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The Department of Energy should look for ways to better separate its dual roles as manager and regulator of Hanford's vitrification plant, according to a new report by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
However, DOE's overall program to safely regulate the $12.2 billion vit plant is adequate to ensure protection of public health and safety if properly implemented, the review concluded. The plant, which would convert radioactive waste into a stable glass form for disposal, is not scheduled to open until 2019.
"They didn't identify any significant safety issues, which we are very pleased with," said JoAnn Wardrip, spokeswoman for DOE in Washington, D.C.
DOE is doing a much better job on safety issues and putting together a better oversight infrastructure, "and that's what the NRC saw," said Tom Carpenter, executive director of Hanford Challenge. The watchdog group has pushed for the NRC to play an advisory or regulatory role at the vitrification plant.
The NRC review was conducted for Congress as ordered in the conference report for the Omnibus Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2008, which reconciled different views by the House and Senate. The House had called for DOE regulation of the vit plant to be shifted to the NRC, while the Senate said the continued additional oversight of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board was adequate.
The review also looked at whether DOE addressed items identified in a report by the NRC in 2001. Many of the 28 issues identified in that report have been addressed by DOE as design and construction of the vitrification plant have progressed over the last seven years, the review found.
However, the review also noted it was relying on DOE reports on progress on those issues and that the scope of the review did not cover a thorough assessment of all topics raised in the report.
Among issues raised in the 2001 report was whether the plant could withstand a severe earthquake. DOE has since paid for an $18 million borehole drilling project at the site to characterize the ground beneath the plant and revised any design specification that might be inadequate.
When the 2001 report was written, design of the plant was 14 percent complete and now it is 76 percent complete.
However, there are other unresolved safety or regulatory issues that the NRC identified during visits to Hanford, discussions with DOE and reviews of documents, according to the review. They include the adequacy of a redesigned ultrafiltration system to separate solid and liquid wastes before treatment.
"Although this design change will eventually be tested, the DOE regulatory process allows construction to continue despite the potential that design could (be) impacted," the review said.
Other issues include whether some chemicals will exacerbate corrosion in the plant and whether flammable hydrogen could collect in piping, an issue that has been the focus of several years' work.
Among the three suggestions made in the review was that DOE consider the list of issues identified in the 2001 report and a list of specific safety and regulatory issues identified in the review.
It also suggested DOE evaluate how it could improve the transparency of its decisions and actions regarding the vitrification plant. Its final suggestion called for exploring more independence between DOE's oversight and management roles at the plant.
DOE's Office of Health, Safety and Security is independent of the office that oversees work at the vitrification plant and is involved in regulatory practices, Wardrip said.
While Hanford Challenge has seen improvements in openness, particularly under Shirley Olinger, the DOE Office of River Protection manager, the watchdog group is concerned DOE lacks institutional processes that NRC has to ensure that concerns raised by the public, watchdog groups and others, are addressed, Carpenter said.
"Our biggest concern is DOE is self-regulating," he said. "They can change the regulations."
