Environmental monitoring program interaction between the West Valley Demonstration Project and New York State agencies

With the 1982 initiation of the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) and the takeover of most of the facilities at the Western New York Nuclear Service Center (WNYNSC) by the US Department of Energy, the working relationship between the site operator and state regulatory agencies changed significantly. An upgrading of the environmental monitoring program by the Department of Energy (DOE) contractor West Valley Nuclear Services Company was concurrent with a change in New York State departmental responsibility for monitoring of the site environs. An agreement was reached between DOE and New York State which allowed more efficient use of available manpower for collection of samples, such as game animals and other biological media, as well as routine air and water samples potentially affected by site effluents. Additionally, the State has contributed significantly to WVDP wildlife and land-use surveys. These surveys produced valuable data for use in preparing safety analysis reports and dose assessments for the annual environmental monitoring summaries. During the past year, there were two occurrences which had the potential of raising public concerns about release of radioactivity to uncontrolled areas. In both cases there was excellent cooperation between Project personnel and state agencies in conducting a rapid investigation. Site interaction with state agencies regulating nonradiological effluents under the State Pollution Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) also has been characterized by effective communication and cooperation