The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday said it would give stakeholders another three months to comment on a potential update to rules for disposal of very low-level radioactive waste.
The new deadline to submit input on the proposed interpretive rule is Oct. 21, according to a tweet from the federal agency. The previous deadline had been Monday.
In two virtual meetings in recent months, most recently July 1, callers have criticized the regulator for proceeding with the rule update amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Publicly, at least, the weight has also been against potentially making it easier for hazardous and municipal waste landfills to receive very low-level waste for disposal, even without a license specifically for that mission.
Very low-level waste is not an official designation, but rather the informal term for the least radioactive form of Class A waste, which is the least hazardous among the three classes of the material. Under existing regulations, the NRC can approve disposal via land burial at hazardous waste and municipal landfills on a case-by-case basis. The rule interpretation would enable landfills to apply for an agency exemption to accept VLLW on an ongoing basis, without needing authorization for each shipment. Participating landfills would have to meet certain restrictions, including a cumulative dose limit under 25 millirem from all disposals per year.
In the meetings, NRC officials have emphasized that very low-level waste would remain under regulatory oversight, would not be shipped to any unregulated operations, and could not be reused in any fashion after disposal.
“Disposals under this proposal will be permanent, and the change would create an alternative procedure for the disposal of very low-level waste that aligns with our current regulatory framework for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste while protecting public health and safety and the environment,” Patricia Holahan, director of the NRC’s Division of Decommissioning, Uranium Recovery, and Waste Programs, said during this month’s call.
