Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management and Disposition Proceedings of a Workshop (2017) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix D: Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management and Disposition: Background Information
Appendix D: Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management and Disposition: Background Information
Pages 119-140
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From page 119... ...
is the most volumetrically significant radiological waste stream in the DOE cleanup program, consisting of millions of cubic meters per year. LLW is defined by exclusion in the United States -- that is, it is a residual category for radioactive waste material that is not otherwise categorized -- and has no lower or upper activity limits (see Box D-1)
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From page 120... ...
any material artificially enriched by any of the foregoing, but does not include source material." Spent nuclear fuel: Defined by Section 2 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982b; "fuel that has been withdrawn from a nuclear reactor following irradiation, the constituent ele ments of which have not been separated by reprocessing." High-level waste (HLW) : Defined by the AEA and the NWPA as amended in 2004;c "(A)
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From page 121... ...
. a"Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended through Public Law 114-92, enacted November 25, 2015," accessed February 24, 2017, https://legcounsel.house.gov/Comps/Atomic%20 Energy%20Act%20Of%201954.pdf.
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From page 122... ...
c"Nuclear Waste Policy Act, as amended, 2004," accessed February 24, 2017, http://www. energy.gov/sites/prod/files/edg/media/nwpa_2004.pdf.
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From page 123... ...
The mission of DOE is to safely address the environmental legacy brought about from five decades of nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research.2 During the Manhattan Project and the Cold War, LLW was generated through the production and utilization of special nuclear materials, including uranium enrichment, reactor fuel and target fabrication, reactor operations, and plutonium production and recovery. In addition, DOE continues to generate LLW through cleanup activities such as facility decommissioning, tank waste retrieval and immobilization, and soil and groundwater cleanup.
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From page 124... ...
6 Section 274b of the Atomic Energy Act allows the USNRC to relinquish portions of its Act-derived regulatory authority to states for source materials, byproduct materials, and small quantities of special nuclear materials. An Agreement State has agreed to take responsibility of licensing commercial storage facilities under authority of the USNRC through a written agreement between the state's governor and the USNRC.
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From page 125... ...
Section 274b of the Act allows the USNRC to relinquish portions of its Act-derived regulatory authority to states for source ma terials, byproduct materials, and small quantities of special nuclear materials. An amendment to the Acta established compensation for, and limits on, licensee liability for injury to off-site persons or damage to property caused by nuclear accidents.
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From page 126... ...
The four DOE sites that allow for disposal of onsite generated LLW are the Idaho National Laboratory; Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico; Oak Ridge Reservation, Tennessee; and Savannah River Site, South Carolina. The other two sites -- the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington, and the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS)
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From page 127... ...
These are incorporated into government contracts and enforced through contract and federal oversight (e.g., the Low-level Waste Disposal 7 "Disposal Information," accessed February 24, 2017, http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/ DisposalInformation and "Nevada National Security Site Waste Acceptance Criteria," accessed February 24, 2017, http://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/1080356/. 8 "Greater-Than-Class C Low-Level Radioactive Waste Environmental Impact Statement (GTCC EIS)
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From page 128... ...
Accepts DOE LLW yes yes SOURCE: Data from "USNRC Information Digest, 2016-17," NUREG-1350, Volume 28, Section 5: Radioactive Waste, accessed February 24, 2017, http://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1624/ML16245A052.pdf)
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From page 129... ...
IV-12: "(3) Composite Analysis: For disposal facilities which received waste after Septem ber 26, 1988, a site-specific radiological composite analysis shall be prepared and maintained that accounts for all sources of radioactive material that may be left at the DOE site and may interact with the low-level waste disposal facility, contributing to the dose projected to a hypothetical member of the public from the existing or future disposal facilities." 15 "USNRC: Part 61.55 Waste Classification," accessed February 24, 2017, https://www.gpo.
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From page 130... ...
SOURCE: for Tables D-2 and D-3, "USNRC Part 61.55: Waste Classification," Tables 1 and 2, accessed February 24, 2017, https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part061/ part061-0055.html.
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From page 131... ...
Therefore, the waste is classified according to the degree of containment and isolation required based on the activity content and half-lives of the contained radionuclides. DOE has previously requested the advice of the National Academies on its waste management programs.
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From page 132... ...
provided guidance on improving current methods for processing radioactive wastes and producing waste forms for disposal. The report found that laws and regulations governing DOE wastes do not establish specific requirements for waste form performance in disposal systems, therefore allowing DOE flexibility in the selection of waste forms.
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From page 133... ...
20 "EM's SPRU Celebrates Waste Removal Success, Safety Milestone," accessed February 24, 2017, http://energy.gov/em/articles/em-s-spru-celebrates-waste-removal-success-safety-milestone. 21 DOE Order 435.1-1 defines classified waste as "Radioactive waste to which access has been limited for national security reasons and cannot be declassified shall be managed in accordance with the requirements of DOE 5632.1C, Protection and Control of Safeguards and Security Interests, and DOE 5633.3B, Control and Accountability of Nuclear Materials."
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From page 134... ...
Its location will be within an existing LLW management facility. Waste at the existing site and specified wastes from other sites in Port Hope will be placed in the above-ground mound.23 Case Study 4: Canada: Deep Geologic Repository for Low- and Intermediate-Level Waste Canada does not have an operating disposal facility for low- or intermediate-level wastes (L&ILW)
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From page 135... ...
disposal facility located in the Aube district, southeast of Paris.26 This facility has been operational since 2003 and is the first disposal facility in the world for this type of waste. Low- and intermediate-level short-lived 25 "ANDRA: Waste Classification," accessed February 24, 2017, https://www.andra.
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From page 136... ...
GTCC and Commercial TRU Waste Exceeding 100 nCi/g There are three types of GTCC waste considered in DOE's final environmental impact statement analysis (DOE, 2016) : Activated metals (generated from the decommissioning of nuclear reactors including core shrouds and core support plate)
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From page 137... ...
Examples include lightly contaminated wastes generated from decommissioning of nuclear facilities at DOE and civilian sites and from site cleanup activities, including debris, rubble, construction materials, and soils. Incident Waste These are wastes resulting from a nuclear incident,30 for example a severe nuclear accident or nuclear or radiological terrorist attack.
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From page 138... ...
There are currently two LLW disposal facilities that are authorized to dispose of uranium oxide: WCS in Texas and the NNSS. A third site, EnergySolutions in Utah, is seeking a permit to authorize disposal of DU in its Class A LLW disposal facility.
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From page 139... ...
Available at https://www.nrc.gov/ docs/ML1516/ML15162A807.pdf. Accessed February 26, 2017.
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