Subpart A-Environmental Standards for Management and Storage

§ 191.01 Applicability.

This subpart applies to:

(a) Radiation doses received by members of the public as a result of the management (except for transportation) and storage of spent nuclear fuel or high-level or transuranic radioactive wastes at any facility regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or by Agreement States, to the extent that such management and storage operations are not subject to the provisions of Part 190 of Title 40; and

(b) Radiation doses received by members of the public as a result of the management and storage of spent nuclear fuel or high-level or transuranic wastes at any disposal facility that is operated by the Department of Energy and that is not regulated by the Commission or by Agreement States.

8191.02 Definitions.

Unless otherwise indicated in this subpart, all terms shall have the same meaning as in Subpart A of Part 190. (a) Agency means the Environmental Protection Agency.

(b) Administrator means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

(c) Commission means the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

(d) Department means the Department of Energy.

(e) NWPA means the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-425).

(f) Agreement State means any State with which the Commission or the Atomic Energy Commission has entered into an effective agreement under subsection 274b of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (68 Stat. 919).

(g) Spent nuclear fuel means fuel that has been withdrawn from a nuclear reactor following irradiation, the constituent elements of which have not been separated by reprocessing.

(h) High-level radioactive waste, as used in this part, means high-level radioactive waste as defined in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-425).

(i) Transuranic radioactive waste, as used in this part, means waste containing more than 100 nanocuries of alpha-emitting transuranic isotopes, with half-lives greater than twenty years, per gram of waste, except for: (1) High-level radioactive wastes; (2) wastes that the Department has determined, with the concurrence of the Administrator, do not need the degree of isolation required by this part; or (3) wastes that the Commission has approved for disposal on a case-by-case basis in accordance with 10 CFR Part 61.

(j) Radioactive waste, as used in this part, means the high-level and transuranic radioactive waste covered by this part.

(k) Storage means retention of spent nuclear fuel or radioactive wastes with the intent and capability to readily retrieve such fuel or waste for subsequent use, processing, or disposal.

(1) Disposal means permanent isolation of spent nuclear fuel or radioactive waste from the accessible environment with no intent of recovery, whether or not such isolation permits the recovery of such fuel or waste. For example, disposal of waste in a mined geologic repository occurs when all of the shafts to the repository are backfilled and sealed.

(m) Management means any activity, operation, or process (except for transportation) conducted to prepare spent nuclear fuel or radioactive waste for storage or disposal, or the activities associated with placing such fuel or waste in a disposal system.

(n) Site means an area contained within the boundary of a location under the effective control of persons possessing or using spent nuclear fuel or radioactive waste that are involved in any activity, operation, or process covered by this subpart.

(0) General environment means the total terrestrial, atmospheric, and aquatic environments outside sites within which any activity, operation, or process associated with the management and storage of spent nuclear fuel or radioactive waste is conducted.

(p) Member of the public means any individual except during the time when that individual is a worker engaged in any activity, operation, or

process that is covered by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.

(q) Critical organ means the most exposed human organ or tissue exclusive of the integumentary system (skin) and the cornea.

8191.03 Standards.

(a) Management and storage of spent nuclear fuel or high-level or transuranic radioactive wastes at all facilities regulated by the Commission or by Agreement States shall be conducted in such a manner as to provide reasonable assurance that the combined annual dose equivalent to any member of the public in the general environment resulting from: (1) Discharges of radioactive material and direct radiation from such management and storage and (2) all operations covered by Part 190; shall not exceed 25 millirems to the whole body, 75 millirems to the thyroid, and 25 millirems to any other critical organ.

(b) Management, and storage of spent nuclear fuel or high-level or transuranic radioactive wastes at all facilities for the disposal of such fuel or waste that are operated by the Department and that are not regulated by the Commission or Agreement States shall be conducted in such a manner as to provide reasonable assurance that the combined annual dose equivalent to any member of the public in the general environment resulting from discharges of radioactive material and direct radiation from such management and storage shall not exceed 25 millirems to the whole body and 75 millirems to any critical organ.

posure of more than 500 millirems dose equivalent in a year from all sources, excluding natural background and medical procedures; and

(2) The Administrator promptly makes a matter of public record the degree to which continued operation of the facility is expected to result in levels in excess of the standards specified in § 191.03(b).

(b) An application for alternative standards shall be submitted as soon as possible after the Department determines that continued operation of a facility will exceed the levels specified in § 191.03(b) and shall include all information necessary for the Administrator to make the determinations called for in § 191.04(a).

(c) Requests for alternative standards shall be submitted to the Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460.

8 191.05 Effective date.

The standards in this subpart shall be effective on November 18, 1985.

Subpart B-Environmental Standards for Disposal

§ 191.11 Applicability.

