ML20005E841

Summary of 891201 Meeting W/Licensee in Rockville,Md Re Cushing & Cimarron Sites.List of Attendees,Agenda & Slides Used at Meeting Encl

ML20005E841
Person / Time
Site:	07000925, 07001193
Issue date:	12/28/1989
From:	Hurt R NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
To:	Sjoblom G NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS)
References
NUDOCS 9001110155
Download: ML20005E841 (32)

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Glen L. Sjoblom, Acting Chief Fuel Cycle Safety Branch Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety FROM:

R. Davis Hurt Advanced Fuel and Special Facilities Section Fuel Cycle Safety Branch Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety i

SUBJECT:

MEETING WITH KERR-MCGEE ON CUSHING AND.CIMARR0N On December 1, 1989 the NRC staff met with representatives of Kerr-McGee Corporation concernIng the Cushing, Oklahoma and Cimarron, Oklahoma sites.

The meeting was organized by the Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear t

Safety, but also attended by staff members from the Division of Low-Level Waste Management and Decommissioning, the Office of the General Counsel, Region III, and Oak Ridge Associated Universities, an NRC contractor. The attendees are listed on Enclosure 1.

I

1. Cushing The Cushing site is located about halfway between Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

The Kerr-McGee representatives made a presentation on the history and features of the site, and explained its present disposition. Uranium and thorium were chemically processed at Cushin edge of a large oil refinery (g between 1962 and 1966 in a building near the seeEnclosure2formaps).

In 1966 the nuclear processing building and its immediate surroundings were decontaminated in accordance i

with practices of the time, with mildly radioactive wastes being buried in trenches on the Cushing property and higher activity wastes being sent to the Cimarron site for burial.

The Atomic Energy Commission surveyed the processing site, found it to be adequately decontaminated, and terminated the Cushing licenses.

In 1972 Kerr-McGee decided to close the oil refinery within which the now-decomunissioned nuclear processing building was situated, and in that connection did some additional surveys for radioactivity. Based on these surveys, some additional soil was removed from around the processing building and dumped into a large sludge pit (known as Pit 4) on another part of the refinery site.

Some of the radioactive wastes buried in trenches at Cushing in 1966 were disinterred in 1972 and also placed in Pit 4.

Between 1979 and 1982 Kerr-McGee carried out additional decontamination activities at the site, further cleaning up the processing building, and digging up some more contaminated soil and previously buried trash. As before, the mildly contaminated materials were

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-2 reburied elsewhere at Cushing, and the more highly radioactive materials were packaged and sent off the site, in this case to commercial low-level waste burial grounds.

The Kerr-McGee staff has recently done a new radiation survey at Cushing, and a team of our contractors from Oak Ridge Associated Universities has made a scoping survey for the NRC.

site at this point is in Pit 4.It appears that most of the radioactivity on the more will probably have to be done.Kerr-McGee has done some surveying and sampling; Kerr-McGee is already dealing with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Oklahoma on disposition of the entire Cushing refinery site, and the sludge pits seem to be the major topic of concern.

We agreed to meet again in the fairly near future to talk about Pit 4, and maybe learn more about the activities and interests of the other parties.

With regard to the building and its surroundings Kerr-McGee has identified some soil contamination in excess of Branch Technical Pos Option 1 levels and has found some small areas of contamination in the building.

building area contamination below current release standards.Kerr-Mc We told the Kerr-McGee staff that we will do a confirmatory survey once they think the 1

building area is clean.

2. Cimarron Plutonium Facility The second subject discussed was the Cimarron Plutonium Facility, located just north of Oklahoma City.

l the building and hopes to terminate the license soon.Kerr-McGee has nearly fini i

i Our contractors from Dak Ridge Associated Universities agreed that the building cleanup is going well.

Some uncertainty remains concerning the identity of alpha emitters in the Plutonium Facility yard.

