Institutional control radioactive waste facilities

The similarities are of the following kinds. First, neither classification system includes a general class of exempt waste. Second, neither classification system is comprehensive, because the classification system for radioactive waste distinguishes between fuel-cycle and NARM waste and the classification system for hazardous chemical waste excludes many potentially important wastes that contain hazardous chemicals. Third, any waste must be managed and disposed of in a manner that is expected to protect public health and the environment. In addition, the approach to disposal of hazardous chemical waste under RCRA, which emphasizes monitoring of releases from disposal facilities and an intention to maintain institutional control over disposal sites for as long as the waste remains hazardous, is applied to disposal of uranium or thorium mill tailings under AEA. 

In implementing the risk-based waste classification system developed in this Report, the selection of exposure scenarios appropriate to waste disposal is an important technical issue that must be addressed. NCRP believes that scenarios for inadvertent intrusion into near-surface disposal facilities are appropriate in classifying waste for purposes of disposal and, further, that scenarios involving permanent occupancy of disposal sites after loss of institutional control would be appropriate (see Section 6.1.3) such scenarios are commonly used in regulating near-surface disposal of low-level radioactive waste and in risk assessments at hazardous waste sites subject to remediation under CERCLA. 

Another example involves classification of average commercial low-level radioactive waste. The total activities of the dominant radionuclides in the waste, as obtained from data for all Class-A, -B and -C low-level waste emplaced in near-surface disposal facilities in the United States in 1990, are given in Table 7.4 (DOE, 1993b). These estimates do not account for decay that would occur during the 100 y institutional control period. That is, inadvertent intrusion is assumed to occur at the time of facility closure. Radionuclide concentrations are based on the estimated volume of waste and an... 

Limited actions, however, may be passed to succeeding generations, for example, the continuation of instimtional control, if needed, over a disposal facility. The management of radioactive waste should, to the extent possible, not rely on long term institutional arrangements or actions as a necessary safety feature. Future generations may decide to utilize such arrangements. 

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