December 27, 2002
Sent via Certified U.S. Mail
J. P. Suarez
Assistant Administrator
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20004
Mr. Charles McCollum, Administrator
EPA Office of Inspector General
Sacramento Audit Office
801 "I" St #264
Sacramento, CA 95814
Email: mccollum.charles@epa.gov
Mr. Brian C. Monson
Idaho Department of Environmental Quality
1410 N. Hilton
Boise, ID 83706-1255
Email: BMONSON@DEQ.STATE.ID.US
Greetings,
RE: Supplemental Information Submission to Petition to EPA/OECA (dated 9/31/01) and Petition to EPA/IG (dated 9/15/01) Related to Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory
Under 40 C.F.R 265.383 ("Interim status thermal treatment devices burning particular hazardous waste"), owners or operators of thermal treatment (1) units subject to Part 265 may burn EPA hazardous wastes F020, F021, F022, F023, F026 or F027 only after receiving a certification from the Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response that they can meet the performance standards of subpart O of part 264 when they thermally treat these wastes. See Attachments.
In reviewing various INEEL RCRA Part A applications and the waste codes in those applications it is apparent that the waste codes for NWCF HEPA leaching system has 22 individual "F" code wastes including the ones listed above. See Attachment A. With the exception of F001, F002, F003, and F005, the above cited HEPA Filter Leaching System F-listed waste codes for the most part have not shown up on Part A applications for other units at INTEC Liquid Waste Management System (ILWMS) such as the New Waste Calcining Facility (NWCF), Process Waste Equipment Evaporator (PEW), the Liquid Effluent Treatment and Disposal (LET&D and High Level Liquid Waste Evaporator (HLLWE).
Establishing verifiable waste codes is crucial to determining what is the proper treatment operation to be implemented given the specific RCRA treatment requirements for individual hazardous waste. Proper treatment for volatile organic compounds would usually require destruction via full treatment including off-gas resin beds. (See, 40 CFR 268.40 --"Treatment Standards," i.e., Combustion, Carbon Absorption, Wet Air Oxidation, and Chemical Oxidation).
Our concerns are:
1. Because the F020, F021, F022, F023, F026 or F027 hazardous wastes are in
the HEPA filters, is it also in the liquid waste effluent from HEPA operations that
goes to the tanks associated with the PEWE and the NWCF, PEWE, LET&D and
HLLWE which are processing HEPA filter wastes?
How does DOE know that these F-listed wastes are not present in the
waste stream to the NWCF, PEWE, LET&D and HLLWE ?
How does DOE know that the "F" wastes have been totally rendered from
the HEPA filters so as not to be present in the waste stream prior to entering the
NWCF, PEWE, LET&D and HLLWE units?
2. If the F020, F021, F022, F023, F026 or F027 hazardous wastes are present in any amount for the NWCF, PEWE, LET&D and HLLWE treatment units, the part 265.383 requirements of certification must be met. We find no administrative record that the part 265.383 requirements have been complied with either to characterize the waste to determine the amounts of volatile organics in the waste stream or to control emissions.
3. How are the F020, F021, F022, F023, F026 or F027 hazardous wastes being treated? Given that DOE lists dozens of ILWMS tanks in the "Tank Treatment, TO1" category, it is uncertain how extensively "sparging" is implemented. Additionally, the ignition/explosive hazard (acknowledged by DOE) of VOCs in high-temperature evaporators, it is expedient to discharge these VOCs prior to waste processing.
4. An Idaho Department of Environmental Quality 4/12/02 INEEL Volume 14
Notice of Deficiency (NOD) General Comment 5, at p. 2, has raised the issue of
"sparging" of tanks as an air stripping operation associated with the INTEC Liquid
Waste Management System (ILWMS) prior to the throughput of the wastes into
the evaporators and fractionation units. The sparging was apparently not taken into
account by DOE in relation to determination of vent emissions and reduction of
organic emissions. 40 C.F.R. 264 Subpart AA.
Given the issue of sparging of tanks associated with the INTEC Liquid
Waste Management System (ILWMS), it would seem that the air stripping
operation which has been used at the ILWMS had no RCRA permit. (2)
It would also appear from documents in the administrative record that
DOE and IDEQ have concerns that organic concentrations of 10 ppmw were and
are present so as to trigger 40 C.F.R. 265 Subpart AA requirements for process
vents. (3) It would appear that the 40 C.F.R. 265 Subpart AA requirements for
process vents have not been implemented or applied as they should have been
during the history of interim status operations for units associated with the
ILWMS. These matters have been brought to attention of IDEQ, EPA, and DOE
previously without any meaningful response. See December 13, 2000 Comments
of David B. McCoy RE: PEWE Part B Application. Petitioners previously raised
this issue with EPA Region 10, EPA OECA, and EPA IG. (4) If operations have
continued in violation of interim status requirements and an immediate stand down
of these illegal operations should be ordered.
