ML20062A491
| ML20062A491 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/30/1982 |
| From: | Fehringer D, Knapp M NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8208040014 | |
| Download: ML20062A491 (4) | |
Text
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From the l'.S. Nuclear Regulaton Comm/ won a
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i Regulating the Development
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of a Waste Re ositor G
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D.J. Fehringer M.R. Knapp N
Ih. h-l.csel M.aste l a.ensmg
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g N1anagement Ib am b lbision of M aste N1.magement 3
hi re t riici al agrin in sh.u r ib-Ticgulanne a geoloen irposuon i nponuhilu s t< o iln clopme.uis ACTIVITY NRC LICENSING ACTION r
h o lugh-In cl n oi Ir.n w asic IIm t s Site NRC comments informally on DOE Site 1)c p u t ua in ot I nei es e o > n i c'P""
Characterization Characterization Plan. Public comment is requested.
N ulde toi unng. anignmg < on so n' '
m e..n ut ope w m g i hr i cposui o.
.u n t the i s t ns u oinnenul Pi.on non Informal, frequent DOE-NRC interaction
\\ geni s a e o has bee n i h." evil a u h occurs during Site Characterization.
dn elopm g 'gencialh apphi able en-s u onmenol r.n hanon pr oici non sun.
Construction DOE applies to NRC for authorization.
d.uite n i set t he < n ci all salen sumi.o d
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NRL, staff reviews application.
hi lugh in cl w aur I he I s \\inIc.n R gul.a.os ( munmnoi i s ki, n ir-Public participation occurs.
G sponuhletoi dn ch ipm g t he ici luni al
< i nci u n, un plement i hr i e 1 u.u nl.u d If application is sound, license is issued.
.unt to enun c. In t he la enung po, ns i h.u a pi i,pi, sed i r p:.su o r s w ill s.u nt s j
DOE. commences repository construction.
I Operation Same process as for construction autnorization.
t hne s t ori u wer snut h.un t \\loi t is ou tedri al m.o ugement -Id.
l i nsui m g the sale notanon of nnho l Decommissioning Same process as for construction authorization.
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sohement at ca< h step of reiw>sitory tional release rate; site perfor mance is delaying ra:lionuclide seleases until the des elopment, amt to promote caily deter mined by the trasel time. 'I hus, tem]wratures in the umlergroutui f a-identiin ation and resolution of n> ten-all of the performaine standards for (ility have passed their peak and are I
tial problems at a regmitory site.
the major barriers tan im sperihed in decicasing, and until the thermal gra-
'I he pio(edural rule requires t>ot. to terms of an appropriately < hosen om-dients in the undergroumi facility and imestigate aint (hara(terire a mini-tairunent time, selease rate and trasel surrounding :m L hase decreased sub-mum of three sites in at least two time.
stantially. I ower temperatures and dilfrient media prior to sulunitting a Acundingly, NRC has prolw> sed a temperature gradients allow the re-li< cme applic ation for a site. This re-muhi-barrier appinac h, which defines lease rates and the radionudide ini-quirement will allow NRc to satisiy the per ioi mam e objet tis es for eac h of these gration rates o be piedicted with National Ensironmental l'olic y At t three bas sicis. The waste pac kage must greater umfidence. Therefore, the 0,l eM icquirement f or mmidering al-be designed to omtain the waste for Commission has framed its per f oi-ter natnes, will present a prematme 1,000 year s; the enginceird ss stem must mam e objectise f or the waste pa(Lage f
mmmitment by tiot. to a par tic ular site, he designed to limit annual releases of to iequit e the design of the pac Lage to and willassm e that not's piefer red site waste af ter 1,000 years to 10 ' of the luoside reasonable assuran(e of con-willim c hosen f r om a slate ol tandidate imentory of waste in the re[mitory tainment for at least 1,000 years.
