Transuranic wastes defined

Classification of wastes may be according to purpose, distinguishing between defense waste related to military appHcations, and commercial waste related to civiUan appHcations. Classification may also be by the type of waste, ie, mill tailings, high level radioactive waste (HLW), spent fuel, low level radioactive waste (LLW), or transuranic waste (TRU). Alternatively, the radionucHdes and the degree of radioactivity can define the waste. Surveys of nuclear waste management (1,2) and more technical information (3—5) are available. 

Some wastes are defined by exclusion (i.e., by what they are not), not on the basis of their properties or associated risks. Low-level radioactive waste is defined as waste that is not high-level waste, spent fuel, transuranic waste, or uranium or thorium mill tailings. Because the excluded wastes are defined by their source, rather than their properties, the definition of low-level waste is not based on properties of the waste and wastes in this class can vary from essentially innocuous to highly hazardous over long time frames. 

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. 

Statutory and Regulatory Definitions. The earliest statutory definitions of transuranic waste were contained in AEA (1954), the National Security and Military Applications of Nuclear Energy Authorization Act (NSMA, 1980), and the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act (LLRWPA, 1980). All of these laws defined transuranic waste in terms of concentrations of long-lived, alpha-emitting... 

In summary, in accordance with current laws and regulations, transuranic waste essentially can be defined as follows ... 

Clause (A) is not high-level waste, spent fuel, transuranic waste, or byproduct material as defined in Section 11(e)(2) of AEA and... 

Transuranic waste (TRU) is defined as waste contaminated with a-emitting radionuchdes of atomic number greater than 92 and half-life greater than 20 yr in concentrations greater than 100 nCi g (3.7 X 10 Bq g ). TRU is primarily a product of the reprocessing of SF and the use of plutonium in the fabrication of nuclear weapons. In the US, the disposal of TRU at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico is regulated by 40 CFR Part 194 (US EPA, 1996). It is also discussed in more detail in a later section of this chapter. 

Select radiological shipments include highway route controlled quantities (HRCQ) of radioactive material as defined by Title 49 CFR Section 173.403. And, because only a small fraction of transuranics are HRCQ, DOE has decided to include its transuranic waste shipments in the North American Standard Level VI Inspection Program. 

Also resulting from reprocessing are the lower-activity wastes that are contaminated with transuranic elements (TRU waste). These wastes are defined as containing 100 nanocuries of alpha-emitting transuranic isotopes (with half-lives >20 years) per gram of waste. Over 60,000 m are stored retrievably at DOE sites and are destined for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico (Aheame 1997). The estimated cost of remediation and restoration programs in the DOE complex during the next few decades is on the order of 200 billion dollars (Crowley 1997). 

Note These hazard levels are not to be confused with the DOE classification of nuclear waste into high-level, low-level, mixed low-level, transuranic and 1 le(2) byproduct material categories. These nuclear waste categories are established by DOE Order 5820.2A, which can be viewed online at http //www.directives.doe.gov (Dec. 2005). See DOE/EM (1997) for more information on nuclear waste. To reiterate, waste hazard levels are different than laboratory hazard levels, although the defining terminology is similar. 

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