INTERIM WASTE STORE OPERATING LICENCE ......nuclear expertise and home to Australia’s OPAL nuclear reactor which produces the life-saving nuclear medicines one in two Australians

For Official Use Only


Interim Waste Store Facility Operating Licence Application

Document IWS-O-LA-SUM

INTERIM WASTE STORE

OPERATING LICENCE

SUMMARY OF THE APPLICATION

(rev1)

Prepared By

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation

October 2014


Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation Interim Waste Store- Operating Licence Application Summary

IWS-O-LA-SUM page 3 of 11


CONTENTS 1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE .......................................................................................................... 4

2 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................... 4

3 PROJECT SUMMARY .............................................................................................................. 5

4 FACILITY DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................................... 6

5 SAFETY-RELATED ISSUES .................................................................................................. 10

5.1 Radiological hazards ................................................................................................... 10

5.2 Industrial hazards ......................................................................................................... 10

6 OTHER INFORMATION ......................................................................................................... 10

7 STATUS OF APPROVALS ..................................................................................................... 10

8 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................... 10





1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE This document provides a summary of the Operating Licence Application submitted to the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) for the Interim Waste Store (IWS). This document is prepared in accordance with the guidance provided in the ARPANSA regulatory guide for radioactive waste storage and disposal [1] and also accordance with the ARPANS Act and Regulation [2, 3].

2 BACKGROUND Nuclear medicine: the benefits and by-products

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is custodian of Australia’s nuclear expertise and home to Australia’s OPAL nuclear reactor which produces the life-saving nuclear medicines one in two Australians will need in their life time. ANSTO’s scientists also use nuclear techniques in everything from climate change research to discovering how to manufacture food using starches that can fight bowel cancer.

For more than 50 years, almost all of Australia’s nuclear medicine has been produced at ANSTO with 550,000 doses of medicine a year, which is distributed to more than 250 hospitals and medical centres across the country.

Some of the nuclear medicines that benefit Australians today were developed thanks to the now retired nuclear research reactor, HIFAR. Between 1958 and 2007, HIFAR produced millions of doses of nuclear medicine that benefited a generation of Australians.

Since 2007 the OPAL research reactor has been used to produce nuclear medicine. Molybdenum-99 is a potentially lifesaving medicine that has benefited thousands of Australians. It is used for the diagnosis of heart disease and cancers; and applications include for bone oncology, neurology, kidney and gastrointestinal tract disorders.

Along with the significant benefits of nuclear medicine and research comes Australia’s responsibility to safely deal with our radioactive waste. Radioactive waste is a by-product of operating a nuclear facility such as a reactor.

Australia’s used reactor fuel must be reprocessed overseas then stored in Australia

Australia sent the fuel assemblies used to drive the HIFAR research reactor to France and the United Kingdom to be reprocessed. These countries developed significant expertise in reprocessing used nuclear fuel due to their large nuclear power programs. The ARPANS Act [2] specifically prohibits reprocessing of spent or used nuclear fuel in Australia so the used fuel had to be sent overseas for reprocessing. The reprocessing operation renders the returning waste suitable for storage in the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility (NRWMF).

Under agreements the Australian Government signed in the 1990’s, Australia is obligated to ensure Australia’s intermediate level waste in France is removed from France by December 2015. It is internationally accepted that countries are responsible for managing any radioactive waste that they produce. There is no possibility under French law for deferring the shipment.

ANSTO: An interim storage solution

It is unlikely that the NRWMF will be ready by the time the French waste returns to Australia. ANSTO is therefore applying for a licence to site and construct a store which can hold radioactive waste from the reprocessing of used HIFAR fuel used HIFAR fuel generated over several decades of nuclear medicine production and scientific research. Throughout this licence application, we have referred to this as the ‘Interim Waste Store’. Waste will only be held in this store on an interim basis until the NRWMF is constructed, ANSTO expects this to be finished by the end of this decade.

International best practise dictates that a national facility is the most appropriate solution for the long term storage of radioactive waste. While ANSTO can safely manage the by-products of nuclear medicine production in the interim, it remains ANSTO’s position that waste should be sent to a national facility for long term storage.





What is the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility?

International best practice for the long–term storage of radioactive waste is for each country to manage its own waste in a centralised national facility. Such a facility would allow for the permanent and safe storage of waste that is currently stored at over 100 sites across Australia including hospitals and medical practices, research facilities, universities and sites associated with the minerals sector.

ANSTO is encouraged that there is now a legislative framework in place to allow for the establishment of such a facility. In April, 2012 the Australian Government passed the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill [8] to pave the way for a purpose-built national storage facility.

