Summary of the May 17 NRC Public Meeting: Regulatory Concepts for Integrated Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Rulemaking

Over 120 people attended the May 17, 2023 NRC online meeting, including many state and compact representatives.

Click here to view the slides from the meeting.

Click here to view the history of this rulemaking.

SUMMARY

1. Many NRC staff presented and will be part of the rulemaking, the project manager is George Tartal (George.tartal@nrc.gov)
2. As expected, the new rule incorporates GTCC into Part 61 as well as requires a Performance Assessment for long-lived isotopes.
3. The use of a Safety case will be required. A safety case is generally an administrative level summary document that ties together all of the of the licensing justifications. A Safety Case is commonly required by the IAEA – guidance on how to prepare will be included in the final Guidance Document.
4. Facilities will be required to prepare a Performance Assessment to inform the decision making process.
5. A Site-Specific intruder assessment will be required as part of licensing. The site-specific intruder analysis cannot be graded based on the probability of an event, but a 500 mrem/year standard may be applied.
6. A Site Stability Assessment will be required.
7. There is expected to be little change to the Operational Safety Assessment, but management of GTCC for disposal will probably have to be specifically evaluated.
8. The Performance Period Analyses will be required for long lived isotopes such as Depleted Uranium. The Performance Period will include general As Low As Reasonably Achievable criteria as the standard.
9. The Compliance Period will most likely be 1,000 years for most wastes and 10,000 years for long-lived Isotopes.
10. 10 CFR Part 61.58 will allow for a Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) to account for the findings of the Performance Assessment. Executive Director Dan Shrum asked a specific question on this and yes, the WAC can override the tables found in 10 CFR Part 61.55.
11. Critically Protection will need to be evaluated for GTCC waste as part of the licensing submittal

It is anticipated that the rule will go to the Commission in November 2023 – no date can be given for Commission review and approval. Once approved by the Commission (and assuming no significant changes are requested), the rule will go out for public comment during which time additional public meetings will be held.

The limited rulemaking for 10 CFR Part 61 has evolved into the Integrated Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Rulemaking. The proposed rule is quite complicated rulemaking and NRC staff are moving forward taking into consideration the numerous comments made to date. We expect to be involved in future meetings and will comment on the proposed rule once it is approved by the Commission.

___________________

Daniel B. Shrum

Executive Director
Low-Level Radioactive Waste Forum
www.llwforum.org
dshrum@llwforum.org
801-580-3201