DRC-2025-002237

299 South Main Street, Suite 1700 ▪ Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 [phone] ▪ Fax: [phone] ▪ www.energysolutions.com
July 8, 2025 CD-2025-137
Mr. Doug Hansen, Director Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control 195 North 1950 West Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4880
Subject: Radioactive Material Licenses No. UT 2300249: Amendment Request to Unify the Occupancy Factors for the Environmental Monitoring Plan and the ALARA Program
Dear Mr. Hansen: EnergySolutions respectfully requests an amendment to Radioactive Material License UT2300249 to unify the methodology used by Environmental Monitoring Plan, as
required by License Condition 26, with that for the ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) Program defined in document CL-RS-PG-001. This unification is proposed to enhance the effectiveness of radiation protection measures at the Clive disposal facility.
The realignment aims to streamline compliance with the radiation protection standards outlined in Utah Administrative Code (UAC) R313-15-301 and R313-15-101(4). UAC R313-15-301 establishes an annual dose limit of 100 mrem for individual members of the public, while R313-15-101(4) mandates that licensees make reasonable efforts to maintain radiation exposures as low as reasonably achievable. By unifying the
Environmental Monitoring Plan, which involves systematic monitoring of radiation levels in the environment, with the ALARA Program, which focuses on minimizing worker exposures through optimized operational practices, EnergySolutions seeks to ensure that disposal operations protect members of the general public, particularly those individuals likely to receive the highest doses when considering current land use practices and avoid
excessive speculation.1 This amendment aligns with the guidance provided by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC),2 which offers methodologies for estimating radiation exposures to support licensing and demonstrate public safety. A unified basis facilitates the use of
environmental monitoring data to inform ALARA strategies, thereby enhancing the ability to maintain exposures below regulatory limits and ensuring compliance with both state and federal standards.

1 Esh, D., et.al., “Guidance for Conducting Technical Analyses for 10 CFR Part 61 – Draft Report for Comment.” (NUREG-2175). U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. March 2015. 2 Ibid.
Mr. Doug Hansen CD-2025-137 July 8, 2025 Page 2 of 4
299 South Main Street, Suite 1700 ▪ Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 [phone] ▪ Fax: [phone] ▪ www.energysolutions.com
Occupancy factors, fundamental components to radiological assessments, estimate the
fraction of time the population group spends in areas where they could be exposed while involved in practices commonly observed near the Facility, directly impacting dose calculations. While an unlimited number of hypothetical exposure scenarios to members of the general population can be developed, NRC reports that
“…the overall intent [of exposure scenario development] is to discourage
excessive speculation about future events and the [NRC] does not intend for analysts to model long-term transient or dynamic site conditions, or to assign probabilities to natural occurrences. . . The parameter ranges and model assumptions selected for the LLW performance assessment should be sufficient to
capture the variability in natural conditions, processes, and events. . . Therefore,
[NRC] recommends that new site conditions that may arise directly from significant changes to existing natural conditions, processes, and events do not need to be quantified in LLW performance assessment modeling . . . With respect to human behavior, it may be assumed that current local land-use practices and
other human behaviors continue unchanged throughout the duration of the
analysis.”3 NRC further states,
“Licensees need not assume worst case models when calculating dose but rather
make assumptions that will result in realistic estimates of actual dose received by the member of the public likely to receive the highest dose.”4 UAC 313-15-302(2)(a) states that demonstration of compliance to general public dose
limits should be based on real practices of “…the individual[s] likely to receive the
highest dose.” As such, the occupancy factor cited in EnergySolutions’ Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMP) is calculated for industrial neighbors near the facility (i.e., full time employment of 2,000 hours per year or 25% of a year), as they are members of the public with the longest duration of possible exposure. When EnergySolutions’ Clive
Facility was first licensed, the distance from the Restricted Area boundary to the neighboring Clean Harbor’s facility was approximately 40 feet. However, EnergySolutions’ 2023 purchase of must of this western property now results in a distance of over 5,000 feet from the Restricted Area boundary to the nearest industrial neighbor. While reasonable to assume exposure for 2,000 hours per year, the presence of
the Clean Harbor’s facility at EnergySolutions’ Restricted Area boundary is now unrealistically conservative.