3 PROJECT SUMMARY Intermediate level waste

The IWS is a purpose-built facility to temporarily store waste arising from the reprocessing of used HIFAR fuel generated over many years of nuclear medicine production, irradiation of industrial silicon for the semi-conductor industry and from neutron generation for research.

This waste is considered ‘intermediate level waste’. Radioactive waste can be classified as low level, intermediate level or high level. Low level waste includes the discarded gloves and clothing worn during the manufacture of nuclear medicines. It gives off only a small amount of radioactivity which decays quickly over time and only requires minimal shielding. Intermediate level waste includes equipment from retired reactors and generally emits higher levels of radiation than low level waste which is easily controlled with additional shielding during handling, transport and storage. Intermediate level waste needs to be held in long-term storage to allow the radiation to decay.

About the waste returning from France

The volume of waste returning from France is less than one third of the size of a regular shipping container. The waste will be immobilised in glass in small stainless steel canisters (i.e., CSD-U) which are shielded inside a single specially designed forged steel transport and storage container with walls more than 20cm thick. The container has been purposely built for the transport and storage of radioactive materials and at no time will the waste be removed from the container.

The robust nature of the transport and storage container encasing the waste will mean that workers and the public are completely protected from exposure to radiation therefore; the Interim Waste Store will not require any additional or specialised safety features.

In addition to the waste immobilised in glass, ANSTO will also receive six small drums of waste (i.e., CBF-C2) comprising items such as gloves, protective clothing and pump parts. These items were used in France during the main reprocessing of the HIFAR fuel elements and will be encapsulated in cement.

About the waste returning from the United Kingdom

Australian nuclear fuel has also been reprocessed in the United Kingdom and ultimately this waste must be returned to Australia for long-term storage. ANSTO’s preferred position is that waste returning from the United Kingdom is sent directly to the NRWMF. Intergovernmental agreements between Australia and the United Kingdom make it clear that a national facility is where this waste should go. However, if the national facility is not ready, ANSTO could store this waste in the proposed Interim Waste Store on an interim basis.

Given waste being reprocessed in the United Kingdom is not expected to return to Australia until after 2017, the exact inventory, volume of the waste and also the timing when it could return to Australia is unknown to ANSTO.

This document is submitted to ARPANSA as part of the IWS Operating Licence Application which seeks authorisation to store the intermediate level solid wastes arising from French reprocessing of used HIFAR fuel (return in 2015) only. However, for the waste arising from the reprocessing of HIFAR used fuels in the UK, ANSTO will seek regulatory approval from ARPANSA later in the decade when the detailed information about the UK waste inventory and its timing of return are known to ANSTO.





4 FACILITY DESCRIPTION Operating the Interim Waste Store

The IWS is located between the existing buildings 64 and 19, just to the north of building 61 (See Figure 2). The IWS is a single storey building and is constructed for the purpose of interim storage of the intermediate level wastes arising from the reprocessing of used HIFAR fuel in France. The building has a floor area of approximately 845 m2 with a height of approximately 21 m. It has shutter doors for the entry and exit of the ILW consignments. The facility is located in the Radioactive Waste Precinct (Figure 1) and is in line with ANSTO’s Infrastructure Planning requirements - 2055 Site Master Plan.

A large crane meeting Australian Standards AS1418 was installed in the Interim Waste Store. The crane is required for the initial unloading of the French intermediate level waste confined in the transport storage container and its final reloading to the transport cradle for transportation to the interim waste store. It will also be required for loading and unloading operations of wastes to the NRWMF anticipated to be operational by the end of this decade.

The building slab is robust and sufficient to withstand the floor loading of the transport storage container and the transport truck, cradle and trailer.

The Interim Waste Store was designed and constructed to comply with the Building Code of Australia (BCA), relevant Australian Standards and other International safety standards.

A comprehensive risk assessment for the Interim Waste Store has been undertaken to ensure the absolute safety of the facility.

ANSTO has adopted robust safety requirements and guidelines complying with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) safety requirements for a site evaluation for a nuclear installation (IAEA NS-R-3).

ANSTO is committed to protecting the environment and this is demonstrated through its certification to the international environmental management system standard, ISO 14001.

The IWS was designed and constructed in accordance with the international standards required for buildings containing nuclear materials and radioactivity. The waste items that will be stored in the IWS are listed below. A layout the store is provided in Figure 3.

(a) One TN 81 Transport/Storage Container loaded with maximum of 28 CSD-U waste residues; and

(b) Six drums of technological cemented waste (i.e., CBF-C2), loaded inside an ISO container.

