Environmental Defense Institute

Troy, Idaho 83871-0220

 

 

August 8, 2003

 

Kwai Chan

Assistant Inspector General

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Inspector General

EPA West Building 2460T

1301 Constitution Av. NW

Washington DC 20004

 

Sent via Certified US Mail

                                                                                   

Dear Sir,

 

            We are concerned that your office has not responded to our Petition, originally filed to your office August 8, 2000, together with supplemental Petition submittals related to the Department of Energy and the State of Idaho’s failure to comply with relevant environmental statutes and regulations at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL).  We have submitted extensive documentation which validates the assertions we made in the August 8, 2000 Inspector General Complaint as well as the Petition discussing Idaho’s failure to competently regulate numerous aspects of DOE’s INEEL operations. 

            We are additionally concerned that EPA Region 10 issued a public notice, dated 7/9/03, of EPA’s preliminary approval of the final authorization to the State of Idaho to revise its hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). [1]  This action appears to ignore the ongoing EPA Inspector General’s (EPA/IG) investigation into our allegations of Idaho’s mismanagement of its RCRA program.  In our view, EPA Region 10 is obligated to delay Idaho’s permanent RCRA authorization until the EPA/IG issues it findings.

            We think that if there is to be any validity to the EPA/IG process and meaningfulness to public involvement in RCRA that your office should wrap up the “investigation” which has now been pending these three years.  Otherwise, we see this process as just a bureaucratic sham to sandbag the public and allow continuation of the collusive conduct between EPA, DOE and Idaho DEQ to run INEEL in a manner which violates the spirit and intent of RCRA, NWPA, CAA, CWA, and other relevant federal environmental laws.

            Our concerns are amplified by the State of Idaho’s apparent intent to proceed with INEEL high-level waste tank closure  (see Attachment C, letter from C. Stephen Allred dated 7/29/03). These state actions are specifically in violation of the recent US District Court ruling in NRDC v. Abraham (CV-01-0413-S-BLW) and the NWPA.  Moreover, Idaho’s closure plan is in violation of RCRA since DOE/ID has no RCRA Part B Permit. 

            It appears to us that Idaho allows the DOE high-level waste tanks to operate under consent orders on a supposed interim status without calling for Part B permits for the tanks.  Then Idaho uses the fact that there are no Part B permits for the tanks to claim that RCRA clean closure is not needed for the tanks!  This would seem to be a circumvention of RCRA that thwarts the statutory purpose of RCRA to regulate hazardous/radioactive waste in comprehensive manner.

            The DOE tank closure plan approved by the state has numerous fundamental flaws. For example, DOE documentation only offers “estimates” on the radionuclide content of the tank waste. [2]  If DOE is allowed to proceed with this tank closure plan, for these two tanks alone, not to mention the other nine high-level waste tanks awaiting closure, some 130,186 curies of radioactive waste will remain in a compromised grout that will eventually end up in the Snake River Aquifer over time. See Attachment A below for details on this allegation. Additionally, Allred’s letter (Attachment B)  notes on page 2:

            “The Draft post closure permit for the WCF [Waste Calcine Facility] was issued for public comment because the facility was not ‘clean-closed’ [emphasis added]. Closure activities for the WCF were completed in 1999 in accordance with an approved closure plan. The Draft closure permit [emphasis added] requires DOE to conduct long-term ground water monitoring and itself does not authorize any further closure activities because [sic] the closure activities. The tanks at WCF, were grouted in place as a matter of RCRA closure in 1999. The WCF itself was encased in a concrete monolith in that same year. There are no ongoing closure activities at WCF.”

 

            Allred’s disclosure on the WCF closure of tanks and other ancillary equipment is one of the crucial issues that we previously expressed concern to the EPA/IG (see Attachment B) because the tanks contain high-level waste sediments and as the District Court ruled, must be disposed of in compliance with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA). It is clear that the state approved closure of the WCF is in apparent violation of the NWPA as well as RCRA.