sites that are among the best that < an and the geologic setting must pimide A radionuclide tr/ra3r rate on the or-reasonably be f ouml. As part of the site a ground water trasel time of at least der of 10 ' of the total in a re}mitory (haraiteiiiation inogram, not is e-1,000 years. As a further step to pro-1,cr ycar (or less) af ter 1,000 y ears senes quired to umduct an in situ testing tet t public health and safety, NRC om-two pu Imes. Fint, it allows substan-program at depth f or eac h site (see sider s that the ielmitory should be de-tial decay of some of the more haiard-Smedes on the not progiam-lall signed to peimit the retriesal of the ous of the long-lis ed species (e.g., more
()n Febr uary 25, 1981, sRC pub-waste for a peri <xt of up to 50 years than two thiids of the Pu-239, Am-241, lished in the Fednal thgnin the hnal af ter the completion of emplacement and Am-243). Second, it prmides sub-s ule c ontaining the pnx edural ie-operations. NRC published these pet-stantial dilution of the long-lised nu.
quirements for liteming a high-lesel formaine objec tises for mnunent as a (lides which do migrate from the en-waste regmitoiy.
In olmed r ule in the Fedna/ Regnier on gineered system. NRc mnsiders that, July 8,1981.
based on the technology being desel.
In spetif ying a contamment time f or oped bv ix)E, an ;innuail release rate of The Technical Rule da radionmlides, the NRC staf f rec-10 5 of the waste imentory can be Comlwmating for any un< crtainties ognized that mntainment for 1,000 athiesed at a reasonable cost, using a that wouhl otbeiwise mnlound an ad.
years would paesent icleases from oc-combinatiori of waste forms and other equate demomtration of mmpliame cuiring until the most haraidous mm.
engineered barriers.
with tiu stand..rds is an essential part lunients of tht waste, the fission p <nl-In specifying a icquirrrnerit for a of the re(hnical pntion of SRC's reg-mis, base essentially disappeaied and travel time, the sRc staf f comidered ulation. Ahhough mnservatise anal.
rates of heat generation f rom decay whether to regulate the nuclide trasel pes, lumnding assumptions for input base decreased by three orders of time or the ground water trasci time.
data, cit., base Iren prolmed as wass magnitude. l'ur t hermor e, m niain-
'I he stafI reasoned that minimum ofunnpensating for om ertainties, NRc ment for 1,000 yean has the etlett of ground water trasel times of 1,000 years mmiden that this Lind of mmpema-tion can lwst be ac hiesed by setting 4 '*', ' f,14 'Ff
,hF minimum performame sr.uutards for
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ra<h of the maj.or miem elements < bar-k- $K f;j /i Mr y.
O riers), so as to pimide p.utial redon-C
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L dam y let ween these b.u iier s. N Rc, t hen.
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has pio;med sm h perim mam e ob er-i 3
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-g4 tises for a onnbination of engineered
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f, and geologic hairiers as the most prac-w, tical way of a(hiesing this goal.
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l Pnfmmanae standaods
~1 he merall per f or mam e of a geo-s, logic iepository with restw(t to releases y
1 to the biosphere can be desc ribed by thice c harac teristic s: (1) the length of
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time atter (losuie during w hi< h iadio-
- m nmlides are omtained. (2) the rare at
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whit h radionuclides are icleased irom M,
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the engineered sssicm af ter mntain.
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through the geologie setting f or radio-y
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nu(lides to ica< h the bimphere. ~1 he
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[wi f or mam e nt t he indis idual bar riers 3
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can also be spe$ihed in terms of these
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y thice c harac ter istu s. I he pei f or mam e of waste patLages and the under.
After drdling a dut around a large Idock of granite and insntingllat jmks to detamine ground Iauht\\ is deterinined by slwt-the ennhanical reponse v{ the gramte, researchns at the Cadurado khool of.\\ lines emjdace if ying a mutainment time atul a f ra(-
earinus instruments to meamre the r/[rris.
218 UNnr Rt.R(n NI Seu i Fednal.\\fanagement Januan/A[uil 1982
f roin sejwisitory depths to the au tasi-terization. As early as lxswible in the fortnaru c obje( tis es (w hile still requir ing ble eininomnent can Iw identified in site im estigation pun ew. tx >t arul sac that the merall system perforinarue many hydiologic systenn. liccause of need to scat h agicement on w hat the objeuise be meo, treating the numer-N the gicater c onf ulcru e in our abilits to key siting issues are aiul on the kinds ital salues as design goals rather than
-m incasure huhaulic than gem hemical of tests and data that will be seguired per toimaru e ohic(tises, ami delay mg parameters', arnt bec ause of the ele-to resohe them. An agiecment on imw the seleuion of final values until agr ee-rnent ol < onsen satism that is intro-to imestigate ihese iwucs in a marmer ment is : cat hed on lunw to demonst: ate duc ed, it seems gn udent to selc< t the that will pimide a substantially com-(ompliaine with the oitetia.
