Questions for BWXT



February 4, 2004



1.  Page 14 of the petition states that, “Prior to June 1990, the PA
filter cake was managed as a non-hazardous solid waste.  The management
of the PA filter cake included its disposal in Landfill No. 1 and
Landfill No. 2.”



	Q.  Were wastes other than PA filter cake disposed of in these units?



2.  Page 44 of the petition states that, “Tables 1 and 2 (Exhibit 6)
identify chemicals that are not hazardous to human health and chemicals
that are not discharged to the waste treatment facilities.  Therefore
these chemicals have been eliminated from further consideration.”  The
petition text than lists “elimination categories,” some of which
appear as parentheticals in these tables, and some do not. 



	Q.  Please clarify the status of the chemicals on Tables 1-5 in Exhibit
6.



3.  Exhibit 6, Table 3 lists the solvent EZE-431.  However, this Trade
Name chemical compound does not appear on Table 4.



	Q.  Please provide a description of this solvent.



4.  Page 12 of the petition states that, “...NPD has been engaged in
the production and assembly of components primarily for the United
States government, which involves the use of Special Nuclear Materials,
primarily unirradiated enriched uranium.”  



Page 30 of the petition states that, “BWXT recovers uranium using an
acid dissolution process.  Clad fuel components are dissolved in a
solution of nitric acid, hydrofluoric acid, and aluminum nitrate.”



Q.  Are clad fuel components spent fuel rods?  Spent fuel rods are
classified as irradiated material.



5.  Page 31 includes a description of the Compact Reactor Fuel
Development Process.  Included in the process is the use of unspecified
organic solutions. 



Q.  Do concentrations of the organic solutions end up in the wastewater?
 If so, what are the organic compounds.



6.  Page 30 contains a description of the downblending operations.  Page
31 indicates that, “The purpose of the CRF Process is to convert
uranium solutions into fuel.



Q.  Do these processes include the conversion of uranyl nitrate to
uranyl dioxide, or to uranium metal?  If so, how is this accomplished? 

7.  The data on the sludge from the October 1993 study shows that the
majority of the activity is associated with the isotope U234. 



Q.  Does BWXT separate out U234 as a contaminant?  Does BWXT use TOPO
(trioctyl phosphine oxide)?