            Over the last three years, Petitioners have also formally brought to the attention of the EPA/IG and the State of Idaho the fact that the INEEL/INTEC Liquid Waste Management System (ILWMS) treatment units (incinerators and evaporators) have operated for decades without RCRA or Clean Air Act Title V permits. Currently no RCRA Part B Applications or Title V permits have been approved, yet these plants continue to operate today.  Given that these units process high-level radioactive and hazardous waste, and release considerable toxic emissions, we find the misuse of interim status on a permanent basis to be legally unjustifiable and contrary to RCRA.

            In summary, Petitioners respectfully request that the EPA/IG issue its investigative findings on INEEL and to also include recommendation for a stay in the issuance of final RCRA authorization authority to the State of Idaho until findings are issued.

 

Sincerely,

 

___________________

Chuck Broscious, Executive Director

Environmental Defense Institute

PO Box 220 Troy, ID 83871

208-835-5407

edinst@tds.net

 

 

___________________________________

Tom Patricelli,  President of Board of Directors

Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free

P.O. Box 4757  Jackson, WY 83001

307-732-2040

 

 

_____________________                                                     

David B. McCoy

2940 Redbarn Lane

Idaho Falls, ID 83404

208-542-1449

                                                                                               

 

CC:

C. Stephen Allred, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (via email)

Geoffrey Fettus, Natural Resources Defense Council (via email)

Michael Owen, EPA/IG Seattle (via email)

L. John Iani, Administrator EPA Region 10, (via email to Jeff Hunt)

                                                                                   

Attachments:

Attachment A: Radioactive Content of Waste Tanks

            Attachment B: Listing of Petitioners Submittals to Regulators

Attachment C: Letter from C. Stephen Allred (IDEQ) dated 7/29/03 (only in original but available on request from EDI or IDEQ)            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attachment A

 

            DOE acknowledges in its  Sampling and Analysis Plan for the Post-Decontamination Characterization of the WM-182 and WM-183 Tank Residuals, August 2002, INEEL/EXT-01-00666, page 2 to the following:

 

           

            As a point of reference, radioactive waste in the above tanks of 130,186 curies represents about fifteen (15) orders of magnitude over the EPA drinking water standards.

            DOE and State of Idaho reliance on DOE Order 435.1  [3] and DOE imposition of this now illegal order (based on US District Court ruling cited above) on the Tank Closure Plan and the INEEL High-level Waste Environmental Impact Statement [4], challenges the very basis of the INEEL high-level waste tank closure plan and NEPA documentation. Toxic hazardous waste constituents like mercury in the tanks (1.78E+05 ug/L) are some four orders of magnitude over MCL’s. When DOE acknowledges that the initial waste in the tanks contained between 5 and 40 Ci/gal [5]  it is a reasonable assertion that the DOE’s “estimates” on tank waste may be understated.

            Grouting of radioactive waste as a permanent solution to isolating the waste from the environment has been throughly discredited. DOE’s failed grouting projects at Hanford and the Savannah River Site are well documented. Yet DOE persists by offering up bogus graphics in its INEEL tank closure plan showing grout totally encapsulating the tank [6]

 

 

 

 

Attachment B

 

            Listing of document submittals to Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Inspector General, Region 10, and/or Idaho Department of Environmental Quality related to DOE management of nuclear and hazardous waste at INEEL. Copies of the submittals below are available on EDI’s website: http://www.environmental-defense-insitute.org   Or      http://personalpages.tds.net/~edinst

                                   

 

EDI Request to Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for Revocation of INEEL High-level Waste Tank RCRA Closure Permit (7/11/03)

INEEL Test Area North Revised Cleanup Plan Comments (5/1/03)

Snake River Plain Aquifer at Risk from INEEL Pollution, (6/12/03)

EDI Comments on Proposed Argonne National Laboratory Variance on Reprocessing at INEEL, (3/18/03)

Comments by David McCoy on Proposed ANL-W Variance on Reprocessing at INEEL (3/18/03)

Supplemental Information to EPA Petition (2/28/03) on INEEL Title V Clean Air Act Permit, (3/12/03)

