ML19208D306
| ML19208D306 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 01/25/1979 |
| From: | NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19208D294 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7909280216 | |
| Download: ML19208D306 (3) | |
Text
b*i JAN 2 5 1379 DISPOSAL OF RADI0 ACTIVE WASTE Radioactive materials which result from the nuclear fuel cycle cer. te separated into two main categories:
those materials discharged to the environment as 1.
Effluents gaseous or liquid effluents (the radioactive content of these effluents must fall within established NRC and EPA limits and must be as low as reasonably achievable) - and, 2.
Wastes those materials which are of sufficient potential radiological hazard that they require special care.
Radioactive wastes (the second category) are separated into two broad classifications:
"high-level wastes" and "other than high-level wastes."
High-level wastes are radioactive wastes produced in the first solvent extraction cycle of fuel reprocessing operations and spent fuel elements They are hi hly radioactive and require shielding should they be discarded.
NRC regulations gAppendix F of 10 CFR Part 50) require and remote handling.
s that the inventory of high-level liquid waste at a fuel reprocessing plant be limited to that produced in the prior five years and that it be con-verted to solid fom and transferred to a federal repository within ten years of its separation from the irradiated fuel.
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With the reorgariization of the Atomic Energy Comission into the Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Comission (NRC), NRC was given regulat Research and Development Administration (now the Department of Energy r1 authority over storage and disposal of all commercially generated waste 4 and those DOE generated high-level radioactive wastes which are subject to icng-tem storage and which are not used for, or as part of, research and development activities. 'To implement this authority and to provide prompt guidance to 00E, the industry and the public, the NRC is new or revised regulatory standards and guidelines for such storage ano disposal.
The regulations will require confomance with a fixed set of minimum acceptable perfomance standards (technical, social and environ-mental) for waste management activities while providing for flexibility in technological approach.
These standards and guidelines will be designed to assure public health and safety and protection of the environ,
ment.
Facilities for storage and/or disposal of high-level wastes licensed by NRC will be designed and operated in accordance with NRC standards.
00E was pursuing a program designed to acccmodate the anticipated need for disposal of high-level waste or spent fuel that is expected to accumulate as the nuclear power industry continues to grow.
This pro-gram included, among other things, plans to develop several operations for disposal of high-level wastes in stable geological formations.
The purpose of these facilities would be to demonstrate the a:ceptability of a specific geological femation for pemanent disposal of high-level and 1052 003 y9og2so2Jf
JAN 2 $ 1979
' transuranic wastes.
These facilities will be treated as pemanent disposal
. repositories.
DOE is new awaiting a Presidential direction of policy and plans which will occur following completion of studies recomended by an interagency task force fomed by the President.
There are several methods of high-level waste disposal which are technologically feasible.
DOE is expected to continue to investigate options to determine whether superior disposal alternatives can be developed.
For specific information concerning plans and pregrams, contact the Director, Division of Waste Management, Department of Energy, Washington, D.C.
20545.
In parallel with DOE's research and development activities, NRC is developing performance criteria for solidified high-level wastes. These criteria are being developed based on a systems analysis model which considers the normal and potential accident environments to which high-level solid matrices could be exposed during interim storage, transpor-tation, handling, emplacement and post-emplacement.
Repository site selection criteria are being developed and will encompass a broad spectrum of concerns including earth science, geographic, demographic and socioeconomic factors.
A study to determine the design and operating requirements for high-level waste repositories will provide a basis for the development _of standar.ds and staff review methodologies.
Radioactive wastes other than high-level are buried in near-surface shallow trenches, usually in the containers in which they are shipped.
There is no intent to recover the wastes once they are buried. There are presently six commercial facilities in the United States licensed to bury low-level radioactive wastes.
They are located in West Valley, New York; Morehead, Kentucky; Sheffield, Illinois; Beatty, Nevada; Hanford, Washington; and Barnwell, South Carolina.
At the present time, only the latter three sites are receivino waste for burial.
The West Valley and Maxey Fl'
- s. sites are closed.
The Sheffield site is filled to its licensed ca ity. A contested application for expansion of the Sheffield site is currently under review.
Burial of transuranium nuclides is limited at all but one of the sites.
Five of the six commercial burial grounds are located in Agreement States and are regulated by the states.
However, at two sites, the NRC licenses special nuclear material because the quantities atthori:ted for posses-sion by the comercial operator exceed those which the Agreement States may license under their agreements.
The Sheffield, Illinois site, located in a nonagreement state, is regulated by the NRC althnuch the state licenses and controls activities at the site concerning naturally occurring and accelerator-produced radioisotopes which are not subject to NRC control.
The sites are all commercially operated. The states have assumed responsibility for long-term care of the sites.
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Since the fonnation of NRC's waste management progran in mid-1975, efforts have been underway to identify regulatory needs for low-level waste management and to perform technical studies to support those regulations.
This effort was accelerated in mid-1977 with the creation of a low-Level Waste Branch (LLWB) within the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) and increased resources throughout NRC. The LLWB was assigned responsibility for technical z.nalyses to prepare a regulatory base, review license applications and coordination of NRC's technical and policy efforts for low-lerel wastes.
A preliminary lw-level waste managemt.nt program plan, NUREG-0240, was issued in October i977.
The NRC staff has continued to refine our concept of the low-level waste program.
In addition, a number of supporting technical studies have been initiated and preliminary results are being considered in program Clan-ning. Additional studies have been defined to support our regulatien development efforts and these have been initiated or will be in the r.?ar future.
The principal objectives of the low-le <el waste (LLW) program are to develop a framework of criteria and regulations for long-term management of comnercial low-level waste disposal sites and to provide the tools for applicants to prepare license applications and for NRC to rike u n i fonn, timel y, l i cens i ng..rieci s i ons.
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