Requirements for controlling a repository`s releases of carbon-14 dioxide; the high costs and negligible benefits

Conference · Sun Apr 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

OSTI ID:137695

Park, U Sun; Pflum, C G

A repository excavated within the unsaturated zone may release carbon (C)-14 dioxide in amounts that exceed limits imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The release would not threaten the general population, but may expose some hypothetical maximally exposed individual to 0.0005 millirems/year. Yet a repository`s releases of C-14 dioxide are strictly regulated, perhaps unintentionally. The EPA and NRC regulations could force the Department of Energy to design and fabricate an expensive 10,000-year waste package solely for the sake of controlling releases of C-14 dioxide. This paper argues that the repository regulations should exempt releases of C-14 dioxide or at least impose more equitable limits. 21 refs., 1 tab.

• Research Organization: Science Applications International Corp., Las Vegas, NV (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC08-87NV10576
• OSTI ID: 137695
• Report Number(s): CONF-900406--47; ON: DE90008875
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
CARBON 13
CARBON 14 COMPOUNDS
CLADDING
COMPLIANCE
COST
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
GASEOUS WASTES
HEALTH HAZARDS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
HUMAN POPULATIONS
NEUTRON REACTIONS
NITROGEN 14
OXYGEN 17
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
RECOMMENDATIONS
REGULATIONS
RELEASE LIMITS
SPENT FUELS
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
URANIUM DIOXIDE
US EPA
Yucca Mountain Project
ZIRCALOY