Petition to EPA to Reopen INEEL Title V Clean Air Act Permit (2/28/03)

Comments on INEEL Resource Conservation Recovery Act Permit (NOD) and Idaho Environmental Quality Review of INEEL Liquid Waste Processing Operations, 2/3/03

Supplemental Information to Petition to EPA Office of Enforcement related to Clean Air Act Violations at INEEL, 1/30/03

Hazardous Waste Code Discrepancies; letter to EPA Inspector General, EPA Office of Enforcement, and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (12/27/02)

Petition to Reopen Public Participation Due to Failure to Meet RCRA Requirements for Addition of the High-Level Liquid Waste Evaporator at INEEL (10/23/02)

Federal Court Amicus Curiae Brief Filed by EDI in U.S.A. vs. Kempthorne Case Related to Litigation between the DOE and the State of Idaho over INEEL Buried Transuranic Waste (8/26/02)

Federal Court Amicus Curiae Brief Filed in Support of Natural Resources Defense Council Suit Against DOE over Nuclear Waste Policy Act Violations related to High-Level Waste (8/2/02)

 

Notice of Intent to Sue DOE, EPA, and Idaho over Operation of High-level Radioactive and Hazardous Waste Processing Operations at the INEEL (7/9/02)                       

EDI Request to EPA Inspector General to Review State of Idaho Hazardous Waste Enforcement Authority (7/8/02)

EDI Petition to Idaho to Reopen Public Comment on High-Level Tank Closure Plan 5/28/02

EDI Request to Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for Investigation of INEEL High-Level Waste Tank Farm Closure Plan, (4/18/02)

EDI Rebuttal to EPA Region 10 March 7, 2002 Response to the Petition to EPA to Commence Proceedings for Withdrawal of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality as the RCRA Authority for the State of Idaho (4/2/02)

High-Level Waste Environmental Impact Petition (2/22/02)

McCoy Appellant Brief in INEEL Debris Processing Hazardous Waste Permit (1/11/02)

EDI Amicus Brief in INEEL Debris Processing Hazardous Waste Permit (1/16/02)

EDI Rebuttal to Idaho Reply to EDI Petition to Withdraw State of Idaho's Hazardous Waste Enforcement Authority (11/16/01)

Petition to EPA to withdraw State of Idaho's Hazardous Waste Enforcement Authority (1/29/02)

Petition to EPA on Clean Air Act (MACT) Violations (7/24/01)

Notice of Intent to Sue DOE, EPA, and IDEQ Process Equipment Waste Evaporator (6/14/01)

ICPP (INTEC) Groundwater Contamination at INEEL

Locating the INEEL CERCLA Disposal Facility (4/5/01)

Petition for Declaratory Ruling on INEEL Calciner Closure (9/19/00)

Secrets, Lies, and Operation Bluenose Radiation Releases (10/00)

Notice of Intent to Sue on Calciner Operation (4/11/00)         

Issues Presented to USEPA Inspector General on INEEL Violations of Environmental Law (2/5/01)

Clean Air Act Violations at INEEL(1/17/01)

Process Equipment Waste Evaporator Resource Conservation Recovery Act Permit Comment (12/22/00)

Estimating Radiation Emissions (Source Terms) at INEEL

Request to Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General to investigate INEEL hazardous waste permits (8/8/00)

Comments on Environmental Remediation at INEEL: Idaho Chemical Processing Plant and the Radioactive Waste Management Complex

Review of INEEL's proposed Environmental Restoration at Argonne-West (ANL)

Review of INEEL's proposed Environmental Restoration at the Naval Reactors Facility (NRF)

Comments on Department of Energy INEEL Idaho Chemical Processing Plant Proposed Cleanup Plan

Comments on Revised Proposed Plan Test Area North (TAN) (12/98)

Comments on the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (4/21/99)

INEEL High-Level Waste Disposition: Letter to Regulators (8/14/98)

Beryllium at INEEL (5/14/03)