[DOE
LETTERHEAD]
August 16, 2007
The Honorable A. J. Eggenberger
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20004-2901
Dear Mr. Chairman:
To support the need to remove additional aluminum from the tank
waste sludge that will be vitrified in the Defense Waste Processing Facility,
the Department of Energy (DOE) plans to move forward with aluminum removal from
sludge batch 5. Enclosed is a summary
of the DOE plan to initiate dissolution of aluminum from sludge batch 5 in Tank 51 at the Savannah River Site (SRS) and store the aluminum rich
supernate from that process in a Type 1 “old style” Tank in the H-Tank Farm.
Consistent with the ongoing oversight by the Defense
Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (Board) of the tank waste activities at the
SRS, it would be helpful if the Board would provide any comments it has on the
nuclear safety aspects of the DOE plan to transfer and store low curie,
aluminum rich supernate in this “old style” tank.
Sincerely,
James A. Rispoli
Assistant Secretary for
Environmental Management
cc :
M. Whitaker, HS-1.1
J. Allison, SRS