public
Hearing Room, 625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC
20004.
Status: Open.
Matters To Be Considered: Status of the Department of Energy's
Implementation Plan for Board Recommendation 94-1, The Remediation
of Nuclear Materials in the Defense Nuclear Facilities Complex.
Contact Person for More Information: Richard A. Azzaro, General
Counsel, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, 625 Indiana
Avenue, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20004, (800) 788-4016. This is
a toll-free number.
Supplementary Information: Recommendation 94-1 has driven the
Department of Energy (DOE) to accomplish significant risk reduction
and nuclear material stabilization during the past four years. Under
the original implementation plan, urgent risks were mitigated and
DOE made progress in stabilizing plutonium, special isotopes, and
spent nuclear fuel. Additionally, compensatory measures were
implemented to ensure safe storage of the remaining materials
awaiting stabilization.
However, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is
concerned about the DOE's rate of progress in implementing the
revised Recommendation 94-1 implementation plan, The Remediation of
Nuclear Materials in the Defense Nuclear Facilities Complex,
received by the Board in December 1998. The Board has not yet
received the outstanding plans and schedules required to complete
the necessary stabilization activities.
The Board issued Recommendation 94-1 on May 26, 1994 to
encourage the Department of Energy to act more quickly to place
surplus nuclear materials in safe forms for interim storage. When
production of nuclear weapons ceased in the early 1990's, large
inventories of plutonium, uranium, spent nuclear fuel, and other
hazardous materials were stored in temporary arrangements awaiting
processing into weapons components or other disposition. The Board
was concerned that such materials, some of which are in unstable
chemical forms, may rupture or leak from their temporary containers,
or may cause or contribute to accidents, material releases, and
radiological exposures. The Board accordingly recommended that the
DOE initiate or accelerate programs to process and repackage such
materials so that they could be safely stored. The Secretary of
Energy accepted Recommendation 94-1 in full, and a mutually
agreeable Implementation Plan was issued in February 1995 and
accepted by the Board. During 1998, DOE prepared an updated
implementation plan that was submitted to the Board in December
1998. In January 1999 the Board conditionally accepted the revised
plan provided that the DOE complete planning for all stabilization
activities. DOE has not yet provided this supplemental information
to the Board's satisfaction.
This public meeting will examine the reasons for delays in
finalizing the revised implementation plan and also explore the
causes of delays in specific stabilization activities at selected
DOE sites. DOE will be
[[Page 44513]]
requested to identify corrective actions necessary to complete the
remaining stabilization activities in a timely manner. Department of
Energy personnel will present the status of delayed nuclear material
stabilization activities to process uranium, plutonium, and other
actinides into stable storage forms, package plutonium for interim
storage, stabilize spent fuel, and maintain the facilities needed to
perform these activities over the next few years. The largest
Recommendation 94-1 programs are at the Savannah River Site, the
Hanford Site, the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, and Los
Alamos National Laboratory, although most other defense nuclear
sites are affected to some degree.
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board reserves its right
to further schedule and otherwise regulate the course of this
meeting, to recess, reconvene, postpone or adjourn the meeting, and
otherwise exercise its authority under the Atomic Energy Act of
1954, as amended.
Dated: August 11, 1999.
John T. Conway,
Chairman.
[FR Doc. 99-21289 Filed 8-12-99; 11:40 am]
BILLING CODE 3670-01-U