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water trasci tinne as the patameter to plete lic erne application can be w or ked
~1 hesc (omments base raised inany a
be irgulated rather than the radio-out ontv by close inteiauion between valid unuerns that the Mulcar Reg-nuc hde trasel tinw, w hic h imoh es pre-sucand theixa staf f wor king on these ulatoiy Commiwion will need to con-dit ting retaniation. Theicior e, the pinblems in the field.
sider in deseloping its Imal rule. The Z
Commiwion b.n iramed its site [wr-h n maru e objeun e in the pioimsed i ute so that the giound water trasel time f unn dw reposiun y to the au essible
... A major concept underlying NRC's enu,onment must be a, les,t 1,"""
rulemakin# s the reduction or eliinination of i
i yeais. i-_unhenmne, sac exprus not io ica gnize diat sites with esen longer uncertainties to the CXtent practicable, and water u aseltin w,a,e prefe,able.
compensation for unavoidable uncertainties by s,ime. an,gn, ana paa racc < oreri" redundancy in the overall systern of major sac has pnymsea a number of gub barriers in the rehosito9'.'
<hoonal uitena for the re}msnory sne, r
the design of the ic[msitory, aiul the waste pac kage, and most of these oi-teria aie quahtathe rather than quan-Status of the Technical Rule Commiwinn irtognizes that the tec h-titatise. Some (ritriia are intended to nology for isolating high-lesel waste is promote public health and saf ety di-
- 15) the erut of 1981, Nuc had ie-still deseloping and that not needs reuly through sound praui(e in re-iched more than 80 conunents on its flexibility to deal with (on<htums at a a
imsitory deseloinnent-asniding sites proposed technical rule w hit h ex-par ticular site or with par tic ular design
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with exploitable mineral iesources, pressed the siews of federal and state c onsiderations. s uc is pai tk ulaily aware perf ormaine starulards f or shalt and agencies, industry, public inteiest of the need to deselop an agreement
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hm chole seals, etc.
ot hei s are in-groups, and private indisiduals. Many within the technicalumununity on how tended to reduce uru ertainties, to the of the umunents reflect coiuein mer to test the u>mponents of the waste iso-extent piauicable, by asoiding emi-how the per formarue objeuhes in the lation system and how to evaluate, with somnents w here the intential impac t pr oposed rule wouhl be imple-ieasonable awurarue, w hether isola-on a repository is ditticult to analyie mented-what wouhl be required to tion has iinteed been ac hiesed. In de-(e.g., pioximity to sur f a(c wates im-demonstrate a scasonable assurain e of seloping the final t riteria, the Com-e pouruiments or potential (hemical in-unnpliarue with the proimsed numer-mission will need to comider carefully
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unnpatibilities hetween the waste p u k-ital salues. A number of unnnwnts questions raised by the public in its age arnt the host ux L). Together with imint out spet ibc examples, sm h as de-unnments on the criteria, and the the perfonnaine objc(thes and re-teme high-lesel wastes or aged com-Conunission will ensure that its final quirements f or testing azul quality as-menial wastes, where the specific nu-rule has the flexibihn necessar y to make suraine, these uiteria will promote merical salues contained in the the rule impleinentable. NRc h conh-umtulerne that a re;msitory will pei-perfor mance objeuis es do not rontrib-dent that mechanisms can be worked for m as intended See St. John on ie-ute to au ompikhing the Commiwion's out for dealing with these issues, and
[msitory design-Ed.).
objeuhe of emuting that the IPA stan-that it will accomphsh its goal of pio-dard will be met. ~1 he uimments sug-viding a reasonable assurarne of the su,apropc mu" gest a number of apinnaches f or deal-protection of public heahh and safety A number of the issues that will be ing with tbese conc cins, such as without restriuing unnecessarily pot's 7
ed addressed in a licensing puu eeding in-eliminating the numeikal values ahn-ability to take advantage of fasorable s oh e site-qwe ihr omditions w hic h must gether, revising the rule to allow flex-unulitiom at a particular site or new be imestigated as part of site c harac-ibility in meeting the subsystem gwr-deselopments in engineer ing methods.