A further description of these waste are provided in the IWS Safety Analysis Report [4].

The Intermediate Level Waste will be transported to the NRWMF for long-term interim storage, once that facility has been sited, constructed, commissioned and licensed.

After the Intermediate Level Waste is transported to the NRWMF, preliminary planning will be undertaken to assess the viability of using the IWS for other purposes but this will be the subject of a separate licence application or modification at that point in time.



Document: IWS-O-LA-SUM page 7 of 11


Figure 1 IWS Facility





Figure 2 IWS Location





Figure 3 IWS Floor layout


Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation ANM Mo99 Construction Licence Preliminary Safety Analysis Report



5 SAFETY-RELATED ISSUES As the waste items are stored inside shielded packages of robust design and manufacture (i.e. TN 81 transport/storage container and cemented drums), there were no major safety issues during the operation of the facility as discussed in the Safety Analysis Report (SAR) [4].

5.1 Radiological hazards

The IWS facility is an interim radioactive waste storage facility with an activity that is greater than the activity level prescribed by the ARPANS Act and Regulations [2, 3] and therefore, the facility is a ‘Nuclear Installation’ according to the Act. The safety assessment of the facility included a comprehensive analysis of the hazardous radiological scenarios and these are:

The safety assessment of the facility included a comprehensive analysis of the hazardous radiological scenarios all were assessed as ‘low risk’ or ‘very low risk’.

5.2 Industrial hazards

The safety assessment also included various industrial hazards associated with operation of the facility and these are:

Crane load drop;

Ventilation failure;

Electrical hazards;

Working at Heights;

Manual handling; and

Slips, trips and falls.

The risks of the above listed scenarios were assessed as ‘low’ or very low’ except for the electrical, manual handling and working at heights risk which are considered ‘as low as reasonably practicable’ (ALARP) since good safety practices are followed in ANSTO against these hazards.

6 OTHER INFORMATION As requested by the CEO of ARPANSA [7], the operating licence application included the following information:

(a) Radionuclide inventory of the waste items returning from France; (b) Contingency planning of the wastes to be stored in the IWS; and (c) Summary Safety Case of the IWS.

7 STATUS OF APPROVALS ARPANSA granted licences for Siting and Constructing the facility in November 2013 [5, 6]. ANSTO is now seeking an authorisation to operate the facility.

8 CONCLUSIONS The facility will be operated using a set of approved operating procedures which are prepared based on the instruction manuals provided by AREVA [9, 10, 11]. All the safety-related items, (e.g., radiation monitor, fire detectors, interlid-lid gas pressure monitoring system, security devices, ventilation system etc.) installed in the facility will be tested according to the commissioning plan [12]. This Safety Analysis Report [4] shows that the design and construction of this facility and its intended operations are such that it can be operated and maintained safely and does not pose any undue risk to the workers, public and to the environment.


Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation ANM Mo99 Construction Licence Preliminary Safety Analysis Report



9 REFERENCES 1. Regulatory Guide: Licensing of Radioactive Waste Storage and Near-surface Disposal

Facilities, OS-LA-SUP-240L V2, ARPANSA

2. Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (ARPANS) Act 1998

3. Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (ARPANS) Regulations 1999

4. Safety Analysis Report of the Returned Waste Store, IWS-O-LA-SAR.

5. ARPANSA, Facility Licence to Site the Interim Waste Store, Licence No. F-0277, November 2014.

6. ARPANSA, Facility Licence to Construct the Interim Waste Store, Licence No. F-0279, November 2014

7. ARPANSA, Statement of Reasons for issuance of Facility Licence F0277 and F0279, Ref R13/05519 and R13/06576, dated 29 November 2013.

8. National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012.

9. .Interim Waste Store, Arrangements for Operating the Facility, IWS-O-LA-DOP, July 2014.

10. AREVA TNI, TN 81 Instruction Manual, Item 9, (CSD-V, CSD-U, CSD-B, CSD-B + CSD-V), Specification for Interim Storage, Document No. EXP-13-00096013-009-E Rev- 01, May 2014.

11. AREVA TNI, TN 81 Instruction Manual, Item 4, (CSD-V, CSD-U, CSD-B, CSD-B + CSD-V), Specification for Interim Storage, Document No. EXP-13-00096013-009-E Rev- 01, May 2014.

12. Interim Waste Store, Arrangements for Commissioning of the Facility, IWS-O-LA-COM, July 2014.

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INTERIM WASTE STORE OPERATING LICENCE ......nuclear expertise and home to Australia’s OPAL nuclear reactor which produces the life-saving nuclear medicines one in two Australians