State Agency Program Reports to the Texas Radiation Advisory ...

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weather events occur. In response to license conditions requiring management of surface water(limiting infiltration), WCS has committed to renovating site drainage ditches.Uranium Mining: Two name change amendments have recently been completed: COGEMAMining, Inc., R03024, was changed to Uranium One USA, Inc., R03024 on March 4, 2010; andEverest Exploration, Inc., R03626, was changed to South Texas Mining Venture, L.L.P.(STMV), R03626, on July 14, 2010. There was one recent license termination: Everest Resources,R06046, July 14, 2010. There are three pending new uranium license applications currentlyunder review: RGR Hobson Project; Uranium Energy Corp (UEC) Goliad Project; and theSignal Equities Brevard Project. A contested case hearing on injection well permits for in situmining for the UEC Goliad project took place during May 2010. In September 2010, a proposalfor decision was issued by the Administrative Law Judge for the case. A TCEQ decision is stillpending.The Signal Equities Brevard Project received an Underground Injection Control (UIC) permitfrom TCEQ for in situ uranium mining on August 5, 2010. Applications for TCEQ radioactivematerials license, authorization of Production Area 1, and for permitting Class I waste disposalwells for this site are pending. TCEQ is also reviewing the well completion report from the recentconstruction of a permitted Class I waste disposal well for the STMV Palangana Project toenable the start up of mining operations and associated wastewater management at that site.TCEQ staff members have performed confirmatory surveys as part of the process to release areasfor unrestricted use at STMV’s Tex-1 and Mt. Lucas sub sites. Uranium One has made goodprogress with reclamation activities, and TCEQ confirmatory surveys are on schedule. TheTCEQ-designated project manager for IEC reclamation is making progress in preparing for reclamationactivities through contract(s) on the abandoned site. Work is moving ahead on closurefor all three legacy Title II uranium impoundment sites: the ACL application from RGR is ongoing;ConocoPhillips is repairing subsidence in its cap; and ExxonMobil has acquired adjacentproperty so that it can complete characterization of groundwater and surface impacts. TCEQ hasaccepted UT-BEG’s recent contract document “Geological and Geographical Attributes of theSouth Texas Uranium Province,” which will be used as a reference document for future uraniumlicense application reviews. TCEQ has been working on making available a radiation safety officerscourse for in situ mining uranium facilities that will satisfy the four-week, specialized trainingrequirement in the regulations for early 2011.Waste Processing and Storage: Two licenses, WCS and NSSI, are currently under renewal.WCS response to the first Notice of Deficiency (NOD) for the renewal of license R04971 wasreceived on August 27, 2010, and is being reviewed. NSSI's response to the first NOD for therenewal of the license R01811 was received on September 10, 2010, and is being reviewed.There are pending WCS amendment requests to allow receipt and storage of depleted uraniumwaste from the Savannah River Site and to further extend the term of storage of mixed wastefrom the EPA Safety Light Federal Superfund Site. The storage beyond licensing terms ofStudsvik waste was subject of a July 2010 TCEQ notice of violation and is being addressed by acompliance agreement with the TCEQ Office of Compliance and Enforcement.
Buried Waste: TCEQ continues to work to close the historical buried radioactive waste sitesthat exist under TCEQ jurisdiction in Texas.The reclamation of the Federated Metals State Superfund Site in Houston is nearing completion.TCEQ Radioactive Materials Division staff completed review of remediation activities performedby EnergySolutions for the release of the 14.7-acre southern impacted area at the FederatedMetals Site. TCEQ completed a Decommissioning Confirmation Report for the FederatedMetals State Superfund Site that verifies completion of the regulatory requirements for thesouthern portion of the site listed under Title 30, Texas Administrative Code (30 TAC) Chapter336, Decommissioning Standards. The Radiological Closure Work Plan for the Production Areaof the Federated Metals State Superfund Site, prepared by EnergySolutions, LLC, February2010, lists twelve areas requiring additional remediation for the northern portion of the site.The Iso-tex disposal area is currently being decommissioned. Groundwater contains tritium contamination.Hydrogeological characterization (i.e., nearby wells, well logs, geology, and hydrology)of the site was completed by consultant Bruce Darling in May 2010 and includes informationon groundwater at the site based on an investigation of the well logs from nearby private waterwells. TCEQ staff is awaiting submission of the decommissioning plan that incorporates thisinformation.The work plan for the Pearland-Manvel site investigation has been submitted and reviewed. Thesite investigation and assessment has been completed. As part of the site investigation, sixgroundwater monitoring wells were installed along the perimeter. Sample results from the wellsindicated americium-241 (Am-241) at 19 pCi/L in one monitoring well and chlorobenzene aboveresidential levels in another well. In addition, the consultant performed a complete site surveyand identified six areas with radiological contamination. The TCEQ requested that four additionalwells be installed outside the property line in the right-of-way to determine if any offsitemigration had occurred. TCEQ staff is currently reviewing the consultant response to commentson QA/QC issues related to sample results of the samples taken from the four additional monitoringwells.On November 4, 1958, a fire onboard a B-47 taking off from Dyess AFB caused a crash southwestof the Dyess AFB flight line. The plane carried a full load of fuel and one nuclear weapon,which caused an explosion on impact of the fuel and conventional high explosives (HE) in thenuclear weapon. The site was remediated at the time of the accident. Recently, the private crashsite has been the focus of further remediation. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) preparedtwo study documents, which provided results from a recent site investigation. TCEQ hasreviewed the reports and provided comments to which the USACE has responded. The TCEQ isnow in the process of reviewing the USACE’s response.Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs): TCEQ’s work with the Railroad Commission ofTexas (RRC) to amend the MOU between the two agencies is complete. The amended MOU wasadopted by the RRC Commissioners’ vote on August 10, 1010, and adopted by reference inTCEQ rules by the TCEQ Commissioners on September 29, 2010.
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