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Re: Surveillance of Buried Radioactive Waste



  Please keep us informed as to the goings on with this one.  We are digging
  up disposal sites on air bases and sending them to Washington/Utah/South 
  Carolina for reburial.  (we'll dig up those sites in 30 or 40 years. :))
  Luke McCormick c0etxlim@mrd42.mrd.usace.army.mil
============================================================================== 
> 
> Radsafers:
> 
> Have any of you had to deal with NRC over buried radioactive waste issues?
> Montana State University was licensed in the past to bury LLRW in an
> abandoned gold mine (ha, you thought I was going to tell you where!). That
> last disposal took place in the mid-eighties, and the mine was back-filled
> and sealed in 1989 by the State Lands Commission.  It is now surrounded by a
> ten foot fence and labeled as containing RAM.  There is a ventilation tube
> protruding from the concrete slab sealing the mine.  The mine sealing was
> performed per the specifications of the State's Abandoned Mines Program.
> 
> All this was done on the "up-and-up", with full NRC approval.  NRC actually
> drafted a lengthy report regarding the issue, concluding positively to seal
> the mine.  Presently, however, as part of MSU's Decommissioning Funding
> Plan, NRC wants to know (among other things) how we propose to address "long
> term surveillance."
> 
> Is there a precedent in the established "Rules and Regulations" that
> addresses this particular scenario?
> 
> The mine itself is situated in "natural rock".  It is dry throughout the
> year (i.e., no percolating water), and is five hundred feet above the
> existing water table.  The shaft itself is one hundred feet below the ground
> surface at its extreme end (it's a horizontal shaft bored into the side of a
> large hill).
> 
> NRC first approached me on this last year during a pre license renewal
> visit.  The license reviewer intimated "strong concern" over the future
> disposition of the mine.  You can probably imagine my feelings in response
> to this.  Pandora's Gold Mine!
> 
> I did not put anything into the license application promulgating site
> surveillance.  Nothing in the our new license (Type A) mentions the mine, or
> any custodial requirements.
> 
> I am not in the mood to make a commitment that has neither legal precedent
> (from my vantage point) or environmental merit.
> 
> Why would NRC present this issue without tying in (or illustrating) what
> their fundamental concerns are?
> 
> Any thoughts, comments, EXPERIENCES, etc., would be appreciated.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> -Erick Lindstrom
> 
>  Erick Lindstrom
>  Radiation Safety Officer
>  309 Montana Hall
>  Montana State University
>  Bozeman, MT  59717-0244
>  Phone: (406) 994-2108
>  Fax:	(406) 994-4792
>  avrel@gemini.oscs.montana.edu
>