The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in the final stages of revising its guidance on reviews of requests for alternative disposal of very low-level radioactive waste.
As part of the process, the draft document is available for public comment through Dec. 18.
Very low-level waste, or low-activity waste, is not an official designation, but rather refers to material with naturally occurring radionuclides or some other form of “residual radioactivity,” according to the NRC. This waste form is considered safe enough to be deposited in hazardous or municipal solid waste landfills, rather than at the four designated U.S. disposal sites for low-level radioactive waste.
The draft document is intended to finalize an interim staff guidance from 2009 that set procedures for disposal requests in operational areas including preparing an environmental assessment, developing safety and technical evaluation reports, and coordinating with state regulators and operators of the disposal sites.
“[T]he purpose of this draft revision to the guidance is to improve the alternative disposal process by providing more clarity, consistency, and transparency to the process,” according to the NRC’s Oct. 19 notice in the Federal Register. “In addition, this draft revision to the guidance also clarifies the meaning of disposal relative to 10 CFR 20.2002 authorizations to include recycling and reuse of materials.”
Comments can be submitted at regulations.gov, Docket ID NRC-2017-0198; or by mail to May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: OWFN-2-A13, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.
