Savannah River Site Public and regulatory involvement in the transuranic (TRU) program and their effect on decisions to dispose of Pu-238 heat source tru waste onsite
- U. S. Department of Energy, Washington (United States)
- Goldston Washington Savannah River Company (United States)
The key to successful public involvement at the Savannah River Site (SRS) has been and continues to be vigorous, up-front involvement of the public and state regulators with technical experts. The SRS Waste Management Program includes all forms of radioactive waste. All of the decisions associated with the management of these wastes are of interest to the public and successful program implementation would be impossible without including the public up-front in the program formulation. Serious problems can result if program decisions are made without public involvement, and if the public is informed after key decisions are made. This paper will describe the regulatory and public involvement program and their effects on the decisions concerning the disposal at the Savannah River Site (SRS) of heat source Pu-238 TRU waste. As can be imagined, a decision to dispose of TRU waste onsite versus shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plan (WIPP) in New Mexico for disposal is of considerable interest to the stakeholders in South Carolina. The interaction between the stakeholders not only include the general public, but also the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) and Region IV of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The discussions, educational sessions, and negotiations include resolution of equity issues as well and moved forward to an understanding of the difficulties including risk management faced by the Ship-to- WIPP program. Once the program was better understood, the real negotiations concerning equity, safety, and risk to workers from handling Pu-238 waste could begin. This paper will also discuss the technical, regulatory, and public involvement aspects of disposal onsite that must be properly communicated if the program is to be successful. The Risk Based End State Vision Report for the Savannah River Site includes a variance that proposes on-site near surface disposal of waste from the program to produce Pu-238 heat sources for deep space probes. On-site disposal would greatly reduce the risk to workers by eliminating the need to repackage the waste in order to characterize it and ship it to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Significant cost savings can also be realized. A performance assessment was completed to demonstrate that on-site disposal of this waste can be done while meeting the Department of Energy and EPA performance objectives for disposal of TRU waste in a non-WIPP location such as the SRS. This analysis provides a means of demonstrating the technical basis for this alternative to management, stakeholders and regulators. The technical analysis is required to demonstrate that the performance objectives contained in 40 CFR 191, Environmental Protection Standards for the Management and Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level and Transuranic Radioactive Wastes will be met over a 10,000 year period. This paper will describe the successful results of this technical, regulatory, and public involvement program, explore why and how the accomplishments occurred, and describe the future challenges along with the road map for the future. In doing this, the TRU Ship-to-WIPP program must be described to give the readers an understanding of the technical complexities that must be communicated successfully to achieve constructive stakeholder participation and regulatory approval. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9 - 332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21294623
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-09-WM-07037; TRN: US10V0027040813
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM'07: 2007 Waste Management Symposium - Global Accomplishments in Environmental and Radioactive Waste Management: Education and Opportunity for the Next Generation of Waste Management Professionals, Tucson, AZ (United States), 25 Feb - 1 Mar 2007; Other Information: Country of input: France; 30 refs
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ALPHA-BEARING WASTES
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
GROUND DISPOSAL
HAZARDS
PERFORMANCE
PLUTONIUM 238
SAFETY
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SPENT FUELS
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WASTE TRANSPORTATION
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