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

3.48
Setting up a waste management program therefore requires institutional choices: whether to
rely on existing organizational arrangements or to develop new ones. This section discusses
some considerations regarding choice of one or another set of organizational arrangements
for waste management. Additionally, the institutions discussed below should function in
conjunction with the engineered design as part of the overall waste management system.
The Department of Energy (DOE) is currently responsible for establishing programs lead-
ing toward the treatment, storage, and disposal of nuclear wastes. The Environmental Pro-
tection Agency is responsible for setting generally applicable environmental standards for
radioactive waste (3 CFR). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is responsible for implement-
ing these standards, establishing regulations and policies, and licensing commercial waste
management facilities (10 CFR 20 301, 42 U.S.C. 5842). State governments (in agreement
states) license and regulate low-level burial sites (42 U.S.C. 2021). The Department of
Transportation (DOT) shares responsibility for regulation of the transportation of wastes
with NRC (38 F.R. 8466, March 22, 1973).
A number of organizational options are available for the management and disposal of
nuclear waste. Below are listed four such options: 1) Federal agency; 2) government cor-
poration; 3) government-owned, contractor-operated facility; and 4) contractor-owned,
contractor-operated facility. In a Federal agency, waste management functions would be
performed directly by Federal agency employees who are ordinarily members of the Federal
civil service. A government corporation is a Federally chartered organization with its own
legal personality distinct from that of the Federal government. It is exempt from civil
service rules, thus allowing the managers of the corporation to retain control over all
aspects of personnel management. A government-owned, contractor-operated arrangement is
similar to the government corporation, especially in the private contractor's flexibility
with respect to personnel practices and financial systems. A contractor-owned, contractor-
operated arrangement differs chiefly in that the contractor's financial commitment is much
heavier than under a government-owned, contractor-operated arrangement.
In addition to consideration of organizational options, a knowledge of the basic
regulatory functions is useful in assessing the adequacy of institutional arrangements for
managing and disposal of nuclear waste. The function of regulating the commercial nuclear
waste management system includes the tasks of standard-setting, licensing, technical
review, inspection, and enforcement. Below is a brief discussion of each task.
Standard-setting and licensing are often done by the same organization. Sometimes,
however, one agency (such as EPA) has the task of setting general rules for how tasks must
be done (performance standards), while another agency (such as NRC) has the task of applying
those general standards to a specific case, and of granting a license to operate when proper
conditions have been met.
A technical review of a proposed action for its scientific adequacy may increase the
safety of the waste management system by helping to avoid errors at key decision points.
Reviewer independence is a valuable attribute; it reduces the opportunities for bias and,
hence, the chances that a review will become automatic approval.