[DOE LETTERHEAD]

September 30, 2002

The Honorable John T. Conway, Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, NW
Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20004-2901

Dear Mr. Chairman:

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the actions taken, as well as planned, to address your March 7, 2002, letter concerning disposition of depleted uranium (DU) materials at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The Savannah River Operations Office has prepared the enclosed response that addresses short and long-term disposition plans and other DU storage concerns.

The short-term plan for disposition of the DU oxide (DUO) in Buildings 728-F and 730-F is to dispose as low-level waste (LLW) at Envirocare of Utah. The long-term disposal options include: (1) dispose as LLW as described in the short-term plans, (2) use of DUO in SRS High-Level Waste (HLW) tank closure, and/or (3) dispose of the DUO in Saltstone. The Savannah River Operations Office is preparing a long-term disposition project plan to define actions, activities, responsibilities, and decision dates to move toward the final disposition of the SRS DU materials. The long-term disposition project plan is expected to be complete by November 1, 2002, and a copy will be provided to you, along with a briefing to be scheduled at your convenience.

The enclosed response also addresses other concerns with the storage of DU materials including the adequacy of inspections, guidance for long-term storage, co-storage of chemicals, combustible loading in Building 330-M assumptions made in the hazard analysis.

If you have any further questions, please contact me at (202) 586-7709 or Paul Golan of my staff at (202) 586-0738.

Sincerely,

Jessie Hill Roberson
Assistant Secretary for
Environmental Management

Enclosure

cc:
Mark Whitaker, S-3.1
Paul Golan, EM-3
Jeffery Allison, DOE-SR