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Important Dates
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June 28 at 8:30 am Central:
Regional Outreach Work Group Conference Call
June 28 at 9 am Central: Resumption of Midwestern WIPP Shipments Conference Call
July 18: Isotope Crossroads - Memphis
August 20-23:
Midwestern WIPP Road Show
October 16:
Tour of WIPP for Midwestern Officials; Roswell, NM
October 31-November 1:
MRMTC Fall 2018 Meeting (tentative); Madison, WI
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Join Our List
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COMMITTEE HAPPENINGS
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On June 5, the committee held a short but very productive Spring 2018 meeting. The members revised the committee's rules of organization to clarify the purpose of the committee, establish the positions of "Immediate Past Chair" and liaisons to CSG's Midwestern Legislative Conference, and change the start of the officer terms to January 1. In addition, the committee made appointments to various Midwestern work groups that will carry out the region's projects to be funded by the DOE cooperative agreements in FY19:
Regional Tribal Integration: This new work group will conduct outreach to Tribes in the region and seek opportunities to connect through training, exercises, or special outreach events. Committee co-chair Greg Gothard (Michigan) and Kaci Studer (Indiana) will serve on the work group, which has an opening for at least one more member.
Decommissioning Guidance: Following up on the panel discussion at the committee's Fall 2017 meeting, the members determined that states have a need for a succinct guidance document to help them prepare for the premature decommissioning of one or more nuclear plants. The focus of the guidance will be on the transportation of radioactive waste as part of the D&D process. Kelly Horn (Illinois), Steve Bertonaschi (Ohio), and a Nebraska representative will serve on the work group.
Outreach Work Group: This existing group will continue to work on the
2018
WIPP tour. In addition, the group will identify opportunities to coordinate with industry on shipments and shipment planning. The members will also seek to fill the void in up-to-date public information materials on the transportation of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste by producing new materials independently or with assistance from the NTSF Communications Ad Hoc Working Group. Nikki Weber of Nebraska joins Chris Boswell (Iowa), Kelly Horn, and Aaron Kallunki (Minnesota) as members of the work group.
Planning Guide
Work Group: In 2019, the Midwest will produce a new print edition of the
Planning Guide for Shipments of Radioactive Material through the Midwestern States. Volunteering to assist the staff with the review and revision of the
Planning Guide are Paul Schmidt (Wisconsin), Mike Snee, and Rodney Pitchford (Illinois).
In addition to these appointments, Kaci Studer will continue to serve on the NTSF Planning Committee. Mike Snee (Ohio) will take the place of Brian Folts (Nebraska) as the second Midwestern state representative on the committee.
The committee also decided to hold its Fall 2018 meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, on October 31-November 1, with November 28-29 as the backup dates. Meeting planning will begin later this month. Watch for action items from the Spring 2018 meeting to come out soon, followed by the meeting summary in July.
In other committee news, the committee welcomes back Jonathan York of the Kansas Division of Emergency Management. At the end of April, Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer, M.D., appointed Jonathan to represent the state on the committee. Appointments are still pending for Illinois and Missouri.
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NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION STAKEHOLDERS FORUM
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NTSF 2018 Recap
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Photo by Lisa Janairo
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The 2018 Annual Meeting of the NTSF took place on
June 4-7
in Omaha, Nebraska. More than 180 people attended, including 60 newcomers to the NTSF! The meeting was co-hosted by CSG Midwest and the Tribal Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee (TRMTC), which is staffed by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
The packed, four-day agenda included
a TRANSCOM User Group Meeting and training; meetings of the State Regional Groups (SRGs), TRMTC, and the NTSF
Ad Hoc Working Groups (AHWG); breakout sessions; and several plenary presentations, including a widely acclaimed presentation on the WIPP Transportation Safety Program (see article below). Meeting highlights include:
- The Communications AHWG will focus in the coming year on new products, including transportation fact sheets, as well as planning NTSF webinars and producing the quarterly NTSF newsletter.
- The Management Plan AHWG is reviewing and updating as necessary sections of the Management Plan. The Midwest is focusing on the meeting planning section of the document.
- Matt Feldman from Oak Ridge National Lab provided a presentation on DOE's Analysis of Spent Nuclear Fuel Transportation Needs. Even on the most accelerated timeline, it is expected to take a minimum of seven years from the time Congressional direction to implement a transportation program is received to when an initial shipment would take place.
- An interactive breakout session on Risk and Crisis Communication explored effective ways for delivering key messages to the public related to radiation risk and potential incidents and gave attendees a chance to practice crafting such messages.
- A panel of presenters discussed the Multiple Approaches to Support Safe Operations in a session on Transporting Radioactive Materials by Rail. The panel discussed the role of DOE, FRA, states, Tribes, and railroads in ensuring safe transportation of spent fuel.
- A tour of the shutdown Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station during which attendees received a presentation on activities taking place to put that site into SAFSTOR and viewed the plant's ISFSI, fabrication of the horizontal storage modules, the site's barge slip, and existing rail infrastructure.
- Another group toured Union Pacific's Harriman Dispatching Center to learn about how trains are controlled on the UP's system.
