Shallow-land burial

The Shallow land Burial ofEow-Eevel Radioactively Contaminated Solid Waste, Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, National Academy of Sciences, Washiagton, D.C., 1976. 

National Academy of Sciences, "The shallow land burial of low-level radioactively contaminated solid waste", 2101 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20418, 150, 1976. 

Transuranic waste. As described in Section 4.1.2.2.2, transuranic waste originally was defined by AEC as solid waste that contains long-lived, alpha-emitting transuranium radionuclides or 233U in concentrations greater than 0.4 kBq g A Transuranic waste so defined was not generally acceptable for shallow-land burial. 

In 1982, federal agencies concurred with a recommendation to increase the lower limit on concentrations of long-lived, alpha-emitting transuranium radionuclides in transuranic waste from 0.4 to 4 kBq g 1 (Steindler, 1982). This change in the definition of transuranic waste was made in response to difficulties in routinely measuring levels of alpha activity near 0.4 kBq g 1 in bulk solid waste and analyses which indicated that risks to public health from shallow-land burial of transuranium radionuclides in concentrations up to 4 kBq g 1 should be acceptable. 

Requirements for Disposal. The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980 (LLRWPA, 1980), as amended by the Policy Amendments Act (LLRWPAA, 1986), governs disposal of commercial low-level waste. A particular disposal technology is not specified, but shallow-land burial was presumed in accordance with contemporary practices. The original Act (LLRWPA, 1980) directed NRC to identify alternatives to shallow-land burial for commercial low-level waste and to establish technical guidance and requirements for licensing of alternative disposal methods. NRC published technical studies of alternative disposal technologies (Bennett, 1985 Bennett and Warriner, 1985 Bennett et al., 1984 Miller and Bennett, 1985 Warriner and Bennett, 1985), but specific licensing criteria for these alternatives have not been established. 

In the course of time it has been unambiguously demonstrated that humic- and fulvic acids interact with metal cations by forming rather stable, and often soluble complexes(1 2). The increasing awareness of a possible pollution of the environment, e.g. in connection with the disposal of nuclear waste, emphasizes the need for additional knowledge about the interaction between relevant metal ions, e.g. radionuclides commonly present in nuclear waste, and humic substances. The possible presence of soluble and rather stable complexes may play an important role in determining the migration behavior of the metal ions under shallow land burial conditions. The influence of humic- and fulvic acids on the migration behavior of metal ions has been discussed previously (2-6),... 

FIGURE 1. Experimental study area at the Maxey Flats shallow-land burial site. A series of experimental trench sections (T1-T5) and inert atmosphere wells (e.g. WIN) were installed adjacent to waste trench 27 to permit concurrent sampling of water from the waste trench (sump or well point), experimental trenches, and wells. 

Kirby, L. J. Ed. "Radionuclide Distributions and Migration Mechanisms at Shallow-Land Burial Sites 1981 Annual Report of Research Investigations on the Distribution, Migration ad Containment of Radionuclides at Maxey Flats, Kentucky," NUREG/CR-2383, 1982. 

Shallow land burial Deep geological vaults -Continental sites - Island sites Caves Deep hole Sub seabed Ice cap... 

The disposal of low-level radioactive waste generated by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) during the Cold War era has historically involved shallow land burial in unconfined pits and trenches. The lack of physical or chemical barriers to impede waste migration has resulted in the formation of secondary contaminant sources where... 

Dreier, R.B., Solomon, D.K., and Beaudoin, C.M., Fracture characterization in the unsaturated zone of a shallow land burial facility, in Flow and Transport Through Unsaturated Rock, Evans, D.D. and Nicholson, T.J., Eds., Geophys. Monogr., 42, 51, 1987. 

Low-level radioachve waste (LLRW), which may contain uranium, is disposed of at DOE facilities and at commercial disposal facilities. Since 1963, six commercial LLRW facilities have operated, but only two were in operation in 1995. A 1992 report listed the total volume of LLRW buried at all 6 sites to be approximately 50 million cubic feet (Murray 1994). Only a small fraction of the LLRW contains uranium. The method of disposal for commercial and DOE LLRW has been shallow land burial, in... 

Low-level wastes from these "civilian" sources are currently disposed in three shallow land burial sites. One is in the eastern United States, and two are in the West. Progress in developing new disposal edacity continues to be made as the Department looks with anticipation to the opening of a fourth site at Ward Valley site in the California desert. Treatment, storage and disposal of these low-level wastes are licensed by a Federal commission some of you may be familiar with, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

HARDY, C.J., The management of low level radioactive waste. Report to the Pacific Nuclear Council (PNC), Taskforce on Management of Low Level Radioactive Waste, Tokyo, April 1995. INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Shallow Land Burial of Low-Level Radioactive Wastes in the USA, IAEA-SM-243/152, IAEA, Vienna (1980). 

II Uniform Solidified Concrete Pit (Shallow Land Burial) less than 1 % 8% established established... 

The four heat exchangers have been prepared, lifted clear of WAGR and committed to shallow land burial at Drigg. 

Robertson, D.E., M.P. Bergeron, D. Holford, K.H. Abel, C.W. Thomas, D.A. Myers, R.C.D., Killey, GL. Moltanyer, J.L. Young, and T. Ohnuki. 1989. Demonstration of performance modeling of a low-level waste shallow-land burial site A comparison of predictive radionuclide transport modeling versus field observations at the A Disposal Area, Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories. U.S. National Research Council, Washington, DC. 

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