[DOE
LETTERHEAD]
October 1, 2004
The Honorable John T. Conway
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities
Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite
700
Washington, DC 20004-2901
Dear Mr. Chairman:
The purpose of this letter is to
transmit a status of wet combustible transuranic (TRU) waste shipments from the
Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) to the Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant (WIPP). RFETS expects to complete
shipping all TRU waste (including wet combustibles) to WIPP by April 2005.
As stated in Section 5. 2 of
Revision 2 of the Department of Energy’s Implementation Plan for stabilization
of the nuclear materials identified in Recommendation 2000-1 (July 22, 2002),
the wet combustibles were to be shipped to WIPP by June 2004. At this time, more than 1,200 wet combustible
residue containers have been shipped to WIPP but approximately 230 containers
still remain at RFETS. The RFETS
implemented actions and “Vent Filter Monitoring Program” monitoring indicate
that the drums can be safely stored and shipped. Any failed filters are mitigated by replacing
the filters and increasing the monitoring frequency for the failed drum. There have been no vent filter failures identified
to date in the fiscal year 2004 monitoring program. Wet combustible wastes are being shipped in a
manner that maximizes the efficiency of the entire TRU waste shipping program.
If you have any further
questions concerning these issues, please call Patrice M. Bubar, Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Integrated Safety Management and Operations Oversight, at
(202) 586-5151 or
Frazer Lockhart, Manager, Rocky Flats Project Office, at (303)
966-2025.
Sincerely,
Inés Triay
Deputy Chief Operating Officer
Environmental Management
cc: M. Whitaker, DR/DOE
F.
Lockhart, RF/DOE