(a) This subpart applies to:

(1) Radioactive materials released into the accessible environment as a result of the disposal of spent nuclear fuel or high-level or transuranic radioactive wastes;

(2) Radiation doses received by members of the public as a result of such disposal; and

(3) Radioactive contamination of certain sources of ground water in the vicinity of disposal systems for such fuel or wastes.

(b) However, this subpart does not apply to disposal directly into the oceans or ocean sediments. This subpart also does not apply to wastes disposed of before the effective date of this rule.

8 191.12 Definitions.

Unless otherwise indicated in this subpart, all terms shall have the same meaning as in Subpart A of this part.

(a) Disposal system means any combination of engineered and natural barriers that isolate spent nuclear fuel or radioactive waste after disposal.

(b) Waste, as used in this subpart, means any spent nuclear fuel or radioactive waste isolated in a disposal system.

(c) Waste form means the materials comprising the radioactive components of waste and any encapsulating or stabilizing matrix.

(d) Barrier means any material or structure that prevents or substantially delays movement of water or radionuclides toward the accessible environment. For example, a barrier may be a geologic structure, a canister, a waste form with physical and chemical characteristics that significantly decrease the mobility of radionuclides, or a material placed over and around waste, provided that the material or structure substantially delays movement of water or radionuclides.

(e) Passive institutional control means: (1) Permanent markers placed at a disposal site, (2) public records and archives, (3) government ownership and regulations regarding land or resource use, and (4) other methods of preserving knowledge about the location, design, and contents of a disposal system.

(f) Active institutional control means: (1) Controlling access to a disposal site by any means other than passive institutional controls; (2) performing maintenance operations or remedial actions at a site, (3) controlling or cleaning up releases from a site, or (4) monitoring parameters related to disposal system performance.

(g) Controlled area means: (1) A surface location, to be identified by passive institutional controls, that encompasses no more than 100 square kilometers and extends horizontally no more than five kilometers in any direction from the outer boundary of the original location of the radioactive wastes in a disposal system; and (2) the subsurface underlying such a surface location.

(h) Ground water means water below the land surface in a zone of saturation.

(i) Aquifer means an underground geological formation, group of forma

tions, or part of a formation that is capable of yielding a significant amount of water to a well or spring.

(j) Lithosphere means the solid part of the Earth below the surface, including any ground water contained within it.

(k) Accessible environment means: (1) The atmosphere; (2) land surfaces; (3) surface waters; (4) oceans; and (5) all of the lithosphere that is beyond the controlled area.

(1) Transmissivity means the hydraulic conductivity integrated over the saturated thickness of an underground formation. The transmissivity of a series of formations is the sum of the individual transmissivities of each formation comprising the series.

(m) Community water system means a system for the provision to the public of piped water for human consumption, if such system has at least 15 service connections used by yearround residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents.

(n) Significant source of ground water, as used in this part, means: (1) An aquifer that: (i) Is saturated with water having less than 10,000 milligrams per liter of total dissolved solids; (ii) is within 2,500 feet of the land surface; (iii) has a transmissivity greater than 200 gallons per day per foot, Provided, That any formation or part of a formation included within the source of ground water has a hydraulic conductivity greater than 2 gallons per day per square foot; and (iv) is capable of continuously yielding at least 10,000 gallons per day to a pumped or flowing well for a period of at least a year; or (2) an aquifer that provides the primary source of water for a community water system as of the effective date of this subpart.

(0) Special source of ground water, as used in this part, means those Class I ground waters identified in accordance with the Agency's Ground-Water Protection Strategy published in August 1984 that: (1) Are within the controlled area encompassing a disposal system or are less than five kilometers beyond the controlled area; (2) are supplying drinking water for thousands of persons as of the date that the Department chooses a location within that area for detailed charac

terization as a potential site for a disposal system (e.g., in accordance with section 112(b)(1)(B) of the NWPA); and (3) are irreplaceable in that no reasonable alternative source of drinking water is available to that population.

(p) Undisturbed performance means the predicted behavior of a disposal system, including consideration of the uncertainties in predicted behavior, if the disposal system is not disrupted by human intrusion or the occurrence of unlikely natural events.

(q) Performance assessment means an analysis that: (1) Identifies the processes and events that might affect the disposal system; (2) examines the effects of these processes and events on the performance of the disposal system; and (3) estimates the cumulative releases of radionuclides, considering the associated uncertainties, caused by all significant processes and events. These estimates shall be incorporated into an overall probability distribution of cumulative release to the extent practicable.

(r) Heavy metal means all uranium, plutonium, or thorium placed into a nuclear reactor.

(s) Implementing agency, as used in this subpart, means the Commission for spent nuclear fuel or high-level or transuranic wastes to be disposed of in facilities licensed by the Commission in accordance with the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, and it means the Department for all other radioactive wastes covered by this part.

§ 191.13 Containment requirements.

