[DOE LETTERHEAD]
March 4,
2005
The Honorable John T. Conway
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities
Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue, NW, Suite
700
Washington, DC 20004-2901
Dear Mr. Chairman:
The purpose of this letter is to
complete the requests contained in your January 18, 2005, letter. The requested report is enclosed that
describes the Tank Farm contractor activities implementing the U.S. Department
of Energy, Office of River Protection (ORP), planned approach for the long-term
management of double-shell tanks and tank waste retrieval. The report has been reviewed by my staff and
the ORP and is acceptable in delineating the planned approach. An ORP implementation plan is being finalized
and will be provided by ORP later this month to the Board.
The second requested deliverable
was provided by the ORP in a briefing to the Board on February 28, 2005. The briefing provided a status of the implementation
of the ORP Waste Chemistry Expert Panel’s recommendations. The Expert Panel will continue to be used at
ORP to provide ideas and periodic reviews.
If you have any questions,
please call me at (202) 586-7709 or Mr. Roy Schepens, Manager, ORP, at (509)
376-6677, or your staff may contact Mr. James Poppiti, Licensing Office, at
(301) 903-1733 or Mr. Dana Bryson, ORP Tank Farms Engineering Division, at
(509) 372-0947.
Sincerely,
Paul M. Golan
Principal Deputy Assistant
Secretary for
Environmental Management
Enclosure:
cc w/ enclosure:
M. Whitaker, DR-1
R. Schepens, ORP