closure project manager - Document Request - U.S. Department of ...

Bearing walls and intermediate concrete columns are the structural framing in
Building 99 1. All exterior concrete walls are bearing walls. They are reinforced concrete that
vary from 12 inches thick to 18 inches thick on the north side of the building, which is set
against a hill. The radiography vaults in the northeast corner of the building have 3 foot thick
reinforced concrete walls. The maintenance shop addition has eight inch thick concrete block
bearing walls. The building walls vary in height from 14 feet on the south to 27 feet in the
center to 18 feet on the north side (Ref. 5). The covered dock and shop at the east end of the
building have reinforced concrete grade walls, 6 feet 5 inches high by eight inches thick, which
rest on footings.
The Fire Hazards Analysis (FHA) has identified one fire wall that needs to be maintained
for the facility. This fire wall includes fire doors in the north-south corridor of the main floor,
between Room 134 and Room 170, and between Room 140/141 and Room 170. Fire doors are
installed in the north-south corridor of the main floor to separate the office area from the storage
area (Room 134). These fire doors meet a 1-1/2 hour fire rating and were installed in
accordance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 80, Fire Doors and Fire Windows
(Ref. 6). The other walls inside Building 991 are of substantial structure, concrete and cinder
block, whereby they would act as fue barriers. The walls have not been so designated for the
facility due to the low combustible loading in the building.
There are two reinforced concrete retaining walls. One runs approximately 50 feet west
from the northwest comer of the building until it connects with the second retaining wall. The
second retaining wall runs 172 feet south fiom the southwest corner of the entrance to the tunnel
leading to the storage vaults. The wall varies in height from 10 feet 6 inches to 9 feet 4 inches
(Ref. 5).
The utility tunnel basement is approximately H-shaped, just like the main floor corridors
above it (see Figure 2-4). The north leg is 156 feet long, the south leg is about 204 feet long,
and the north-south cross leg is over 78 feet long. The north leg is 11 feet 6 inches wide, the
south leg is 9 feet 6 inches wide, and the north-south leg is 8 feet wide. The tunnel height is
9 feet (Ref. 5). The floor of the basement (utility tunnel) under Building 991 is 1 foot above
creek elevation at the southwest corner of the building. The utility tunnel has a complete subdrain
system that flows into a 6-foot deep sump. The sump is drained by two 60-gallon per
minute (gpm) sump pumps that discharge into the storm drain system (Ref. 5).
An evaluation of the floor loading capacity was requested by building personnel to
ascertain the limits on the storage of radioactive waste in Building 991 potential storage areas
(Le., Rooms 134, 140/141, 143, 150, 151, 155 and the northern east-west running hallway).
This evaluation was considered necessary due to a suspicion by Kaiser-Hill Sebty and others
that there were secret rooms built in the basement. A review of the structural drawings by
Rocky Mountain Remediation Services (RMRS) engineering indicates that the ground floor of
the building (main floor) is a six-inch slab on grade, except that the halls are a six-inch slab that
spans over the basement tunnels. An x-ray instrument was then used to investigate the
possibility of rooms behind the concrete walls of the basement tunnels. The investigation
determined there was air space behind the basement walls in a few areas of the basement tunnels.
Revision 1
Scptemhcr 1999
Building 991 Complex FSAR
-