Welcome to the CSG Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee Update. Below are links and summaries of several important happenings from the last few weeks. Please don't hesitate to contact Lisa (920/458-5910) or Sarah (630/925-1922) with any questions or concerns about any of these issues.

DOE Gets the WIPP Show on the Road

On August 20, State of Illinois personnel came to Argonne National Laboratories to view and learn about the RH-72B transportation cask, remote-handled transuranic waste (RH), and the truck that will haul them. The cask was empty, but in the near future Argonne employees will fill it with RH waste and it will head to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico for final disposition. RH shipments from Argonne are scheduled to begin in November. DOE anticipates making about two shipments per month initially, ramping up to one shipment per week. The shipments will pass through Iowa and Nebraska on the way to WIPP, so the road show will stop in those states this week as well.

Share and Not Share Alike

The Midwest's security work group got to work last week commenting on DOE's draft security information sharing protocol. The states had hoped the document would clarify what information would be made available to states and at what time, whether the information would be safeguards, classified, etc., and what clearance level state personnel would need to view the information. The Midwest has been asking for a protocol of this type for a long time. To the work group's dismay, the protocol document turned out to be more of a white paper than an actual protocol. The white paper does provide background information on types of information (classified, Official Use Only, etc.), but does not specify what pieces of information falls under each of these categories. Despite the lack of details, the work group provided comments on the document on August 21st. In addition to comments, the work group also suggested DOE create and maintain a matrix of information, classification levels, recipients, etc. The work group even developed a sample matrix to help DOE along in the process.

Click here to see the ISP with the committee's comments.

Click here to see the sample information matrix.

DOE Railroads Routing Principles

The Routing Topic Group got off to a rocky start at the recent TEC meeting in Kansas City, but eventually the members agreed on a simple definition for the 'suite of routes' concept. The definition as it stands right now is as follows:

A suite of routes is a set of potential routes that DOE can use to conduct shipments of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The suite is comprised of a limited number of distinct shipment routes to the final destination. The purpose of the suite of routes is to provide operational flexibility for the department, when needed due to weather conditions, track maintenance, rail traffic volume or other considerations.

The next task on the Routing Topic Group's work plan is to develop a list of routing principles that will guide the group's approach to route selection. DOE developed and has pushed for the use of their proposed set of principles. The Midwestern routing work group, however, found the principles to be lengthy and confusing. Moreover, some of the principles do not relate directly to route selection, but rather to how the routes would be used. The Midwestern routing work group decided a succinct list of route selection principles was needed and submitted a list of such to the rest of the Routing Topic Group for review. The group also submitted comments on DOE's principles as a back-up. The work group members will hear the Routing Topic Group's reaction to the "substitute principles" on the group's next conference call, scheduled for August 23 at 2 p.m. central.

Click here to see the work group's comments on the routing principles.

Click here to see the work group's list of principles.

Thanks for reading! Look for the next issue in two weeks!

Sincerely,
Lisa Janairo and Sarah Wochos
Committee Staff