Next year's NTSF meeting will be held June 10-13, 2019, in Crystal City, Virginia, so mark your calendars! TRMTC will host the 2019 NTSF meeting.
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| FOCUS THIS MONTH |
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WIPP Transportation Program Highlighted at NTSF Annual Meeting
Ken Niles of the Oregon Department of Energy provided NTSF attendees with an overview of the WIPP Transportation Safety Program, which is widely viewed as a successful model for coordination between states, Tribes, and DOE for shipping radioactive material.
In an engaging presentation that included bingo, a pop quiz, and even baseball trivia, Ken educated the audience on development of the WIPP transportation protocols.
He described the major role the Western states have had in the WIPP transportation program, which has been operational for nearly 20 years. DOE declared WIPP "open for business" in 1991. However, the actual opening of WIPP was delayed due to litigation, permitting, and Congressional action, and the first shipment to the site did not occur until March of 1999. That first shipment was delayed due to weather, in accordance with the protocols that had been developed jointly by DOE and the Western states throughout the 1990s.
The WIPP Transportation protocols and procedures are laid out in the Program Implementation Guide (WIPP PIG). The protocols were tested on cesium shipments to the Hanford site and revised based on experience with those test shipments. The cesium shipments were also useful in helping to gauge public reaction to shipments of radioactive materials. News coverage at the time reported that "a truckload of deadly radioactive waste is about to speed down the interstate."
In developing the WIPP transportation protocols, the Western states strove for safe and uneventful transportation, recognizing that even if there is not a safety concern, any transportation incident will attract public attention. The WIPP PIG requires, for example, that trucks are kept off the road during inclement weather - even if the road is open - to avoid creating a negative public perception.
The focus of the WIPP transportation protocols is on accident prevention, but a robust emergency preparedness program has also been developed, recognizing that accidents can happen. Ken pointed out that driver training has been key in avoiding accidents and stated that the protocols take a "common sense" approach to using well-maintained trucks and trained drivers for these shipments. The common sense principles also apply to route selection, weather protocols, safe parking, and inspections.
While the WIPP transportation program is widely viewed as successful, some critics say that the program has added unnecessary costs. Ken pointed out that if a serious accident had occurred, shipments would have been shut down for a period of time, at significant cost. There is data to show that other trucks have had accidents that would have been avoided if those shipments had been adhering to the more stringent protocols on weather conditions contained in the WIPP PIG. Now all TRU waste shipments abide by the WIPP transportation protocols, even if the shipments are not officially covered by the PIG.
To date, WIPP has received 12,160 shipments that have traveled more than 14.5 million miles. There have been roughly a dozen minor crashes. The WIPP facility was temporarily shut down in February 2014 following a minor leak resulting from a drum that had been improperly packaged at a generator site. The WIPP site reopened in January 2017, but shipments will be constrained until a portion of the repository's ventilation system is replaced in 2020.
Ken's presentation was a crowd pleaser, warranting mention on several NTSF evaluatio
n forms. As one attendee wrote:
"I enjoyed the WIPP Transportation Safety Program presentation. It was engaging and relevant."
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NUCLEAR NEWS
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EPA Region 7 Plans 12 e-Manifest Workshops Across Four-State Region for Hazardous Waste Handlers, Managers, and Shippers
In advance of launching
the national electronic manifest system ("e-Manifest") for tracking hazardous waste shipments on June 30th, EPA region 7 has been conducting a series of workshops in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations.
Materials that are defined as hazardous wastes under state and federal regulations must be shipped using a hazardous waste manifest. The conversion to an electronic, rather than paper, manifest is expected to save 300,000 - 700,000 hours annually for industry and states. The single hub will provide users with timely and accurate information.
A dozen informational workshops are taking place between May
22
nd
and June 28th.
The workshops are being hosted jointly by EPA and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.
More information on the e-manifest workshops and webinars can be found
here
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NRC Issues Construction Permit for Northwest Medical Isotopes Facility
Northwest Medical Isotopes LLC recently received a construction permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build a molybdenum-99 production facility. The proposed facility will be located at the Discovery Ridge Research Park in Columbia, Mo. Molybdenum-99 is used to generate technicium-99m, which is utilized commonly in the U.S. for nuclear medicine procedures. NRC staff determined that the application, submitted in 2015, successfully satisfied safety and environmental review.
Two other molybdenum-99 production facilities, SHINE and Northstar, are being developed in Wisconsin.
Comings and Goings
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Photo by Chris Wells
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Dr. Anthony Hsia, Deputy Director of NRC's Division of Spent Fuel Management, has announced he will be retiring at the end of the month. Those who attended the NTSF meeting had a chance to wish Tony well on his retirement. Tony provided the group with an update on NRC's current activities.
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Thank you for reading. Watch for the next edition to come out on
July 5, 2018.
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Missed a newsletter? Past issues are
archived
on the committee's webpage.
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Please do not reproduce or create new content from this material without the prior express written permission of CSG Midwest.
This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy under Award Numbers DE-NE0008604, DE-EM0004869, and DE-EM0005168.
This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.
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