[DOE LETTERHEAD]

February 1, 1999

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

Dear Mr. Chairman:

The Secretary has asked me to respond to your letter of November 18, 1998, concerning the Department of Energy's (Department) implementation of Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (Board) Recommendation 94-2, Management of Low-Level Radioactive Waste. Enclosed is the quarterly progress report on implementation of the Board Recommendation 94-2 for the period from October 1, 1998 to December 31, 1998. This report addresses the Recommendation 94-2 task initiatives which have not yet been completed, as well as Departmental activities closely related to the task initiatives committed to in response to the Board Recommendation 94- 2.

The Department continues to work aggressively to complete all of the commitments under Recommendation 94-2. The report states that the Department has completed a significant number of activities in support of the commitments. DOE Order 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management, replacing DOE Order 5820.2A, has been put into the Departmental concurrence process on February 1, 1999, and is expected to be issued final for implementation by the end of March 1999. In addition to responding to comments from the Board, the Board staff, and the public, the Order Revision Team completed final edits to the Order, Manual, and associated Guidance documents to support this schedule.

Following Departmental concurrence, the Order, Manual, and Guidance is expected to be issued for immediate implementation. The Order currently out for concurrence states that from the date of issuance, Department programs and sites will have one year to comply with the Order and set up implementation programs and corrective action plans. Any requirements that have not been implemented within a year of issuance of the Order will require the Field Element Manager to obtain a waiver from the cognizant Program Secretarial Officer. All implementation and corrective action plans will be approved by the cognizant managers, as specified in the Order. It is expected that some implementation, such as having radioactive waste management basis statements approved and in place for all facilities, may require up to fiscal year 2001 to complete. By the end of fiscal year 2001, all aspects of the Order are to be fully implemented and completed.

In September 1998, the Department completed a document entitled Complex-Wide Strategy for Maintenance of Department of Energy Low-Level Waste Disposal Facility Performance Assessments and Composite Analyses. This document describes the strategy for integrating the Headquarters Program Management and Field Office activities related to performance assessment and composite analysis maintenance including that research and development as necessary for low-level waste disposal. The Department is expected to complete the implementation plan for the research and development strategy by the end of March 1999, and will discuss the proposed strategy with the Board prior to its implementation.

The Department is making progress on the completion and approval of the radiological assessments and composite analyses for the Department's disposal facilities. A Low-Level Waste Disposal Facilities Federal Review Group (LFRG), established in December 1996, was chartered to ensure that low-level waste facilities are designed, constructed, operated, and closed in a manner that protects the public and environment. The Department has issued a disposal authorization statement for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Low-Level Waste Disposal Area G authorizing the continued operations of the facility subject to the conditions in the disposal authorization statement. The Review Teams continue their review activities for the other disposal facilities.

We have received the Oak Ridge Operations Office response to the LFRG regarding compliance and closure issues on the Oak Ridge Solid Waste Storage Area 6 performance assessment and composite analysis. The LFRG will review the response by the end of February 1999. There has been continued progress on the Nevada Test Site Area 3 review team final report. We have selected the review team leader and team members for the review of the Hanford 200 Area Plateau composite analysis and the Immobilized Low-Activity Tank Waste performance assessment. The Hanford site review was conducted the week of January 11-15, 1999. The Idaho review team leader was selected for the review of the Idaho Low-Level Waste Radioactive Waste Management Complex Composite Analysis. The review will commence in the third quarter of fiscal year 1999.

A status table in the quarterly progress report provides the status of all of the Recommendation 94-2 task initiatives. We intend to complete on schedule the radiological assessments for all of the Department sites except for the radiological assessment at the Nevada Test Area 5. The Department expects to complete the radiological assessment at the Nevada Test Area 5 by the end of calendar year 2000. However, we are confident that we will be able to meet our mutual goal of demonstrating the necessary level of commitment completion, firm scheduling and resource allocation, and organizational institutionalization to propose closure of Recommendation 94-2 by the end of 1999.

If you have any questions concerning this information, please contact me at (202) 586-7710 or Mark Frei at (202) 586-0370.

Sincerely,

James M. Owendoff
Acting Assistant Secretary
for Environmental Management

Enclosure

cc:
Mark B. Whitaker, Jr., S-3.1
Carol Peabody, EM-4

Note: This enclosure is available in [PDF].