If this turns out to be plutonium, it will have to removed before termination of the license; if it turns out to be uranium as the Kerr-McGee staff suspects, the yard could be transferred to the Uranium Facility license and dealt with as part of that larger issue.

We confirmed that Kerr-McGee does not need to request a license renewal since the new decommissioning rule makes a renewal unnecessary for licensees whose sole activity is decommissioning.

Their license for the Plutonium Facility bears an expiration date of December 31, 1989.

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DEC 2 81989 Glen L. Sjbolom

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3. Cimarron Uranium Facility The Kerr-McGee representatives briefly reviewed the situation at the Cimarron Uranium Facility and their proposal for dealing with the large quantity of contaminated soil they believe is present. We expressed the opinion that the gamma survey data upon which the contamination estimates are based are not meaningful, i.e., the gamma count rates measured do not show an identifiable correlation with uranium concentrations in the soil.

After considerable discussion, this opinion was accepted by all parties present.

We suggested that the true extent of uranium contamination could be determined by a core sampling program, and encouraged Kerr-McGee to pursue this approach on a. test scale.

We offered to meet again with Kerr-McGee representatives in the near future to discuss progress in core sampling, or to consider whatever other method of estimating the extent of contamination Kerr-McGee might devise.

In the meantime, we will review the hydrology portion of Kerr-McGee's application for license amendment.

OrighihlSlped hi R. Davis Hurt Advanced Fuel and Special Facilities Section Fuel Cycle Safety Branch Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety :

List of Meeting Attendees :

Handout Prepared by Kerr-McGee Distribution:

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>70-712, 40 1478 NRC File Center @ JSwift NM55 R/F IMSB R/F IMAF R/F RDHurt FBrown Beveridge/ Cornell 1-23 GFrance RIII JBerger, ORAU GComfort DSollenberger, LLWM JStarmer, LLWM JParrott, LLWM EShum, LLWM RBangart, LLWM JSurmeier, LLWM FRoss, LLWM DSreniawski, RIII

~RBernero RCunningham (DH/MTG WITH KERRMCGEE)

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MEETING WITH KERR-MCGEE DECEMBER 1, 1989 ROCKVILLE, MD ATTENDEES AFFILIATION Glen Sjoblom NRC/NMSS Don Sreniawski NRC/RIII Dennis So11enberger NRC/NMSS Davis Hurt NRC/NMSS Edward Shum NRC/NMSS Jack Parrot NRC/NMSS Gary comfort NRC/NMSS R. John Starmer NRC/NMSS John Surmeier NRC/NMSS Richard Bangart NRC/NMSS Robert Fonner NRC/0GC Jim Berger ORAU Laurie Friedman ORAU Scott Munson Kerr-McGee l

Edwin T. Still Kerr-McGee John Stauter Kerr-McGee Wayne Norwood Cimarron Corp.

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AGENDA l

CIMARRON AND CUSHING BRIEFING 1

KERR-McGEE CORPORATION 1 DECEMBFR 1989 i

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1 9:00 A.M.

Introduction of Attendees I

9:15 A.M.

Cushing Status

- J.C. Stauter (Lead)

Operational History l

Licenses / Termination Post - Closure Activities

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Current Situation i

r 10:00 A.M.

Cimarron Matters - J.C. Stauter (Lead)

Plutonium Facility Uranium Facility Disposal Application Review L

Soil Involved Status of Soil Cleanup Basis for Classifying Soil Screening Technique Basis for Final Disposition Confirming Technique Decisions Timing Critical Approval as requested / in-situ 4 relocation p

Agreement on Adequacy of Sorting Procedure License Termination Milestones 3:00 P.M.

