NRC to issue new Part 61 rules for low-level waste disposal

Continuing its breakneck pace of introducing new rules and proposals, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week announced that it was proposing to amend its regulations under 10 CFR Part 61 governing the land disposal of low-level radioactive waste.

The proposed rule, which introduces a new risk-informed framework for LLW disposal in which sites can develop waste acceptance criteria based on site-specific characteristics, is one of several rules the NRC is seeking to finalize and issue in response to Executive Order 14300, "Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

According to the NRC, the proposed LLW rule would establish a clear regulatory pathway for disposing of greater-than-Class C (GTCC) radioactive waste. The changes include provisions for the disposal of GTCC waste at "both near-surface and specialized land disposal facilities."

Speaking at a media roundtable on June 25, NRC Chairman Ho Nieh said, "There is no pathway for these greater-than-Class C waste streams right now. This is providing a very risk-informed, structured framework to look at the different concentrations of radionuclides in these waste streams to lay out an appropriate and safe framework for near-surface disposal."

Graded approach: According to the NRC, the proposed rule would allow for a graded approach, in that facilities that do not plan to accept significant quantities of long-lived radionuclides or GTCC waste will need to meet only a streamlined set of requirements, while those that do must comply with the rule's new proposed technical analysis, intruder assessment, and other revised requirements.

The proposed rule would also introduce new options for disposal of higher concentrations of waste.

The changes: Other provisions of the proposed rulemaking include the following:

• Introduction of site-specific and generic waste acceptance criteria-Allows facilities to develop waste acceptance criteria tailored to their site-specific technical analyses, or to use generic criteria based on existing LLW classification requirements.
• Specification of compliance periods-Specification of a 1,000-year compliance period for sites that do not contain significant quantities of long-lived radionuclides or a 10,000-year compliance period for sites that are planning to accept such waste.
• Requirements for performance period analyses-Requires additional, potentially more qualitative analyses for post-closure periods beyond 10,000 years for facilities that accept significant quantities of long-lived radionuclides for disposal.
• Establishment of thresholds for radionuclide concentrations-Specification of thresholds for radionuclide concentrations above which GTCC waste is generally not acceptable for near-surface disposal, and for any type of land disposal.
• Clarification of NRC regulatory authority over GTCC waste-Provides that regulation of GTCC waste disposal cannot be relinquished to NRC agreement states. As such, the NRC would retain authority over GTCC waste disposal.
• Technical analyses for GTCC waste-Requires operational safety assessment and analyses for demonstration of additional waste characteristic requirements to demonstrate safe disposal of GTCC waste.
• Physical protection-Clarifies the applicable physical protection requirements for LLW containing dilute concentrations of special nuclear material of low strategic significance or of a Category III quantity.
• ALARA requirements-Replaces the "as low as reasonably achievable" requirements in the performance objectives for protection of the general population from releases of radioactivity and protection of individuals during operations in Parts 61.41 and 61.43, respectively, with references to dose limits in 10 CFR Part 20. Other requirements in the proposed rule continue to reflect a graded approach to dose management for Part 61.

Coordinated effort: According to Nieh, the NRC's LLW rulemaking is part of a coordinated federal nuclear fuel cycle effort, providing a clear regulatory framework for the back end of the fuel cycle as the Department of Energy works to build an integrated, full nuclear life cycle through its proposed Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses.

"What we are putting in place is a predictable NRC disposal pathway for [GTCC] waste that is necessary to close that life cycle and to pair DOE's economic and infrastructure investments with NRC licensing frameworks for safety that are credible, predictable, and timely," Nieh said.

Public comment: The proposed rule is to be published in the Federal Register in the coming days, after which the NRC will accept public comments on the rulemaking for 45 days. Comments may be submitted through regulations.gov under Docket ID NRC-2011-0012. The agency also plans to hold a public meeting on the proposal.

Additionally, the NRC has developed a draft guidance document for comment, NUREG-2175, Revision 1, "Guidance for Conducting Technical Analyses for 10 CFR Part 61."