Minutes of the 54th Meeting of the
            Southwestern Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission
October 16, 2008
Hyatt Regency Hotel, 1209 L Street, Sacramento CA

The 54th meeting of the Southwestern Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission was called to order by Chair Aubrey Godwin at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on October 16, 2008 in the Carmel A/B Room, Hyatt Regency Hotel, 1209 L Street, Sacramento CA.  Members present: Aubrey Godwin, Arizona; Donna Earley, George Campbell and Kenneth Vadnais, and Alternate Commissioner Peter Brierty, California; Joe Nadenicek, South Dakota; and Dana Mount, North Dakota. Staff present: Kathy Davis, Executive Director; Stephen Kowalewski, Counsel; Don Womeldorf, retiring Executive Director; and Madeline Womeldorf, Administrative Assistant.  Also present were Dr. Alan Pasternak, California Radioactive Materials Management Forum; Gary Butner, Radiologic Health Branch, California Department of Public Health; and Judy Woodson, Rock Island Arsenal, Department of Defense.

In response to the Chair’s inquiry about notice of meeting, Counsel Kowalewski stated that the agenda of the meeting had been mailed to the Commissioners and interested parties, and posted on the Internet, on October 2, 2008 in accordance with the California Open Meeting law, Government Code §11125.

Chair Godwin said that the California Bureau of State Audits (BSA) had completed its audit of the Commission’s program. No information had been received from the State of California regarding plans to develop a low-level radioactive waste facility.

Mr. Womeldorf gave his report. He noted that, over the past several years, exportation of waste to EnergySolutions (formerly Envirocare) had varied from year to year but had not shown any appreciable trend, while exportation to the Barnwell, South Carolina, and facility had clearly trended downward. That facility closed to Southwestern Region generators on July 1, 2008, and so there is now no place for the disposal of Classes B and C waste.  He said that Ms. Davis, Counsel Kowalewski, and he had been active in recent months in introducing her to the various roles and tasks relating to her role as Executive Director, and that she had been doing very well in performing the many activities involved.

Ms Davis gave her report.  She reviewed the activities during this past July and August. She outlined her actions for a smooth transition to be completed by the end of the year.  In September she, along with Mr. Womeldorf , Mr. Kowalewski and Commissioner Earley attended the LLW Forum in Maryland.  Highlights were given regarding Power Plant Life beyond 60 years, NRC overview of present conditions for waste disposal, foreign waste, progress with the Texas waste disposal site, safe disposal of exit signs containing tritium, and a presentation from NRC Commissioner Gregory Jaczko.

Licensing Agency-Mr. Gary Butner, Radiological Health Branch.  Mr. Butner commented that the absence of a disposal facility that would accept Classes B and C low-level waste would require additional storage. He said that the report on low-level waste, required by legislation, would be completed hopefully by April or May 2009.  The Department’s progress has been slow due to the recent issues of the State budget and personnel shortages.  Adequate storage on-site seems to be available and generators within the State did take advantage of this year’s last opportunity to ship out their existing B & C waste prior to closure of Barnwell to the Compact. 2,000 licensees are registered in California.  This number continues to remain steady within the State.  The State is also watching closely the continuing developments of the Texas disposal site.

Dr. Pasternak (representing the California Radioactive Materials Management Forum) said that a major concern of low-level waste generators is the lack of disposal capacity for Classes B and C waste, and that he did not think that this national problem has received the necessary attention from the LLW Forum, the national organization of states and compacts.

Chair Godwin asked for state reports. The State of California had no report. Commissioner Nadenicek reported that there is continuing interest in South Dakota in uranium mining and that the Department of Energy has been performing an environmental assessment in the region including Wyoming and Nebraska as well as South Dakota. Commissioner Mount said interest in uranium exploration was continuing in North Dakota, including activities of an Australian company. He noted that there is no current activity regarding low-level waste in the North Dakota legislature.  Chair Godwin said that Arizona legislature is also interested in uranium mining and that they would resume their legislative session in February.

Turning to the Bureau of State Audits report, Ms. Davis reported that she and Counsel had been working on a letter. The Commission members had several comments on the draft. Counsel Kowalewski said that he had reviewed the current petition approval process and was of the opinion that it complies with the legal requirements. At Commissioner Mount’s suggestion, he had contacted the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) but had not received any guidance regarding the Commission’s petition approval process. Ms. Davis noted that the Commission had established the Exportation Advisory Committee to oversee the Executive Director’s petition approval process. Commissioner Nadenicek moved and Commissioner Mount seconded to proceed with the letter. The motion passed unanimously. (Agenda Item #^6)

Commissioner Mount moved and Commissioner Nadenicek seconded to amend the Commission’s Bylaws to provide an alternative to having one person record fiscal documents and a different person make the deposit. The amendment required photocopying of fiscal documents and deposit receipt. The motion passed unanimously.  (Agenda Item # 7.A.1)

Agenda Item # 7.A.2 was delayed until after the Closed Session.

Commissioner Vadnais moved and Commissioner Mount seconded to extend through December 31, 2009 the effective date of the "Policy of the Southwestern Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission Regarding Exportation of Various Low-Level Radioactive Waste Streams.” The motion passed unanimously. (Agenda Item # 7.B.1)

Commissioner Campbell moved and Commissioner Mount seconded to amend the Policy Document to include specified review procedures to be followed by the Exportation Advisory Committee. The motion passed unanimously. (Agenda Item #7.B.2).

Commissioner Vadnais moved and Commissioner Earley seconded to amend the Policy Document to require Commission approval for waste sent outside of the Southwestern Region for storage prior to disposal. The motion passed unanimously.  (Agenda Item # 7.B.3).