Adjourn 0078s

SOURCE MATERIAL LICENSE

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License No. SMB-664 Docket No. 40 5 A78 License lasued

- 11/07/62 Terminated 07/25/66 i

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• Authorized possession of normal and depleted uranium and natural thorium in unlimited quantitles i

and in a variety of chemical forms Uranium rece!ved as UF6 or mill concentrates e

e Thorium received as concentrates e Typical products were oxide or carbide metals of -

uranium and thorium at various ratios 1

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SPECIAL NUCLEAR M ATE RI AL i

i License No. SNM-695 Docket No.70-712 a

License lasued - 04/23/63 Terminated 07/25/66 ~

e Authorized possession of enriched uranium of any l

enrichment up to a maximum quantity of 1,000 kg i

of uranium l

Uranium received as UF6 other chemical compounds, or unirradiated scrap fuel elements Operation converted uranium received to other

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e compounds suitable for nuclear fuels (eg. UO2, UO3, j

uranium carbide, uranium sulfate, uranium

nitrate, uranium tetrofluoride and U3OS)

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TERMINATION OF LICENSES l

• 06/09/66 Licensee requests termination of both source and specloi nuclear licenses e 06/10/66 Contamination limits sent' to licensee

• 07/06/66 "Close out" survey conducted

• 07/25/66 Licensee notified that the licenses are terminated t

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CLEANUP OPERATIONS (1966) e Processing site was decontaminated e Decommissioning waste shipped to Cimarron Facility Lower concentration waste buried in several trenches e

on the Cushing property e Kerr McGee surveyed the processing site for radioactivity and found that the release criteria had been met

• AEC surveyed the processing site, found the levels to be acceptable and terminated both licenses o

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CLEANUP OPERATIONS (1972)

Property surveyed for radioactivity in conjunction e

with the closing of the oil refinery Removed soll in the area where thorium process wash e

water had been discharged and placed into pit 4 e Removed soll around the edge of the blending pad at the location of -the thorium processing building and placed into Pit 4 Five cubic feet of radioactive trash from the "Old-e Globe Property Dump" was removed and placed into Pit 4 Covered material placed into Pit 4 with about. four e

feet of clean topsoll O

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CLEANUP OPERATIONS (1979-82)

Additional decontamination performed at the following sites:

l Harris Property

• Processing building and dock 1

• Access Road Creek bank and concrete channel drainage ditch Kerr McGee Property Refinery junk dump site, northwest area of tank form acreage Lower triangle, south of Atchison Topeka and i

Santa Fe railroad track

• Northeast area of tank farm acreage l

i Soll and waste with exposure rates exceeding 50 uR/hr l"

was drummed and sent to the Cimarron Facility with ultimate disposal at licensed LLW disposal sites in Beatty, Nevada and Barnwell, South Carolina a

• Soil with exposure rates between 30 and 50 uR/hr was buried at the Cushing property

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M' M t #1 Nt #2 Mt #3 Mt #4 Restralisation (og RON/g) 15-35 11-432 25-37 749 Sulfate (ag/Kg) 1008-11116 346-293.640 52-1014 2710-439.520 Chloride (ogMg) 2-27 16-350 100-2751.11-244 Fluoride (agM g) 3-7 3-31 9 45 4-249

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HARRIS &-MARTIN PROPERTIES

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I PAD SAMPLE & MEASUREMENT LOCATIONS

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oiTCN Samples Colleeted / Wesurements on II/02/89 4,j

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100 nCi/g): 9035 ft3 - LSA Waste (< 1 OO nCi/g): 15,713 ft3 - Pu Removed: 9213 g Survey Documentation. (45 Books) NRC Verification Survey Completed During -OCT 1989 License Expiration (December 31,.1989) Issue: License Termination re Expiration Date .= l . 3- .r. OPTION 2 BTP REQUEST KEY EVENTS CIMARRON FACILITY i NOV 1985 Met with NRC. at Region - ill Office JUM 1987 Met with NRC and ORAU at~ Cimarron Facility 1 JUL 1987 Met with NRC at Region lli Office .t SEP 1987 Written Option 2 Request Submitted. to NRC DEC 1987 l NRC Questions Concerning SEP 1987 Submittol i i MAR 1988 Response to DEC 1987 Questions from ~ NRC JUN 1988 Additional information Provided to :NRC ] AUG 1988 Meeting with ORAU, OSDH and NRC at Cimarron Facility AUG 1988 Survey of Old Burial Ground and Pu Plant by ORAU OCT 1988 Letter of Understanding Written Between ~ NRC/ State j FEB 1989 NRC/ State of Oklahoma. Questions APR 1989 Meeting with NRC/ State Representatives in - Oklahoma City OCT 1989 Response to FEB 1989 Questions' from NRC/ State r ,.,-n e + ' ~'

