[DOE LETTERHEAD]
December 22, 2005
The Honorable A. J. Eggenberger
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities
Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, N.W., Suite
700
Washington, DC 20004-2901
Dear Mr. Chairman:
The purpose of this letter is to
emphasize key points on the Comprehensive Flowsheet Review of the Waste
Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). A disk
containing the December 13, 2005, briefing materials on the status of the
Review has been provided to Mr. Kent Fortenberry.
The Office of River Protection has
directed Bechtel National Inc. to conduct a comprehensive review and analysis
of the WTP process flowsheet to
ensure that the design is technically viable. The scope of this review is to identify any
significant issues that could impact the WTP’s ability to meet its design
throughput, or result in a major safety issue. The WTP Project has undergone extensive
efforts to establish an external review team composed of the “best and
brightest” industry experts, regardless of their corporate affiliation. This review team is led by Dr. Walter L.
Tamosaitis of Washington Group. Inc.
The Department of Energy (DOE)
is focused on ensuring that the results from this external review are credible,
comprehensive, and technically defensible. DOE appreciates the Board’s staff input and
participation to date in the review process. It is imperative that all technical issues and
concerns, including those from the Board, are identified and available to the
review team, in real-time, for timely consideration and resolution during this
review process. DOE encourages the Board
to continue to remain fully engaged in this review process so that the review
team has the benefit of the Board’s expertise and insight. We believe it is imperative for the Board to
engage with the team leads in the several technical areas, and that the report
serves to document the issue raised and discussed with DOE and the Board. Thus, we are working with Mr. Fortenberry to schedule
a discussion with the Board no later than January 15, 2006. The external review team is scheduled to
prepare their initial draft report by January 13, 2006, and submit their draft
final report to DOE on February 28, 2006.
If you have any questions,
please call me at (202) 586-7709 or Dr. Inés R. Triay, Chief Operating Officer, at (202) 586-0738.
Sincerely,
James A. Rispoli
Assistant Secretary for
Environmental Management
cc: M. Whitaker, DR-1
R.
Schepens, ORP
J.
Eschenberg, ORP