The Department of Energy said Tuesday it is considering sending the nation’s stock of Greater-Than-Class C (GTCC) and GTCC-like low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) for disposal at the Waste Control Specialists facility in West Texas.
The proposal is addressed in a site-specific environmental assessment of shipping and holding the waste at the Federal Waste Facility on the Dallas-based company’s 14,900-acre property in Andrews County. The Energy Department noted the assessment does not represent a formal decision to proceed with this approach, which would be established in a record of decision to be issued later.
The 1985 Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act made DOE responsible for disposal of GTCC waste, any such material with radionuclide concentrations greater than Class C LLRW. In a 2016 environmental impact statement, DOE said its preferred means of disposal approach would be generic commercial facilities and/or the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
Following a 2014 radiation release in the underground disposal area, WIPP is not expected to resume full waste emplacement levels until 2021, the Energy Department noted last year in a report to Congress. That winnowed the list of options largely down to commercial sites.
The Federal Waste Facility has sufficient capacity to accept the full anticipated inventory of 12,000 cubic meters of GTCC and GTCC-like waste, which encompasses sealed sources, scrap metal, and other materials produced by government and commercial nuclear operations such as decommissioning of nuclear power plants.
The route to disposal is not yet open – under current state environmental rules, the Federal Waste Facility cannot accept GTCC waste. Federal rules also currently cite the material as “not suitable for near-surface disposal,” according to the NRC, which is expected in 2019 to issue a regulatory basis that could lead to revised regulations.
“WCS is pleased to see continued progress by the DOE on GTCC, and we look forward to action by the NRC on a draft regulatory basis for GTCC disposal,” Waste Control Specialists President and Chief Operating Officer David Carlson said Tuesday by email.
