Legal and regulatory issues regarding classification and disposal of wastes from actinide partitioning and transmutation
Partitioning and transmutation of actinide radioelements in spent nuclear fuel from civilian power reactors is potentially attractive because the resulting wastes might be acceptable for disposal using systems which are considerably less costly than a deep geologic repository. At present, there are no legal or regulatory prohibitions to seeking alternatives to a geologic repository for disposal of such wastes. However, additional laws and regulations would be needed, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been reluctant to alter the current framework for radioactive waste management, in which geologic repositories or near-surface facilities are the only disposal options established in law and regulations unless a compelling need for alternatives with intermediate waste-isolation capabilities is demonstrated. There are also important technical considerations which are not encouraging with regard to the development of intermediate disposal systems for wastes from partitioning and transmutation of actinides in civilian spent fuel. First, the wastes may contain sufficient concentrations of fission products. Second, defense reprocessing wastes may contain sufficient concentrations of fission products and long-lived actinides. Thus, in developing the legal and regulatory framework for alternative disposal systems, there is a need to establish maximum concentrations of fission products and long-lived actinides that would be acceptable for intermediate disposal. 19 refs.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 6528922
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-890207-6; ON: DE89007198
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
056000 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Legislation & Regulations-- (1987-)
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ACTINIDES
CLASSIFICATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUELS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
ISOTOPES
LAWS
LEGAL ASPECTS
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY ACTS
POWER REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
REGULATIONS
REPROCESSING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SPENT FUELS
TRANSMUTATION
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
US NRC
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES