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Management of Commercially Generated Radioactive Waste - U.S. ...

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Response<br />

9<br />

WASTE PROGRAM<br />

The Report to the President by the Interagency Review Group (IRG) on Nuclear <strong>Waste</strong> Man-<br />

agement, called for, "sustained, effective efforts to inform the public and to provide<br />

opportunities for discussion between the public and the government." These words appeared<br />

in the draft Report <strong>of</strong> the IRG when it was first released in October 1978 (IRG 1978). They<br />

were retained and even further emphasized in the final version <strong>of</strong> the report March 1979<br />

(IRG 1979). DOE's plans for implementing this policy were announced May 1979, in the National<br />

<strong>Waste</strong> Terminal Storage Public Information Plan (DOE 1979a).<br />

DOE believes that state and local governments, interest groups, and citizens in gener-l<br />

must be informed about what is being considered, and that they must be involved in the<br />

decision-making process. DOE is seeking to implement this important recommendation <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Interagency Review Group.<br />

To assist in carrying out these functions, DOE has developed a spectrum <strong>of</strong> activities<br />

which range from those normally associated with efforts to inform the public to those activ-<br />

ities which are deliberately intended to facilitate the exchange <strong>of</strong> information between par-<br />

ticipants in the program and members <strong>of</strong> the public.<br />

The preparation <strong>of</strong> this Statement and the recent DOE Position Paper to the NRC rule-<br />

making on nuclear waste storage and disposal (DOE 1980a) will hopefully bridge the "informa-<br />

tion gap" the commenter refers to.<br />

Issue<br />

Several commenters suggested that before DOE begins a'long range program for a perma-<br />

nent disposal <strong>of</strong> radioactive waste, DOE should recognize (i.e., should consider as an issue<br />

in this statement) the potential value <strong>of</strong> the waste as a future resource and should make<br />

provisions to store this material in a retrievable mode, if necessary. (29, 35, 164, 187,<br />

198, 205, 218-DOI)<br />

Response<br />

The primary goal in disposing <strong>of</strong> the radioactive material is to ensure its safe, perma-<br />

nent isolation from man's environment. To provide for the long-term retrievability <strong>of</strong> these<br />

wastes would potentially compromise the integrity <strong>of</strong> the repository system. If future deci-<br />

sions are made that the waste material is a valuable resource, the decision made may be to<br />

extract such material. This, however, is not a consideration in DOE's.plans for the dis-<br />

posal <strong>of</strong> commercially-generated radioactive waste at this time.<br />

Issue<br />

Several commenters stated that the use <strong>of</strong> pilot scale facilities should be a part <strong>of</strong><br />

the overall waste management program. (32, 152, 153, 203)<br />

7-

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