Plans for evaluation of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant's compliance with EPA standards for radioactive waste management and disposal

Technical Report · Sat Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6055456· OSTI ID:6055456

Bertram-Howery, S. G.; Hunter, R. L.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is actively pursuing the disposal of transuranic (TRU) waste in a geologic environment at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The accepted Standard is divided into two subparts. Supart A limits annual radiation doses to members of the public from waste management and storage operations at disposal facilities, and Subpart B limits cumulative releases of radioactive materials for 10,000 years, radiation doses to members of the public for 1000 years, and radioactive contamination of certain sources of ground water for 1000 years, as a result of disposal of wastes. The WIPP Project will assess compliance with Subpart A primarily by means of an extensive monitoring program. The Project will assess compliance with Subpart B primarily using performance-assessment techniques developed for the evaluation of the performance of high-level-waste repositories. Compliance with the Assurance Requirements and the Ground Water Protection Requirements will be assessed using other techniques. The WIPP Project will be the first to evaluate the compliance of a mined geologic repository with the EPA Standard. Although Subpart B of the Standard was remanded to EPA by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, this paper discusses the Standard as first promulgated. Compliance plans for the WIPP will be revised as necessary in response to any changes in the Standard. 47 refs., 7 figs.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 6055456
• Report Number(s): SAND-88-2871; ON: DE89011349
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ALPHA-BEARING WASTES
COMPLIANCE
CONTAMINATION
DOSE EQUIVALENTS
EVALUATION
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HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
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MATERIALS
MITIGATION
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PILOT PLANTS
QUALITY ASSURANCE
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REGULATIONS
STANDARDS
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
US DOE
US EPA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
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WIPP