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

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Draft p. 1.19<br />

Issue<br />

65<br />

CONSEQUENCE ANALYSIS<br />

A credible event missing from the discussion is the possibility <strong>of</strong> a water well drilled<br />

into adjoining hydrostratigraphic units that could disrupt regional flowlines and equipoten-<br />

tials such that radionuclide migration may be increased. Leakage through overlying aqui-<br />

tards into more permeable units could significantly speed the movement <strong>of</strong> radionuclides to<br />

the biosphere. The pumping well in this scenario would not be pulling radionuclides<br />

directly into its cone <strong>of</strong> depression since most water wells are not at that depth nor would<br />

the repository be located in a productive aquifer <strong>of</strong> potable grade water.<br />

Further, the discussion on solution mining and the missing scenario on deep drilling<br />

activities such as natural gas and oil exploration ignore the potential for groundwater<br />

hydraulic and pollution effects. (208-NRC)<br />

Response<br />

A case <strong>of</strong> well contamination has been added in Section 5.5.<br />

Draft p. 1.19<br />

Issue<br />

One commenter pointed out that health effects based on routine operations are not triv-<br />

ial to nonexistant. (62)<br />

Response<br />

Routine operations are defined as accident free situations. In this Statement 100 to<br />

800 health effects are postulated to result for each million man-rem <strong>of</strong> whole body dose<br />

received. The collective dose from routine operations resulted in between 0 and 750 health<br />

effects (on a world wide basis for the 250 Gwe growth and decline system).<br />

Draft p. 1.20 Table 1.4, Item 1<br />

Issue<br />

Although the person closest to the repository will be killed, there will still exist a<br />

maximum individual who receives the largest dose as a result <strong>of</strong> the release. (208-NRC)<br />

Response<br />

DOE agrees. However, the maximum individual chosen is a worst case. Since this

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