U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

1

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• Radiation Safety Program Update
• Mr. Rich Wright
• HQUSACE
• Ms. Julie Peterson
• HTRW-CX

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Agenda

• USACE Radiation Safety Program Overview
• Specific Environmental Programs/Projects
• USACE Radiation Safety Support Team
• Questions

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USACE Radiation Safety Program

• Radiation Support and Oversight
• Regulations/Guidance
• NRC License/Army Radiation Authorization Program
• Enviromental (Radioactive Waste) Cleanup Program
• Radiation Safety Support Team

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USACE Radiation Safety Program

• Radiation Support and Oversight
• Radiation Protection Staff Officer
• Radiation Safety Support Team and Coordinator
• Health Physicists
• Radiation Safety Officers (MSC/District)

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USACE Radiation Safety Program

• Regulations/Guidance
• ER 385-1-80, Ionizing Radiation Safety (97)
• http//www.usace.army.mil/inet/usace-docs/eng-regs
  /er385-1-80/toc.htm
• EM 385-1-80, Radiation Prot. Manual (97)
• http//www.usace.army.mil/inet/usace-docs/eng-manu
  als/em385-1-80/toc.htm
• ER 385-1-92,Safety and Occupational Health
  Requirements for HTRW Activities (Sep 00)
• http//www.usace.army.mil/inet/usace-docs/eng-reg
  s/er385-1-92/toc.htm

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USACE Radiation Safety Program

• Regulations/Guidance (cont.)
• EM 385-1-1, Safety and Health Requirements (96)
• http//www.usace.army.mil/inet/usace-docs/eng-manu
  als/em385-1-1/toc.htm
• EM 1110-35-1Management Guidelines for Low-Level
  Radioactive Waste (LLRW) and Mixed Waste (MW)
  Site Remediation (96)
• http//www.usace.army.mil/inet/usace-docs/eng-manu
  als/em1110-35-1/toc.htm

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USACE Radiation Safety Program

• Regulations/Guidance (cont.)
• AR 200-1, Environmental Protection and
  Enhancement
• Chapter 9, Radon Reduction Program
• DA Pam 200-1
• Chapter 9, Radon Reduction Program
• TI 810-91, Indoor Radon Prevention and Mitigation

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USACE Radiation Safety Program

• NRC License/Army Radiation Authorization (ARA)
  Program
• Currently 13 NRC licenses, 9 ARAs
• USACE/USACHPPM Audit Program
• Annual, announced, centrally funded
• Follow NRC/CHPPM protocol
• Disposal/finding of sources - Contact Rich /Julie

9
USACE Environmental(Radioactive Waste)Cleanup
Program

• Environmental program approximately 1.2 billion
  annually
• DERP / FUDS
• BRAC
• EPA - Superfund

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USACE Environmental(Radioactive Waste) Cleanup
Program

• FUSRAP (Formally Utilized Sites Remedial Action
  Program)
• Work for Others (WFO) NASA, DOE, FAA, etc.
• Army Deactivated Reactor Program
• (AR 50-7)

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FUSRAP

• Established in 1974 by Congress
• Manhattan project era sites
• Congress assigned FUSRAP to Corps in FY98
• 140M annual program
• 21M CY of low activity radioactive waste to be
  disposed off-site
• Primary contaminants uranium, radium, and
  thorium

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FURSRAP Site Distribution
Originally 46 Sites in 14 States. Remaining 19
Sites to Clean
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FUSRAP Workload
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DuPont Site - FUSRAP

• Active DuPont facility in Deepwater, NJ
• Former uranium processing plant
• Structural surface contamination
• Disposed 600 tons of steel at RCRA facility per
  NUREG1640 method
• Cost savings 400K

15
Wayne Site - FUSRAP

• 40,000 CYof contaminated soil removed to date.
• Th-232 gt9,000 pCi/g
• Maximum annual TEDE 300 mrem.
• Public exposures less than 10 mrem/yr.
• Disposed over 6 million gallons of contaminated
  water to date.
• (photo after hurricane)

16
Maywood Site - FUSRAP

• Treatment by soil screening, sorting and gravel
  rinsing to be evaluated
• Pilot Scale in progress
• If successful, will be used to treat over
  250,000 CYof Th-232 contaminated soil
• Clean soil from treatment to be used as backfill

Phase 1 excavation of contamination from under
homes. Homes supported by concrete columns
poured as excavation progresses.
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Colonie Site - FUSRAP

• Depleted Uranium primary contaminant
• 11 acre site, approximately 40,000 CY of
  contaminated soil
• Lead contamination present
• Treating onsite, stabilizing lead
• NRC concurrence as an unimportant quantity of
  source material as described in 10 CFR 40.13

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Navajo Site- Superfund

• Uranium mine reclamation
• USACE team effort with USEPA, Navajo EPA, DOE,
  and others
• First Phase is helicopter gamma logging, water
  testing, and home exposure surveys
• Homes found with inside exposure rates gt1mrem/hr
• Possible future work concerning disposal

Old Pit Mine and Dump
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Welsbach Site- Superfund

• Camden, NJ mantle processing
• Two industrial areas operated early 1900s, 1000
  vicinity properties
• Th-232 and daughter products range from 10-1000
  pCi/g
• Possibly 1000s of CY of soil to be disposed
  off-site

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Ft. Greely (SM-1A) - BRAC

• Contaminated soils (Cs-137, Sr-90) existed along
  1.5 mile discharge pipeline
• Removal initiated in 1997 completed in Fall 1999
• 1700 CY of waste removed, packaged, and staged
• Decision regarding final disposition of waste
  currently pending

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Ft. Greeley (SM-1A) - BRAC
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Ft. Greeley (SM-1A) - BRAC
23
St. Albans VA Hospital - FUDS

• Queens NY, former Navy hospital
• Sr-90 contamination in subbasement and 3
  laboratories
• Relatively small amount of waste (lt50CY)
• Currently getting decommissioning plan approved
  by NRC

24
NASA Plum Brook Reactor Facility - SFO

• Sandusky OH, includes 60 mW research test
  reactor, 100 kW mock-up reactor, both NRC
  licensed
• USACE team of 4 Districts and HTRW-CX developed
  decommissioning plan
• Pursuing remediation work based on Dplan

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Army Deactivated Reactor Program
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Army Deactivated Reactor Program

• SM-1 (Ft. Belvoir), SM-1A (Ft. Greely), and MH-1A
  (Sturgis) deactivated reactors (AR 50-7)
• Environmental Division, Military Programs
  (CEMP-RI) has program responsibility
• HTRW-CX developed the reactor management plan

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USACE Radiation Safety Support Team

• Command-wide health physics support
• Currently 10 Health Physicists
• Geographically attached to a District/Center,
  but accessible Corps-wide
• Team lead located at the HTRW-CX

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USACE Radiation Safety Support Team

• Radium dial compass with USACE markings
• Assistance requested by State of Michigan
• Source retrieved by Buffalo District Health
  Physcist

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Questions

• Richard Wright Julie Peterson
• HQUSACE USA Engineer District, Omaha
• ATTN CESO-I HTRW-CX
• 441 G. St., NW ATTN CENWO-HX-H
• Washington, DC 20314-1000 12565 West Center Road
• 202-761-8565 Omaha, NE 68144-3869
• richard.l.wright_at_usace.army.mil 402-697-2592
• julie.a.peterson_at_nwd02.usace.army.mil