INL CAB October 27, 2016

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site Environmental Management (EM) Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) held its quarterly meeting on Wednesday, February 17, 2016, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Idaho Falls, Idaho. An audio recording of the meeting was created and may be reviewed by calling CAB Support Staff at 208-557-7886.


Public Comment 

Robert Leyse, Sun Valley, commented that in the June 2016 meeting minutes McBride asked if DOE regrets having waited to begin pilot testing at Hazen Laboratories until the Inspector General suggested it. Leyse noted that he addressed the CAB a year ago, and provided a series of links that are available in the October 2015 meeting minutes.

Those links show the following: In a report dated September 11, 2006, a review commissioned by DOE-ID and chaired by David S. Cosin, PhD, reported several findings including Finding One of their report: “Documentation, data reduction and analysis are incomplete for the pilot scale testing carried out to date at Hazen Laboratories. Consequently, thorough analysis of these data has not been completed; insufficient attention to these aspects of pilot testing has been the cause of other DOE program failures.” Leyse commented that IWTU can be added to those failures. Ten years ago, Hazen reporting was deficient. Leyse asked why DOE is resuming work at Hazen today. The third link reveals that on January 24, 2007, the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board (DNFSB) had no objections to proceeding with construction of IWTU. The first link shows that during 2014, DNFSB did not authorize operation of IWTU with radioactive feed, “A lack of assurance that the facility can safely proceed with nuclear operations…” Leyse commented that it is surprising that DNFSB did not approve nuclear operations as they should never have approved construction of the facility to begin with. 

Following is the Leyse list of references that Leyse provided at the CAB meeting in Sun valley, Idaho, on October 29, 015

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site Environmental Management (EM) Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) held its quarterly meeting on Thursday, October 29, 2015, at the Sun Valley Inn in Sun Valley, Idaho. An audio recording of the meeting was created and may be reviewed by calling CAB Support Staff at 208-557-0843

Letter provided by Mr. Robert Leyse during the Public Comment Period:

LEYSE STATEMENT DISCLOSING DNFSB EVALUATIONS OF IWTU 
Hello, I am Robert Leyse of Sun Valley, Idaho and I want the public to know that I have found the following via GOOGLE. I am including the links so that others may check my findings. 

Link 1: 
http://www.dnfsb.gov/sites/default/files/Board%20Activities/Reports/Staff%20Issue%20Reports/I daho%20National%20Laboratory/2014/sir_2014523_24466_37.pdf 

DNFSB investigated the status of the IWTU and reported its findings to DOE May 23, 2014. It reported “…a lack of assurance that the facility can safely proceed with nuclear operations.” “Therefore, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2286b(d), the Board requests a report and briefing within 30 days, on DOE's evaluation of the need for additional independent assessment at the completion of IWTU startup testing and prior to the introduction of radioactive waste feed.”

Link 2: 
http://www.dnfsb.gov/sites/default/files/Board%20Activities/Letters/2014/ltr_2014620_24626.pdf 

This is the 30 day reply letter from DOE to DNFSB and it reports agreement that “…IWTU will benefit from an additional independent assessment…” 

Link 3: 
http://thortt.azurewebsites.net/docs/DNFSB%20Letter.pdf 

This documents a DNSFB review, January 24, 2007. “The Board has no significant safety issues with the project at this time (Critical Decision 2/3B). The final design, however, is progressing and there remain a number of items the Board believes must be addressed before the approval of final design and construction of the project.” … “The Board commends DOE for considering a potential future mission in this facility. Further, DOE convened an expert panel early in preliminary design to confirm that the design of the facility could accommodate this mission. The Board is encouraged by the project’s commitment to address this panel’s recommendations.” 

Link 4: 
http://www.cresp.org/crespII/CRESPII_Report/E_attachment/INLreview_complete_9_11_06.pdf 

This is the report of the expert panel that is praised in 4. The report lists 17 findings and associated recommendations. Here is the first of 17: “Finding 1. Documentation, data reduction and analysis are incomplete for the pilot-scale studies carried out to date at Hazen Laboratories. … Insufficient attention to these aspects of pilot-testing has been a cause of other DOE program failures.” ”Recommendation 1. Thorough documentation, data reduction and analysis of the results from pilot scale testing carried out to date should be completed as soon as possible and to the extent practical before initiating the planned next stage of pilot-scale testing.” LEYSE 

CLOSING STATEMENT Others may download the above links and also search for other links regarding the IWTU. You may easilyaccess the above links via GOOGLE at leyse nuclear power blog dnfsb.