BRC Comments - September 2010
BRC Comments - September 2010
What are the essential elements of technically credible, workable, and publicly acceptable regulations for disposal (in geologic repositories)?
What are the essential elements of technically credible, workable, and publicly acceptable regulations for disposal (in geologic repositories)?
Congress designated Yucca Mountain, NV, as the nation’s sole candidate site for a permanent high-level nuclear waste repository in 1987, following years of controversy over the site-selection process. Over the strenuous objections of the State of Nevada, the Department of Energy (DOE) submitted a license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository in June 2008 to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
On January 13, 1993, Governor of the State of Utah, Mike Leavitt officially announced that he was opposing a MRS Facility in the State of Utah and informed San Juan County of his decision which will preclude the County from applying for a Phase IIa feasibility grant. A copy of the policy statement made by Governor Leavitt is attached for your information.
The study of geosciences and their relation to nuclear waste disposal and<br/>management entails analyzing the hydrology, chemistry, and geometry of the<br/>nuclear waste migration process. Hydrologic effects are determined by<br/>analyzing the porosity and permeability (natural and induced) of rock as well,<br/>as pressures and gradients, dispersion, and aquifer length of the system.<br/>Chemistry parameters include radionuclide retardation factors and waste<br/>dissolution rate.
Letter to The Honorable Nancy L. Kassebaum from J. Dexter Peach, Director, U.S. General Accounting Office
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has amended the policies under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 for evaluating the suitability of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as a site for development of a nuclear waste repository. The final rule at Title 10, Part 963 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR Part 963) focuses on the criteria and methodology to be used for evaluating relevant geological and other related aspects of the Yucca Mountain site.
The research reported here was initiated in January 1980 and performed for the Office of Policy and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Energy. The study arises from recognition by the DOE that the resolution of institutional issues is vital to the establishment of facilities to dispose of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). The disposal of HLW is an intensely difficult public policy problem.
Posiva Oy is studying the Finnish bedrock for the geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel. The study is based on the site selection research programme started originally in 1983. The programme is in accordance with the decision in principle by the Council of State in 1983 and aims at the selection of one site in 2000. Four sites, Hastholmen in Loviisa, Kivetty in Aanekoski, Olkiluoto in Eurajoki and Romuvaara in Kuhmo, have been studied in detail. This report summarises the results of the site investigations carried out at Hastholment.
In the Savannah River Site’s (SRS’) Solid Waste Management Program, a key to success is the Public Involvement Program. The Solid Waste Division at SRS manages the site’s transuranic, low-level, mixed, and hazardous wastes.
Repository performance assessment is analysis that identifies events and processes that might affect a repository system for isolation of radioactive waste, examines their effects on barriers to waste migration, and estimates the probabilities of their occurrence and their consequences. In 1983 Battelle Memorial Institute's Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation (ONWI) prepared two plans — one for performance assessment for a waste repository in salt and one for verification and validation of performance assessment technology. At the request of the U.S.
This white paper offers some suggestions about how to improve the process in the United States for developing facilities for geologic disposal of used nuclear reactor fuel and high-level radioactive waste. These suggestions look toward the future, and build on what I believe are the lessons that should be learned from the troubled Yucca Mountain repository project.
The principal factors that affected the scope of scientific investigations at Yucca Mountain over the last 20 years included both regulatory and technical aspects. Examples of regulatory factors include the regulations themselves as well as the associated quality assurance requirements. Examples of technical factors include the repository and waste package designs, new information that affected the post-closure safety basis, and technical reviews from peers, stakeholders and the regulators.
Many nations and international agencies are working to develop improved technology and industrial capability for nuclear fuel cycle and waste management operations. The effort in some countries is limited to research in university laboratories on treating low-level waste from reactor plant operations.
The Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, today proposes to amend its General Guidelines for the Recommendation of Sites for Nuclear Waste Repositories. The DOE is proposing these amendments to clarify and focus the Guidelines to be used in evaluating the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada for development as a repository.
This report is concerned with how America's public sector is handling the challenge of implementing a technical, environmental policy, that of managing the nation's high-level nuclear waste, as reflected in the attempt of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to site a Monitored Retrievable Storage Facility (MRS) for high-level radioactive waste in Tennessee.
The U.S. Congress authorized the development of a monitored retrievable storage facility (MRS) as part of the high-level radioactive waste management system. The MRS will be used to receive, store, and stage shipments of intact spent fuel to the permanent repository. Early development of the MRS is crucial to honoring the long-standing Federal commitment to timely and adequate waste acceptance. The Department of Energy's (DO E) objective is initial waste acceptance at the MRS beginning in 1998.