[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 25, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54671-54673]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-26481]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Notice of Availability of Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Study
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: Today's notice is announcing the availability of the Remote-
Handled Transuranic Waste Study. The study was prepared by the
Department in fulfillment of a congressional mandate specified in
Public Law 102-579, referred to as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land
Withdrawal Act. In addition, the Department considers the preparation
of the study to be a prudent element in the compliance certification
process for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The study includes
an analysis of the impact of remote-handled Transuranic waste on the
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performance assessment of the WIPP and a comparison of remote-handled
Transuranic waste with contact-handled Transuranic waste on issues of
gas generation, flammability, explosiveness, solubility, and brine and
geochemical interactions.
ADDRESSES: To obtain a copy of the Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste
Study (Document Number DOE/CAO 95-1095) telephone the WIPP Information
Center at 1-800-336-9477. Also, the study can be viewed at the Internet
address: http://www.wipp.carlsbad.nm.us. In addition, copies of the
Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Study are available for inspection at
the following WIPP reading rooms: Public Library Reading Room,
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20585; Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, 625 Indiana Avenue,
NW., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20004; Office of Scientific and
Technical Information, Technical Information Center, Department of
Energy, 55 South Jefferson Circle, Room 112, Oak Ridge, TN 37831; WIPP
Public Reading Room, National Atomic Museum, Albuquerque Operations
Office, Department of Energy, Pennsylvania and H Street, Albuquerque,
NM 87115; Zimmerman Library, Government Publications Department,
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87138; Carlsbad Public
Library, 101 S. Halagueno Street, Carlsbad, NM 88220; Pannell Library,
New Mexico Junior College, 5317 Lovington Highway, Hobbs, NM 88240;
Thomas Brannigan Memorial Library, 200 E. Picacho, Las Cruces, NM
88005; Raton Public Library, 244 Cook Avenue, Raton, NM 87740; New
Mexico State Library, 325 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM 87503; Martin Speare
Memorial Library, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Campus
Station, Socorro, NM 87801; Idaho National Engineering Laboratory,
Boise Office, 816 West Bannock, Suite 306, Boise ID 83706; Shoshone-
Bannock Library, Human Resources Center, Bannock and Pima, Fort Hall,
ID 83203; Public Reading Room, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory
Technical Library, 1776 Science Center Drive, Idaho Falls, ID 83402;
University of Idaho Library, Government Document Department, University
of Idaho Campus, Rayburn Street, Moscow, ID 83403; Moscow Environmental
Restoration Information Office, 530 South Ashbury, Suite 2, Moscow, ID
83843; Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Pocatello Office, 1651 AT
Ricken Drive, Pocatello, ID 83201; Idaho National Engineering
Laboratory, Twin Falls Office, 233 2nd Street North, Suite B, Twin
Falls, ID 83301; Standley Lake Library, 8485 Kipling Street, Arvada, CO
80005; Information Center, Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment, 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Building A, Denver CO
80222-1530; Superfund Records Center, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 999 18th Street, 5th Floor, Denver, CO 80220; Rocky Flats
Public Reading Room, Department of Energy, Front Range Community
College Library, 3645 West 112th Avenue, Westminster, CO 80030;
Citizens Advisory Board, 9035 N. Wadsworth Parkway, Suite 2250,
Westminster, CO 80021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Written questions and comments should
be directed to: George Basabilvazo, Carlsbad Area Office, U.S.
Department of Energy, 101 West Greene Street, Carlsbad, New Mexico
88220.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The ``Department of Energy National Security and Military
Applications of Nuclear Energy Authorization Act of 1980'' (Public Law
96-164) authorized the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a research
and development facility to demonstrate the safe disposal of
radioactive waste generated by national defense activities. The WIPP is
required to meet the statutory requirements of Public Law 96-164.
TRU waste is waste that contains alpha particle-emitting
radionuclides with an atomic number greater than that of uranium (92),
half-lives greater than 20 years, and concentrations greater than 100
nanocuries per gram of waste. TRU waste is classified according to the
radiation dose rate at a package surface. Contact-handled (CH) TRU
waste has a radiation dose rate at a package surface of 200 millirem
per hour or less; this waste can be safely handled directly by
personnel.
