Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Interim Report
Committee on Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board
Division on Earth and Life Studies
A Consensus Study Report of
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
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This activity was supported by Contract No. DE-EP0000026/DE-DT0013548 between the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration and the National Academy of Sciences. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-48500-5
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-48500-2
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/25272
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Disposal of Surplus Plutonium at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/25272.
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COMMITTEE ON DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS PLUTONIUM AT THE WASTE ISOLATION PILOT PLANT
ROBERT C. DYNES (Chair), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
LISA M. BENDIXEN, ICF, Fairfax, Virginia
MICHAEL S. BRONZINI, George Mason University (emeritus), Mount Juliet, Tennessee
GEORGE E. DIALS, Pajarito Scientific Corporation (retired), Santa Fe, New Mexico1
LEONARD W. GRAY, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (retired), Brentwood, California
MICHAEL R. GREENBERG, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
DAVID W. JOHNSON, JR., Journal of the American Ceramic Society (retired), Bell Laboratories (retired), Bedminster, New Jersey
ANNIE B. KERSTING, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California
M. DAVID MALONEY, Jacobs Engineering Group (emeritus), Denver, Colorado
S. ANDREW ORRELL, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria
WILLIAM C. OSTENDORFF, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland
TAMMY C. OTTMER, Colorado State Patrol, Golden
CECIL V. PARKS, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
MATTHEW K. SILVA, Environmental Evaluation Group (retired), Albuquerque, New Mexico
Staff
JENNIFER HEIMBERG, Senior Program Officer
RICHARD ROWBERG, Senior Advisor
TONI GREENLEAF, Administrative and Financial Associate
DARLENE GROS, Senior Program Assistant
KEVIN D. CROWLEY, Technical Editor
REBECCA MORGAN, Senior Librarian
___________________
1 Resigned from the committee on September 20, 2018.
NUCLEAR AND RADIATION STUDIES BOARD
GEORGE APOSTOLAKIS (Chair), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (emeritus), Los Angeles, California
JAMES A. BRINK (Vice Chair), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
STEVEN M. BECKER, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia
AMY BERRINGTON DE GONZÁLEZ, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland
DAVID J. BRENNER, Columbia University, New York, New York
MARGARET S.Y. CHU, M.S. Chu & Associates, LLC, New York, New York
TISSA H. ILLANGASEKARE, Colorado School of Mines, Golden
CAROL M. JANTZEN, Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina
NANCY JO NICHOLAS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico
HENRY D. ROYAL, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
DANIEL O. STRAM, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
WILLIAM H. TOBEY, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
SERGEY V. YUDINTSEV, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Staff
CHARLES D. FERGUSON, Director
JENNIFER HEIMBERG, Senior Program Officer
OURANIA KOSTI, Senior Program Officer
TONI GREENLEAF, Administrative and Financial Associate
LAURA D. LLANOS, Administrative and Financial Associate
DARLENE GROS, Senior Program Assistant
Acknowledgments
A number of people and organizations contributed to the successful completion of this report. The committee wishes to thank the study sponsor, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), for supporting this project, and especially the following staff: William Kilmartin, Lyndsey Adams, Sachiko McAlhany, Virginia Kay, and Peter Hanlon. The committee also extends its thanks to Betsy Forinash, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, and Todd Shrader, DOE’s Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO).
The committee also thanks the presenters and speakers who gave high-quality presentations during the public meetings as listed in Appendix B. In particular, the committee is thankful for the assistance provided for site visits and tours by the following individuals: Richard V. Lee, Jr., State of South Carolina Governor’s Nuclear Advisory Council, for hosting a public session at the South Carolina State House in Columbia; Thomas Canty, Savannah River Site (SRS), for planning and coordinating the committee’s site visit and tours at SRS, South Carolina; William Goodrum, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), for planning and coordinating the committee’s visit and tour at LANL, New Mexico; and Todd Shrader, CBFO manager, and George Basabilvazo, CBFO chief scientist, for planning and organizaing the committee’s visit and tour at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and the public session in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
In addition, the committee is grateful for submitted public comments, which were useful in helping the committee better understand the public’s concerns and views.
The committee is grateful for the outstanding assistance provided by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine staff in preparing the report especially Toni Greenleaf, financial associate, for her assistance; Darlene Gros, senior program assistant, for logistical planning for all of the committee’s meetings and project administration; Richard Rowberg, senior advisor, for his guidance and his participation in the classified meetings and tour; Kevin Crowley, technical editor, for his work negotiating and designing the study with DOE and for editing an early version of the interim report; and Jenny Heimberg, study director, for managing the study.
The chair is especially thankful for the opportunity to lead this distinguished committee. He would like to thank the members of the committee for their dedication, willingness to teach and to learn, and for their time and energy.
Reviewer Acknowledgments
This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Mark D. Abkowitz, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
Lake H. Barrett, independent consultant, Venice, Florida
Craig H. Benson, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
Matthew G. Bunn, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Rodney C. Ewing, Stanford University, Stanford, California
Christine M. Gelles, Longenecker and Associates, Las Vegas, Nevada
Lindsay A. Lovejoy, Jr., attorney, Santa Fe, New Mexico
William H. Tobey, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Carloyn Huntoon, Consultant, Retired U.S. Government, and Chris Whipple, ENVIRON (Retired). They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.
Contents
2 DISPOSITION OF SURPLUS PLUTONIUM BY THE UNITED STATES
2.1 Conceptual Plans for Dilute and Dispose
2.2 Current Status of DOE-NNSA Dilute and Dispose Planning Effort
3 COMMITTEE ASSESSMENT OF DOE-NNSA’S CONCEPTUAL PLANS FOR DILUTE AND DISPOSE PROCESS
3.1 Availability of WIPP for Disposal of 34 MT of Diluted Plutonium
3.2 Unclear Strategy for Development of the NEPA Environmental Impact Statement
3.3 Dilute and Dispose Is Not an Approved Method for Eliminating Surplus Plutonium in the PMDA
3.4 Assessment of Conceptual Plans and Public Outreach
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