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Inside NRC
(c) 2005 McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Monday, February 7, 2005
Volume 27, Number 3
INTERNATIONAL REGULATION
NRC Denies 1993 Petition To Change Wastewater Release Requirements
Tom Harrison, Washington
After more than a decade of research, NRC has denied a petition asking the
agency to require licensees to provide at least 24 hours' notice to a sewage
treatment plant before releasing radioactive material into a sewer system. NRC
said the change was unnecessary because existing regulations are adequate.
The petition was filed Aug. 2, 1993 by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer
District, which said one of its three wastewater treatment centers had been
contaminated from releases of radioactive material containing cobalt-60 into its
sanitary sewer system. It estimated the resulting characterization and
remediation would cost more than $1-million at least.
NRC commissioners approved Dec. 20, 2004 the staff's Nov. 30, 2004
recommendation to deny the petition. A notice of the denial was published in the
Jan. 27, 2005 Federal Register.
In its recommendation to the commissioners (Secy 04-226), NRC staff said the
process took so long because it wanted to collect sufficient data nationally to
make a determination about whether NRC regulations were sufficient to protect
public health and safety.
Data collection
In May 1991, NRC changed the release criteria and reduced concentration limits
for release of licensed material into sanitary sewer systems (10 CFR 20.2003) as
part of a major revision to its Part 20 regulations. Licensees were allowed to
defer implementation until Jan. 1, 1993. The district's contamination was found
in April 1991, prior to the revised concentration limits being fully
implemented. In its petition, the district said radioactive contamination had
also occurred at treatment plants in New York, Michigan, Tennessee,
Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.
Under the revised regulations, the concentration limits for radionuclides
released into a sanitary sewer system were reduced by a factor of 10 as part of
an overall reduction in effluent release limits, NRC said. The reduction was due
to past contamination incidents involving Co-60 and americium-241. NRC said the
revised concentration limits were an effort to reduce the public's exposure to
radionuclides released into the sanitary sewer system.
Also, NRC recommended that licensees should set as low as reasonably achievable
(Alara) goals for effluents at 10%-20% of their allowable limits. NRC said it
conducts periodic inspections to ensure licensees are in compliance with
regulations.
In October 1993, NRC began soliciting public comments on the district's
petition. NRC said the district's petition did not include supplementary
information or supporting data. The agency said it wanted to gain a nationwide
perspective on the potential issue of licensed material being concentrated in
sewer sludge.
In February 1994, NRC published an advanced notice of public rulemaking to
solicit comments on whether its regulations needed to be amended regarding
releases of radionuclides from NRC licensed facilities into sanitary sewer
systems, based on current sewer treatment technologies.
In May 1994, the General Accounting Office (now called the Government
Accountability Office), or GAO, issued a report on contamination being found in
sewage sludge or ash or in wastewater collection systems. In June 1994, a joint
House-Senate hearing was held, prompted by concerns associated with elevated
levels of radioactivity in incinerator ash at the Cleveland treatment plant
referred to in the district's petition.
At the hearing, EPA and NRC committed to jointly develop guidance for publicly
owned treatment works (POTWs) and to collect more data on the concentration of
radioactive materials in samples of sewage sludge and ash from POTWs nationwide.
Between 1994 and 1997, federal, state and industry studies were conducted to
assess reconcentration of radioactive materials that are released in sanitary
sewer systems. An NRC report in December 1994 found that radioactive materials
were reconcentrated as a result of wastewater treatment. However, it said the
extent of the condition was difficult to determine because the degree of
reconcentration was radionuclide-specific and was influenced by the wastewater
treatment processes used. The report said data were not sufficient to assess the
adequacy of the revised regulations in preventing occurrences of radionuclide
concentrations in sewage sludge at levels that presented an undue risk to the
public. It also said available data were not sufficient to suggest strategies
for changing the regulations.
In 1996, the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies surveyed 55
wastewater treatment plants in 17 states and found that the most significant
sources of radioactivity were naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM).
In 1997, the Washington State Department of Health issued a report that
concluded that doses from radionuclides in sewage sludge are extremely low
compared to background or to generally accepted regulatory dose limits. It also
said there is no indication that radioactive sludge poses a public health and
safety risk.
However, the scope of such studies was limited, so an extensive, nationwide
survey was needed to confirm their findings on a wider scale, NRC staff said.
In 1996, the Interagency Steering Committee of Radiation Standards (ISCORS)
formed the Sewage Sludge Subcommittee to coordinate efforts concerning
radioactive materials in sewage sludge and address the recommendations in the
1994 GAO report.
NRC co-chaired the subcommittee with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
A representative from the Ohio sewer district was a member, also. Between 1998
and 2000, the subcommittee conducted a survey of POTW sewage sludge and ash to
help assess the potential need for NRC and/or EPA regulatory decisions, NRC
staff said.
ISCORS issued a final report in November 2003 on radiological survey results and
analysis of radioactivity in sewer sludge. ISCORS is finalizing two related
reports, on modeling to assess radiation doses recommendations on management of
radioactive materials in sewer sludge and ash at POTWs.
The ISCORS reports concluded that no excessive concentrations of radioactive
material were observed in the sewage sludge or ash and that no widespread
concern to public health and safety was identified, the staff said. Based on
those findings, the staff recommended the commission deny the petition.
Changes rejected
NRC staff said the rationale that public health and safety would be enhanced by
the advance notification was not supported. Both the ISCORS survey report and
dose modeling report have shown that doses from radionuclides in sewage sludge
are generally low compared to background and to generally accepted regulatory
dose limits, the staff said.
Nationally, the most significant levels of radioactivity in POTWs are associated
with NORM, rather than licensed material, it said.
"A regulatory burden that would impact thousands of licensees with no apparent
benefit regarding public health and safety should not be imposed because of
isolated occurrences of radioactive material detected at sewage treatment
plants," the staff said.
The staff also said the requested change would not be "effective, efficient or
realistic." It cited several public comments that advance notification would be
impractical, if not impossible, because most releases are continuous and involve
very small quantities of radioactive material.
The NRC also denied the district's request to remove a requirement for NRC
approval prior to incineration of licensed radioactive materials that enter the
sanitary sewer system.
A change is not needed, NRC said. It cited studies, surveys and modeling efforts
that indicate releases of radioactive material from licensed materials in
accordance with regulations generally do not reconstitute in sewage sludge in
sufficient concentrations to pose a risk to public health and safety.