Remote-handled (RH) TRU waste has a radiation dose rate at a
package surface of 200 millirem or greater per hour but not more than
1,000 rem per hour; this waste must be handled remotely (i.e., with
machinery designed to shield the handler from radiation). Alpha
radiation is the primary factor in the radiation health hazard
associated with TRU waste. Alpha radiation is not energetic enough to
penetrate human skin but poses a health hazard if it is taken into the
body (e.g., inhaled or ingested). In addition to alpha radiation, TRU
waste also emits gamma and/or beta radiation, which can penetrate the
human body and requires shielding during transport and handling. RH-
TRU waste has gamma and/or beta radiation emitting radionuclides in
greater quantities than exist in CH-TRU waste.
Before 1970, material that is now classified as contact-handled TRU
waste was not segregated from low-level waste and was buried along with
low-level waste. At the time of burial, the DOE did not intend to
retrieve that waste. Since the Atomic Energy Commission (one of the
DOE's predecessor agencies) adopted a policy requiring retrievable
storage of certain waste containing Transuranic radionuclides in 1970,
DOE TRU waste has been stored in containers so that it could be easily
retrieved when future decisions were made regarding the management or
disposition of this waste. About 55 percent of the Department's current
TRU waste inventory contains hazardous substances regulated under the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The fraction of TRU waste
streams that contains hazardous substances is expected to decrease in
the future due to DOE pollution prevention activities.
In 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-579, the ``Waste Isolation
Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act'' (LWA) which withdrew the land on
which the WIPP is situated from public use and transferred jurisdiction
over the site from the Secretary of Interior to the Secretary of
Energy. Although the DOE is now conducting experiments in laboratories,
at the time the LWA was passed, DOE planned on performing experiments
with TRU waste in excavated rooms in the WIPP underground. The LWA
limited experiments in the underground to those with small quantities
of CH-TRU waste during the planned test phase. The repository tests
were abandoned in October 1993. Tests are currently planned at INEL
using actual TRU wastes to evaluate waste performance under potential
repository conditions.
The LWA prohibits RH-TRU waste at the facility until a decision is
made to use WIPP as a permanent repository. However, section 6(c)(2)(B)
of the LWA requires a study to evaluate the effects of RH-TRU waste on
performance assessment of the WIPP. The LWA also requires the study to
compare the two waste types in the areas of gas generation,
flammability, explosiveness, solubility, and brine and geochemical
interactions. In addition, the LWA requires the study to be completed
within three years of the date of enactment (October 30, 1992), be
conducted in consultation with states affected by WIPP and the
Administrator of the EPA. Views were also solicited from other
interested parties. Review
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comments from the affected states, the Administrator and other
interested parties on the RH-TRU waste study Implementation Plan and on
a draft report of the RH-TRU waste study helped improve the quality of
the final report.
Scope of Study
The Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Study has been conducted in
accordance with section 6(c)(2)(B) of the LWA. The study evaluates the
impact of RH-TRU waste on the performance assessment of the WIPP
baseline configuration. In addition, the study also compares the
characteristics of CH-TRU and RH-TRU waste as expected to be received
at WIPP as well as the potential affects of the wastes on gas
generation, flammability, explosiveness, solubility and, brine and
geochemical interactions after emplacement in the WIPP underground. The
Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Study does not include an analysis of
RH-TRU waste characteristics on the transportation and operational
aspects of the WIPP program.
Study Summary
The Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Study has three main sections:
the Transuranic waste disposal strategy; comparison of contact-handled
and remote-handled Transuranic wastes; and analysis of the impact of
remote-handled waste on performance assessment.
In the section on the Transuranic waste disposal strategy, elements
of the WIPP baseline configuration considered to be important for the
study are described. These elements include: room configuration, waste
packaging, RH-TRU waste emplacement and shield plugs, and the physical
and radiological characteristics of the TRU inventory.
The comparison section of the study includes two areas of
evaluation. These include a comparison of CH-TRU and RH-TRU waste
characteristics as expected to be received at the WIPP and a comparison
of CH-TRU and RH-TRU waste after emplacement in and closure of the WIPP
underground. In the latter area of evaluation, the study specifically
addresses the issues required by the LWA: gas generation, flammability,
explosiveness, solubility, and brine and geochemical interactions.
