Implementation of a Dose Standard After 10,000 Years

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations governing the disposal of high-level radioactive wastes in a proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The final rule implements the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) revised standards for doses that could occur after 10,000 years, but within the period of geologic stability. The final rule also specifies a range of values for the deep percolation rate to be used to represent climate change after 10,000 years, as called for by EPA, and specifies that calculations of radiation doses for workers use the same weighting factors that EPA is using for calculating individual doses to members of the public.