Commissioner Earley moved and Commissioner Campbell seconded to extend the document “Requirements of the Southwestern Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission for Exportation Petitions for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal” for one year, through December 31, 2009. The motion passed unanimously.  (Agenda Item # 7.C)

The Commission considered extending the document “Southwestern Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission Resolution Relating to the Contingency Exportation of Waste from the Region” which allows exportation if the number of appointed and alternate Commissioners should fall below the number needed for a two-thirds approval. Commissioner Vadnais said that he did not think that the contingency resolution is needed now that the Commission had the requisite number needed for approval. The Commission did not take action to  extend the contingency resolution past December 31, 2008.  (Agenda Item # 7.D)

Following a short break, the Commission considered approving the draft Annual Report. Dr. Pasternak suggested some changes. Commissioner Vadnais moved and Commissioner Earley seconded to modify the language in the report pertaining to alternative technologies. The motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Mount moved and Commissioner Earley seconded to add language pointing out that California has not complied with statutory mandates regarding developing a low-level waste disposal facility. The motion passed unanimously.  Commissioner Mount moved and Commissioner Nadenicek seconded to approve the annual report as amended. The motion passed unanimously. (Agenda Item # 8)

The Commission went into executive session to review staff performance. Following the session, in open meeting, Chair Godwin reported that the contractors’ performances (Executive Director and Counsel) were rated highly.  (Agenda Item # 9)

The Commission considered the renewal of Counsel’s contract for 2009.  Commissioner Mount
moved and Commissioner Early seconded  to continue Counsel’s contract with a cost-of-living adjustment.  Unforeseen cost due to the involvement of the State Audit required discussion to amend the present  contract from the cap of 288 hours to 400 hours.  Motion by Commissioner Campbell seconded by Commissioner Early to amend the cap to 400 hours.  Both motions passed unanimously. (Agenda Item #10)

The Commission considered amendments to Ms. Davis’ contract to include a cost-of-living adjustment. Commissioner Mount and Commissioner Earley seconded to make the cost-of-living adjustment with language added to clarify that the fee is to be paid monthly. The motion passed unanimously.  (Agenda Item #11)

The bank currently used by the Commission does not have a branch in an area accessible to Ms. Davis. Commissioner Earley moved and Commissioner Mount seconded to authorize Ms. Davis, as Executive Director, to open accounts with American Security Bank in her area. The motion passed unanimously.  (Agenda Item # 12)

Commissioner Earley moved and Commissioner Campbell seconded to designate Executive Director Davis as the Commission’s representative on the LLW Forum. The motion passed unanimously.  (Agenda Item # 13)

The Commission considered a contract with Mr. Womeldorf as a consultant. A draft contract was reviewed and the need was identified for clarification of insurance requirements and payment. Commissioner Nadenicek moved and Commissioner Earley seconded to approve the contract as presented, with the stipulation that the insurance issues would be resolved with insurance agent. The motion passed unanimously.  Commissioner Nadenicek moved and Commissioner Earley seconded to amend the Bylaws to specify that the consultant will be reimbursed for expenses. The motion passed unanimously.  (Agenda Item # 14 and Agenda Item # 7.A.2)

Due to the required changes for amending the Counsel’s contract and giving time for staff to print up a new document, no action was taken to accept the proposed amended Fiscal 2009 Budget.  This will be presented with the corrected figures at the spring meeting.
(Agenda Item # 15)

Commissioner Mount moved and Commissioner Earley seconded to approve the Fiscal Year 2010 budget as presented. The motion passed unanimously. The approved budget is appended to the minutes. (Agenda Item # 16)

Commissioner Mount moved and Commissioner Earley seconded to approve the exportation fee schedule for 2009 at the same levels as for 2008. The motion passed unanimously. (Agenda Item # 17)

During public comment, Dr. Pasternak reiterated a suggestion he had made at an earlier meeting, that the Commission members get their governors involved in seeking a solution to the problems relating to disposal of Classes B and C waste, and that the suggestion be included on a future meeting agenda. The Commission also discussed the role of the Exportation Advisory Committee. Counsel Kowalewski, in reviewing the law, found that ratification of approved petitions could be done for the group of petitions rather than the Commission having to ratify each individual approved petition. Chair Godwin presented retiring Executive Director Don Womeldorf, and Administrative Assistant Madeline Womeldorf, with gifts on behalf of the Commission.

Commissioner Nadenicek moved and Commissioner Mount seconded to elect Chair Godwin to another term. The motion passed unanimously. Commissioner Nadenicek moved and Commissioner Mount seconded to elect Vice-Chair Campbell to another term. The motion passed unanimously.

Suggestions were made regarding future agenda items.  Items included a standing report from the Exportation Advisory Committee, amend the Fiscal 2009 Budget, the Contingency Resolution and a discussion regarding any solutions for disposal of B & C waste.  It was also suggested that the next Commission meeting be held in Arizona.

Chair Godwin adjourned the meeting at 1:45 p.m.

APPENDIX

Line item                       Fiscal Year 2010 Budget as approved

INCOME
Interest	$12800
Exportation fees	203570
Workshop registration fees	16000
Total Income	$232370
EXPENSES
Contractor fees	$130000
Reimbursed expense	3000
Travel	34000
Telephone access	500
Website	1500
Postage & mail service	1000
Auditing service	3200
Professional services	220
Bond	350
Office expense	1000
Meeting expense	2600
Dues & subscriptions	10000
Insurance	29000
Workshop expense	16000
Total Expenses	$232370