In the last section of the study, the impact of RH-TRU waste on
performance assessment is evaluated. Four radionuclide release
scenarios are identified for evaluation: releases by gas generation,
groundwater transport, human intrusion and heat generation.
Study Findings
A summary of the important findings of the Remote-Handled
Transuranic Waste Study include the following:
The contribution of RH-TRU waste to the total
radioactivity in TRU waste will be insignificant after about 200 years
following emplacement in the WIPP. RH-TRU waste has a greater abundance
of those radionuclides that characteristically have more penetrating
radiation and more specific radioactivity, but these radionuclides also
have rapid decay rates and short half-lives reducing their contribution
to the radioactive component of TRU waste to a short period of time
(200 years). By contrast, the majority of the radionuclides
in CH-TRU waste have less specific radioactivity, but decay at a much
slower rate.
RH-TRU waste contributes only a small portion to the total
TRU waste inventory because the ``Agreement for Consultation and
Cooperation with DOE and the State of New Mexico on WIPP'' (1981)
restricts the quantity to only 5 percent by volume. In addition, RH-TRU
waste is composed of the same materials as CH-TRU waste because they
are derived from similar processes. Therefore, the impact of RH-TRU
waste on performance assessment is insignificant.
No significant accumulations of gas pressure, or flammable
or explosive gases are anticipated in ``as-received'' waste at the WIPP
for the following reasons:
WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria requires containers to be
vented to allow pressure to be relieved from the containers during
transportation;
The WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria sets strict limits on
the amounts of liquids and flammable gasses allowed in WIPP waste, and
WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria prohibits any explosive
materials from being in the waste.
The presence of brine in the WIPP underground can impact
the total amount of gas generated by influencing the mechanisms that
cause waste decomposition. The degree to which gas generation occurs
depends on the amount of brine present in the WIPP underground and the
point in time in the decomposition process brine encounters the waste.
The decomposable materials in RH-TRU waste can contribute
up to about 31 percent of all potential gases that may be generated in
the WIPP underground.
RH-TRU waste contains about 13 percent of the portion of
TRU waste materials that can potentially generate flammable gases.
The additional curies of radioactivity introduced into the
repository by RH-TRU waste will not impact the overall TRU waste
inventory solubility. The reason for this is that the gamma emitters in
RH-TRU waste will decay to levels approximating those in CH-TRU waste
before the waste containers degrade and allow interactions with brine
(about 200 years following WIPP closure).
The effects of heat and radiation from RH-TRU waste on the
WIPP underground are expected to be minimal. Because the Waste
Acceptance Criteria restrict the radiation doses and heat allowed, only
a small portion of the WIPP underground will be irradiated and any
thermal gradients produced will be insignificant.
Long travel times, as predicted by modeling studies, are
required for brine to reach a regulatory boundary. Therefore, it is
highly unlikely that gamma-emitting radionuclides from RH-TRU waste
would be part of a release to the accessible environment due to
groundwater migration since the rapid decay rates of these
radionuclides result in much smaller quantities after a relatively
short period of time (200 years).
Gamma-emitting radionuclides in RH-TRU waste can have
little or no contribution to releases caused by human intrusion
activities because their rapid decay rates result in much smaller
quantities after a relatively short period of time (200
years).
Studies to evaluate the effects of heat on repository
performance have shown that at expected levels of waste package heat
output, insufficient heat will be available to influence WIPP
performance.
Two major conclusions can be drawn from the findings of the Remote-
Handled Transuranic Waste Study: (1) RH-TRU waste has no significant
impact or influence on the outcome of performance assessment and (2)
RH-TRU waste is similar to CH-TRU waste in terms of its characteristics
as expected to be received at WIPP and in its behavior in the WIPP
underground.
Issued in Carlsbad, New Mexico, this 11th day of October, 1995,
for the United States Department of Energy.
George E. Dials,
Manager, Carlsbad Area Office.
[FR Doc. 95-26481 Filed 10-24-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