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From the U.S. Department of Energ d
The National Program for Isolating High-Level Nuclear Waste Harry Smedes Senior Tecimical Advisor Office of Waste Isolation
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For some time, the U.S. program for managing high-level radioactive waste has
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focused on the method ofdeep geologic isolation. This paper summarizes the national objectives for waste isolation in thus manner and describes the status and outlook of the program designed to cany out the objectives. It gives attention to the goals and plans of the U.S. Department ofEnergy, describes the Department's work, and pinpoints the key hsues in siting a geologic repositoryfor high-level waste.
- il he radioactive waste program of in corrosion-resistant containers to be continues to be a primary goal of doe.
Tthe U.S. Department of Ene gy
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laki on the lhx>rs or scaled in holes The proposed system is advantageous I
(ixn) focuses on the methixi of drilled into the lhx>rs of these drifts.
because (1) it does not depend upon isolation in deep geologic formations, After the waste is emplaced, the tuoms scientific or engineering break-using c oncepts that arc tumpatible with and drifts will be backfilled and sealed.
throughs; (2) it can be assessed with the pimisions of the National Envi-Finally, the shafts themselves will be current capabilities; and (3) it will not ronmental Policy Act (NFPA). An en-filled and sealed (see St. John on re-require active maintenance or surveil-vironmentalimpact statement address-gxisitory design-Ed.).
lance for a very long perhxl of time ing this meth(xl was reviewed publitly The most likely way for waste to mi-into the future. doe's program was de-m and published in final form in 1980 grate f rom a repository into the bio-scribed in detail in the Department's (doe 1980a). A record of decision was logical environment is through diuo-statement of position, which is part of then published in the Federal Register lution in and transimrtation by ground the Confidence Rulemaking Proceed-(poE l'181a) which formally declared a water. por plans to select repository ings of the Nuclear Regulatory Com-
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strategy for waste isolation based ugxm sites only in structurally sound, stable mission (por 1980b and 1980c). These b
the development of mined geologic re-nx ks of low permeability where waste proceedings stem from the decision of gunitories. This strategy is therefi>re the can he isolated during its extremely long the Nuclear Regulatory Commission current policy of the U.S. Department luiardous lifetime. Thus, the geologic (NRC) to re-examine the basis for con-of Energy (see Smith and Morris on and hydrologic conditions of the site fidence in the future off-site storage or federal management-Ed.).
provide the ultimate turriers to waste isolation of spent nuclear fuel.
The aynstructi<yn of these tegosito-migration (see ilustrulid on host me-Until recently, the attitude of the De-rics will unohe smking gertical shaf ts du-Ed.). Addinonal safety is pro-s 1,000-3,000 f t; deselopmg a grut of vided by engineered barners, nulud-partment of Energy was, in effect, Trust us; in 25 years a full-scale re-horvontal drif ts and c hambers at the ing the comixysit on and form of the pository will be available." That pro-luses of the shafts; and placing the waste waste, the camster, packing, and luck-gram was shargyly criticized because, alter decades of government procras-This guper was presented at the t?nder-tination and parti.d solutions,it seemed p
gpg that anyother 25 years was too long to ground Sgute Confereme and Exgunition, sgunsmed by the American LTnderground-wait with only assurances that the goal Sgure Awmiation, on June 10, 1981, in The aimpletion of a first full-scale would be met. doe decided that the Kansas Ciiy, Miw>uri.
operational repository in almut 25 years regulatory process and public confi-220 c r,,r aiad sec. Vid 6. pp 220-2?ri.19:42 03624>36Mt21)io22ini9 sos iam Pruised m the U.s A. All nghes reserved repynght C 19:42 Perganum Press iad.
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