(a) Disposal systems for spent nuclear fuel or high-level or transuranic radioactive wastes shall be designed to provide a reasonable expectation, based upon performance assessments, that the cumulative releases of radionuclides to the accessible environment for 10,000 years after disposal from all significant processes and events that may affect the disposal system shall:

(1) Have a likelihood of less than one chance in 10 of exceeding the quantities calculated according to Table 1 (Appendix A); and

(2) Have a likelihood of less than one chance in 1,000 of exceeding ten

times the quantities calculated according to Table 1 (Appendix A).

(b) Performance assessments need not provide complete assurance that the requirements of § 191.13(a) will be met. Because of the long time period involved and the nature of the events and processes of interest, there will inevitably be substantial uncertainties in projecting disposal system performance. Proof of the future performance of a disposal system is not to be had in the ordinary sense of the word in situations that deal with much shorter time frames. Instead, what is required is a reasonable expectation, on the basis of the record before the implementing agency, that compliance with § 191.13 (a) will be achieved.

§ 191.14 Assurance requirements.

To provide the confidence needed for long-term compliance with the requirements of § 191.13, disposal of spent nuclear fuel or high-level or transuranic wastes shall be conducted in accordance with the following provisions, except that these provisions do not apply to facilities regulated by the Commission (see 10 CFR Part 60 for comparable provisions applicable to facilities regulated by the Commission):

(a) Active institutional controls over disposal sites should be maintained for as long a period of time as is practicable after disposal; however, performance assessments that assess isolation of the wastes from the accessible environment shall not consider any contributions from active institutional controls for more than 100 years after disposal.

(b) Disposal systems shall be monitored after disposal to detect substantial and detrimental deviations from expected performance. This monitoring shall be done with techniques that do not jeopardize the isolation of the wastes and shall be conducted until there are no significant concerns to be addressed by further monitoring.

(c) Disposal sites shall be designated by the most permanent markers, records, and other passive institutional controls practicable to indicate the dangers of the wastes and their location.

(d) Disposal systems shall use different types of barriers to isolate the wastes from the accessible environment. Both engineered and natural barriers shall be included.

(e) Places where there has been mining for resources, or where there is a reasonable expectation of exploration for scarce or easily accessible resources, or where there is a significant concentration of any material that is not widely available from other sources, should be avoided in selecting disposal sites. Resources to be considered shall include minerals, petroleum or natural gas, valuable geologic formations, and ground waters that are either irreplaceable because there is no reasonable alternative source of drinking water available for substantial populations or that are vital to the preservation of unique and sensitive ecosystems. Such places shall not be used for disposal of the wastes covered by this part unless the favorable characteristics of such places compensate for their greater likelihood of being disturbed in the future.

(f) Disposal systems shall be selected so that removal of most of the wastes is not precluded for a reasonable period of time after disposal.

8 191.15 Individual protection requirements.

Disposal systems for spent nuclear fuel or high-level or transuranic radioactive wastes shall be designed to provide a reasonable expectation that, for 1,000 years after disposal, undisturbed performance of the disposal system shall not cause the annual dose equivalent from the disposal system to any member of the public in the accessible environment to exceed 25 millirems to the whole body or 75 millirems to any critical organ. All potential pathways (associated with undisturbed performance) from the disposal system to people shall be considered, including the assumption that individuals consume 2 liters per day of drinking water from any significant source of ground water outside of the controlled area.

§ 191.16 Ground water protection requirements.

(a) Disposal systems for spent nuclear fuel or high-level or transuranic ra

dioactive wastes shall be designed to provide a reasonable expectation that, for 1,000 years after disposal, undisturbed performance of the disposal system shall not cause the radionuclide concentrations averaged over any year in water withdrawn from any portion of a special source of ground water to exceed:

(1) 5 picocuries per liter of radium226 and radium-228;

(2) 15 picocuries per liter of alphaemitting radionuclides (including radium-226 and radium-228 but excluding radon); or

(3) The combined concentrations of radionuclides that emit either beta or gamma radiation that would produce an annual dose equivalent to the total body or any internal organ greater than 4 millirems per year if an individual consumed 2 liters per day of drinking water from such a source of ground water.

(b) If any of the average annual radionuclide concentrations existing in a special source of ground water before construction of the disposal system already exceed the limits in § 191.16(a), the disposal system shall be designed to provide a reasonable expectation that, for 1,000 years after disposal, undisturbed performance of the disposal system shall not increase the existing average annual radionuclide concentrations in water withdrawn from that special source of ground water by more than the limits established in § 191.16(a).

§ 191.17 Alternative provisions for disposal.

The Administrator may, by rule, substitute for any of the provisions of Subpart B alternative provisions chosen after:

(a) The alternative provisions have been proposed for public comment in the FEDERAL REGISTER together with information describing the costs, risks, and benefits of disposal in accordance with the alternative provisions and the reasons why compliance with the existing provisions of Subpart B appears inappropriate;

(b) A public comment period of at least 90 days has been completed, during which an opportunity for