(a) "Nuclear fuel cycle" means the operations defined to be associated with the production of electrical power for public use by any fuel cycle through utilization of nuclear energy.

(b) "Uranium fuel cycle" means the operations of milling of uranium ore, chemical conversion of uranium, isotopic enrichment of uranium, fabrication of uranium fuel, generation of electricity by a light-water-cooled nuclear power plant using uranium fuel, and reprocessing of spent uranium fuel, to the extent that these directly support the production of electrical power for public use utilizing nuclear energy, but excludes mining operations, operations at waste disposal sites, transportation of any radioactive material in support of these operations, and the reuse of recovered non

uranium special nuclear and by-product materials from the cycle.

(c) "General environment" means the total terrestrial, atmospheric and aquatic environments outside sites upon which any operation which is part of a nuclear fuel cycle is conducted.

(d) "Site" means the area contained within the boundary of a location under the control of persons possessing or using radioactive material on which is conducted one or more operations covered by this part.

(e) "Radiation" means any or all of the following: Alpha, beta, gamma, or X-rays; neutrons; and high-energy electrons, protons, or other atomic particles; but not sound or radio waves, nor visible, infrared, or ultraviolet light.

(f) "Radioactive material" means any material spontaneously emits radiation.

which

(g) "Curie" (Ci) means that quantity of radioactive material producing 37 billion nuclear transformations per second. (One millicurie (mCi)=0.001 Ci.)

(h) "Dose equivalent" means the product of absorbed dose and appropriate factors to account for differences in biological effectiveness due to the quality of radiation and its spatial distribution in the body. The unit of dose equivalent is the “rem.” (One millirem (mrem)= 0.001 rem.)

(i) "Organ" means any human organ exclusive of the dermis, the epidermis, or the cornea.

(j) “Gigawatt-year" refers to the quantity of electrical energy produced at the busbar of a generating station. A gigawatt is equal to one billion watts. A gigawatt-year is equivalent to the amount of energy output represented by an average electric power level of one gigawatt sustained for one year.

(k) "Member of the public" means any individual that can receive a radiation dose in the general environment, whether he may or may not also be exposed to radiation in an occupation associated with a nuclear fuel cycle. However, an individual is not consid

ered a member of the public during any period in which he is engaged in carrying out any operation which is part of a nuclear fuel cycle.

(1) "Regulatory agency" means the government agency responsible for issuing regulations governing the use of sources of radiation or radioactive materials or emissions therefrom and carrying out inspection and enforcement activities to assure compliance with such regulations.

Subpart B-Environmental Standards for the Uranium Fuel Cycle

§ 190.10 Standards for normal operations. Operations covered by this subpart shall be conducted in such a manner as to provide reasonable assurance that:

(a) The annual dose equivalent does not exceed 25 millirems to the whole body, 75 millirems to the thyroid, and 25 millirems to any other organ of any member of the public as the result of exposures to planned discharges of radioactive materials, radon and its daughters excepted, to the general environment from uranium fuel cycle operations and to radiation from these operations.

(b) The total quantity of radioactive materials entering the general environment from the entire uranium fuel cycle, per gigawatt-year of electrical energy produced by the fuel cycle, contains less than 50,000 curies of krypton-85, 5 millicuries of iodine-129, and 0.5 millicuries combined of plutonium-239 and other alpha-emitting transuranic radionuclides with halflives greater than one year.

§ 190.11 Variances for unusual operations. The standards specified in § 190.10 may be exceeded if:

(a) The regulatory agency has granted a variance based upon its determination that a temporary and unusual operating condition exists and continued operation is in the public interest, and

(b) Information is promptly made a matter of public record delineating the nature of unusual operating conditions, the degree to which this operation is expected to result in levels in

excess of the standards, the basis of the variance, and the schedule for achieving conformance with the standards.

§ 190.12 Effective date.

(a) The standards in § 190.10(a) shall be effective December 1, 1979, except that for doses arising from operations associated with the milling of uranium ore the effective date shall be December 1, 1980.

(b) The standards in § 190.10(b) shall be effective December 1, 1979, except that the standards for krypton-85 and iodine-129 shall be effective January 1, 1983, for any such radioactive materials generated by the fission process after these dates.

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 e provisions of Part 190 of Title 40;

Radiation doses received by embers 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.

§ 191.02 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. 97425).

(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 Nu

clear 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.

(o) "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.

§ 191.03 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.

prevent any member of the public from receiving a continuous exposure of more than 100 millirems per year dose equivalent and an infrequent exposure 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.

§ 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.

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 formations, 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 year-round 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.

(o) "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 kilome