ML19241B113
| ML19241B113 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 06/06/1979 |
| From: | Harold Denton Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation |
| To: | Nolan H AFFILIATION NOT ASSIGNED |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19241B114 | List: |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 7907110697 | |
| Download: ML19241B113 (4) | |
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ONITED STATES
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTo*J, D. C. 20555 7.,, Jg[" ic,r S f-i s
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JUN 0 61979
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Mr. Hugh G. Nclan 1003 Park Avenue Spring Lake Heights, NJ 07762
Dear Mr. Nolan:
We have received your letter expressing views on nuclear power, the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident, and the disposal of nuclear waste.
We appreciate your concerns and assure you that cvery effort is being made to ensu ' the continued protection of public health and safety, not only Three Mile Island, but at all nuclear plant sites. A complete investigation of the Three Mile Island accident is being conductcd and the results will be given wide semination.
Enclosed for your consideration is a discussion of
's role in the colution of the nuclear waste problem.
Thank you again for your expression of interest.
Sic.cnrely,
/
Harold R. Centon, Director Cffice of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Enclosure:
As stated 7907110641 o-n g
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ENCLOSURE D'ISPCS AL OF R KICACTI'!E BASTE Radioactive materiels which result from the nuclea-fuel cycle can be separated into tno mJ n categories:
1.
Effluents -
thost materials discharged to tne environment as gaseous or liquid ef fluents (the radioactive content of these effluenM must fall within established NRC and EPA limits and must be as icw as reasonably achievable) - and, 2.
Wastes -
those raterials which are of sufficient potential radiological hazara that ti.cy require special care.
Radioactive wastes (thc seccnd category) are separated into two :: road classifications:
"high-lev'el wastes" and "other than hign-level wastes."
High-level wastes are radioactive wastes produced in the first solvent extraction cicle of fuel reprocessing operations and spent fuel elements should they be discarded.
They are hichly radioactive and require shielding and remote haridling.
NRC regulations (Appendix F of 10 CFR Part 50) recuire that the inventory of high-level liquid waste at a fuel reprocessing olant be limited to that produced in the crior five years and that it be con-verted to solid form and transferred to a federal repository within ten years of its separation from the irra diated fuel.
With the reorganization of the Atomic Energy Comission into the Energy Research and Cavelopment Administration (now the Department of Energy (DOE])
and the Nuclear Regulatory Comission (NRC), NRC was given regulatory authority over storage and disposal of all comercially generated wastes and those DOE generated high-level radioactive wastes which are subject to long-term stomage 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 performance standards (technical, social and environ-mental) for waste management activities while providing for ficx1oility in technological approach.
These standards and guidelines will be designed to assure public health and safety and protection of the environ,
tren t.
Facilities for storage and/or disposal of hich-level wastes lite sed by NP.C w 'l be designed and operated in accordance with NRC standards.
DOE was pursuing a program designed to accom cdate the anticipated need for disposal of high-level waste or C nt fuel that is expec91 to accumulate as the nuclear power industry continues to grow.
This prc-gram included, among other things, plans to develop several operaticns for disposal of high-level wastes in stable geological for nations.
The pur os e of these f 3cilities wuuld be to dacnstrate the accept 3bility of a specific geological formation for per anent discosal of high-level and
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. transuranic wastes.
These facilities will be treated as permanent disposal repositories.
DOE is now awaiting a Presidential direction of policy ar.d plans which will occur following ccmpletion of studies recommended by an interagency tisk force formed by the President.
There are several methods of high-level waste disposal which are technologically feasible.
DOE is expected to continue to investigate cptions to detennine whether superior disposal alternatives can be-Jeveloped.
For specific information concerning plans and programs, contact the Director, Division of Waste Management, Cepartment of Energy, Washington, D.C.
20545.
In parallel with DOE's research and development activities,'c? is These developing performance criteria for solidified high-level w3stes.
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, transpar-tation, handling, emplacement and post-emplacement.
Repository site selection criteria are being developed and will enccmpass a broad spectrum of concerns including earth science, geographic, demographic and socioeconomic factors.
A study to determine the design and operating requirerzents for high-level waste repositories will provide a basis for the development of standards and staff review methodologies.
Radioactive wastes other than high-le/el 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.
Thern 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 tne present time, The West cnly the latter three sites are receivinc waste for burial Valley and Maxey Flats sites are closad. The Sheffield site is filled to its licensed capacity.
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 creunds are located in agreement States and are regulated by the states. However, at two sites, the NRC licenses special nuclear material because the quantities authorized for pcsses-sion by the commercial 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 althoucn tho 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 ccamercially operated.
The states have assumed responsibility for long-tenn care of the sites.
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,3-Since the formation of NRC's waste management program in mid-1975, efforts f
have been uncerway to identify regulatory needs for low-level waste management and to perform technical studies to support those regulations.
This ef fort w1s accel > rated in mid-1977 with the creation of a Low-Level Waste Branch (LLWB) within the Office of Nuclear Paterial Safety and The LLW3 was Safeguards (NMSS) and increased rescurces throughout NRC.
analyses to prepare a regulatory assigned responsibility for technical base, review license applications and ccordination of NRC's techni, cal and policy efforts for low-level wastes.
A preliminary Icw-level waste management program plan, NUREG-0240, was issued in October 1977.
The NRC staff has continued to refine our concept of the icw-lesel waste In addition, a nu,mber of supporting technical studies have been program.
initiated and preliminary results are being ccnsidered in program plan-Additional studies have been defined to support our regulation ning.
development efforts and these have been initiated or will be in the near future.
The principal objectives of the low-level waste (LLW) program are to develop a framework of criteria and regulations for long-term manage nt of corcercial icw-level waste disposal sites and to provide the tools for anplicants to prepare license applications and for NRC to make uniform, timely licensing decisions.
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