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y POTENTIALLY CONTAMINATED AREAS-CIMARRON' FACILITY U-Plant Yard Area Sanitary Lagoon Area Pipeline Areas-to Ponds / River Old Evaporation Pond Areas Old Burial Ground Area Pu-Plant Yard Area

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, ;_'w ~ ~ STATUS OF SANITARY LAGOON ' AREA 2 i Lagoon Sediments Removed During 1986 & 87 i Some Soil / Sediment Requiring Removal Remains-Must Remove Water Prior to Completion Final Release Bosad'on Soil Sampling j i Soil Volume Removed to Date - Commercial Disposal Site:. 1613 yd3 7 o - Onsite Storage:- 370 yd3 q Samples of Remaining material were all < Option 2 Levels ~ i (Maximum U-total Activity was 40 pCi/g) l .i i k k- , e f. STATUS 'OF PIPELINE AREAS-Decontamination Completed in 1985 Final Release Based on' Soil Sampling Soil Volume Removed - Commercial Disposal Site: 425 yd3 - Onsite Storage: ~555 yd3

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e q STATUS OF OLD EVAPORATION POND. AREAS d i i Decontaminated and Backfilled in 1978 i 4 NRC Letter. Dated July 10, 1978, -authorized the " return of these areas to normal topography.and i usage." -iq Letter from ; Oklahoma State Department of Health j dated March 2,1978, released pond areas for unrestricted use t l l I I 6 .p I STATUS OF OLD BURIAL AREA Waste and Soil Removal from Trench Areas Completed during 1986-- 88 1 l Verification Survey and Sampling By ORAU Completed dunng August 1988 Awaiting Authorization from NRC to Backfill Trenches Soil Volume Removed i R - Commercial Disposal Site: 2400 yd3 l - Onsite Storage: 590 yd3 'I g GAMMA LOGGING .1 Purpose -6 - Screening Tool to identify Suspect Areas Volume and Location information ( - Best Available information - With Aid of Computer-Model Provided Basis for Estimation of Volume and Location Calibration 1 Relationship of Sample Analysis / Logging Results i i n _ q y x EXCAVATION SURVEY PROCEDURE l i Use gommo logging results to identify creas requiring J excavation. Excavate and/or sample material from susp.ect areas. t As excavation is in progress, will use gamma logging' probe technique to sort material. Samples from piles of sorted material analyzed by gamma spec. analysis at Cimarron Facility. i Evoluote analysis results and determine soil disposition. l

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ip-g l 2,3 y '..: 01; '. i FINAL RELEASE SURVEY PROCEDURE -t Divide Areas into Grid Pottern Select Statistically.Significant Number of. Sampling Locations from Each Areo y Use o Random Selection' Process to Select Specific I Sampling Locations l Collect Somptes Using Standard Soil' Sampling Techniques Analyze Samples Using Cimarron Facility Gommo Spec. Analysis System (Located in Emergency Building) t i Evoluote Results Comparison to Criteria - QA/QC Sample Analysis by Radiochemical Techniques Documentation of Results by Areo = g ~ > 4: m; ;g,.. n l', _ ,y KEY DECISIONS ~ l

1. Timing

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2. Application Approval

3. Agreement on - Adequacy of Sorting Procedure

4. License Termination Milestones I

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