5. Based on RCRA Permit Application for Debris Treatment, numerous Hazardous Air Pollutants apparently exceed the 40 CFR 265.1032 Standards. Examples include (but are not limited to) benzene, carbon tetrachloride, tetrachloroethylene, toluene, trichloroethylene and trimethylbenzene. (See Attachment C).
6. While it is possible that the HEPA Filter Leach program releases the "F" code wastes (VOCs) before the effluent reaches the PEWE or other liquid waste evaporators we question whether the treatment afforded these F-listed wastes along with other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are meeting RCRA and/or Clean Air Act requirements. Although we do not know where the exhaust for the HEPA treatment goes, whether to the HVAC stack, the Main Stack, or via the Atmospheric Protection System (APS) and then on to the Main INTEC Stack neither route apparently has RCRA approved emission filters, i.e., resin beds, for VOCs. (5)
We would appreciate your consideration and clarification of these matters and would appreciate your inclusion of this letter as formal comments for the DOE INEEL ILWMS Volume 14 RCRA Part B Application.
Sincerely,
_______________________________
Chuck Broscious
Executive Director
Environmental Defense Institute
P.O. Box 220, Troy, ID 83871-0220
V. 208-835-6152; F. 298-835-5407
Email: edinst@tds.net
______________________________
David B. McCoy
2940 Redbarn Lane, Idaho Falls Idaho 83404
V. 208-542-1449; F. 208-552-0565
Email: mccoydb01@msn.com
___________________________
Erik Ringelberg
Executive Director
Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free
P. O. Box 4838, Jackson, WY 83001
V. 307-732-2040; F. 307-732-0129
Email: kynf@yellowstonenuclearfree.com
Attachments:
Attachment A: List of "F" Hazardous Waste Codes for INTEC Liquid Waste Management System (ILWMS)
Attachment B: ILWMS Hazardous Waste Constituents Requiring Special Treatment
Attachment C: Baseline annual average and maximum hourly emission rates of hazardous/toxic air pollutants at the INEEL, INEEL HWMA/RCRA Permit Section D Process Description, Volume 18, Debris Treatment Units, Rev. 3, December 1999 Table D-4, page D-76
CC: (Sent via email)
Michael Owen, EPA Office of Inspector General (Seattle)
Gregory Fried, EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (WDC)
Robert Bullock, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (Boise)
Attachment A
List of "F" Hazardous Waste Codes for INTEC CPP-659 NWCF
HEPA Filter Leaching System
F001 - Spent Halogenated Solvents ( list of six)
F002 - Spent Halogenated Solvents ( list of nine)
F003 - Spent Non-Halogenated Solvents ( list of six)
F004 - Spent Non-Halogenated Solvents ( list of three)
F005 - Spent Non-Halogenated Solvents ( list of eight)
F006 - Waste Water Treatment Sludges
F007 - Spent Cyanide
F008 - Plating Bath residues with Cyanides
F009 - Spent Striping Baths with Cyanides
F010 - Quenching Baths with Cyanides
F011 - Spent Cyanide Solutions
F012 - Quenching Water with Cyanides
F019 - Waste Water Treatment Sludges
F020 - Wastes from manufacturing tri- or tetrachlorophenol
F021 - Wastes from manufacturing of pentachlorophenol
F022 - Wastes from manufacturing of terta, penta, or hexachlorobenzenes
F023 - Wastes from manufacturing of tri, or tetrachlorophenols
F024 - Process wastes from reactor clean out
F026 - Wastes from manufacturing tetra, penta, or hexachlorobenzene
F027 - Discarded tri, tetra, or pentachlorophenol
F028 - Residues resulting from incineration or thermal treatment of soil contaminated (six codes)
F039 - Leachate liquids
References for Attachment
1. 40 CFR 261.31;
2. RCRA Part A Permit Application for INEEL Volume 1 Book 1 Revision 13 March 1995 page IO-1 through 13
3. 42 USC Sec. 7412 "Hazardous Air Pollutants"