3 NRC. “A Performance Assessment Methodology for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facilities.” NUREG-1573. Division of Waste Management, Office of Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington D.C., October 2000. 4 NRC. “Regulatory Guide 8.37 – ALARA Levels for Effluents from Materials Facilities.” Division of Waste Management, Office of Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington D.C., July 1993.
Mr. Doug Hansen CD-2025-137 July 8, 2025 Page 3 of 4
299 South Main Street, Suite 1700 ▪ Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 [phone] ▪ Fax: [phone] ▪ www.energysolutions.com

Exposure to radiation point sources decrease in ratio with the square of the distance between the receptor and source. With that in mind, EnergySolutions’ industrial neighbors’ exposure are not affected by doses recorded at environmental monitoring stations located along the western boundary of EnergySolutions’ Restricted Area. To the contrary, the members of the general public that receive the highest dose along the
western boundary of EnergySolutions’ Restricted Area are those traveling along the Tooele County Road adjacent to the Restricted Area western boundary. Since auto travel along the county road with a speed limit of 45 miles per hour, it is more accurate in this case to employ a much lower occupancy factor than that of 25%. In fact, EnergySolutions’ Clive ALARA Program (CL-RS-PG-001) suggests an occupancy factor
of 6.25% or 1/16th (or 500 hours per year) for such “intermittent occupancy” as appropriate for vehicular traffic along the county road.5 Similarly, EnergySolutions’ own non-radiological staff and site contractors are prevented by CL-RS-PG-001, Radiation Protection Program and CL-RS-002, ALARA Program
from loitering for significant amounts of time adjacent to the Restricted Area boundary within EnergySolutions’ Owner Controlled Areas. As with automobile travel along the western county road, it is more accurate to employ the intermittent occupancy factor of 6.25% or 1/16th for Clive Facility non-radiological workers and site contractors.6 Therefore, EnergySolutions requests Section 4.4.2 of the EMP be amended as,
4.4.2 UAC R313-15-301 Public Dose Limits During Operations This regulation requires that the TEDE to individual members of the public from licensed or registered operations does not exceed 100 mrem in a year. Compliance is determined by UAC R313-15-302(2)(a). Since the
most common activities involving the longest duration of possible exposure by to the general public currently observed at and near the Site are those of EnergySolutions’ non-radiological staff and industrial neighbors, an occupancy factor of 1/16th of a 2,000 hours per year (equivalent to a fulltime employee, or 0.25 0.0625) is applied to
demonstrate compliance with UAC R313-15-301.

5 NCRP. Report No. 49: Structural Shielding Design and Evaluation for Medical Use of X Ray and Gamma Rays of Energies Up to 10 MEV. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. 1976. 6 Ibid.
Mr. Doug Hansen CD-2025-137 July 8, 2025 Page 4 of 4
299 South Main Street, Suite 1700 ▪ Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 [phone] ▪ Fax: [phone] ▪ www.energysolutions.com
EnergySolutions believes that this integration will improve operational efficiency,
strengthen public safety measures, and reinforce compliance with the regulatory framework governing low-level radioactive waste disposal. We respectfully request your approval of this amendment to Radioactive Material Licenses UT2300249 and UT2400478.
Please contact me at [phone] for further clarification. Sincerely,
Vern C. Rogers Director, Regulatory Affairs
Vern C.
Rogers
Digitally signed by Vern C. Rogers
DN: cn=Vern C. Rogers,
o=EnergySolutions, ou=Waste Management Division, email=[e-mail], c=US
Date: 2025.07.08 08:39:04 -06'00'