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

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Response<br />

141<br />

WASTE MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS<br />

DOE agrees that this can be a problem and has endeavored to be more precise in the<br />

final Statement. When discussing the once-through cycle, spent fuel is considered to be a<br />

waste, but in most cases we still refer to spent fuel as spent fuel or as spent-fuel waste.<br />

In the reprocessing cycle, spent fuel is not necessarily a waste because it contains the<br />

useful by-product uranium and plutonium but it also contains the waste products from the<br />

reactor operation.<br />

Draft p. 1.7<br />

Issue<br />

Sentence 3, paragraph 4 implies that there are high-level wastes from mixed oxide fuel<br />

fabrication. Is "spiked" fuel being referred to? This has not been indicated. (181)<br />

Response<br />

The high-level wastes referred to are generated in the fuel reprocessing plant and not<br />

the mixed-oxide fuel fabrication facility.<br />

Draft p. 1.8<br />

Issue<br />

One commenter requested a definition <strong>of</strong> transuranic (TRU) waste and wanted to know the<br />

concentrations <strong>of</strong> plutonium expected in TRU waste. (6) One commenter did not feel the use<br />

<strong>of</strong> 10 nanocuries per gram as definition <strong>of</strong> TRU waste is justified. (154)<br />

Response<br />

A definition <strong>of</strong> TRU waste is contained in the introductory paragraph to final Section<br />

4.2. Variable concentrations <strong>of</strong> plutonium are expected in TRU wastes ranging from about<br />

10 -8 to 10 -3 curies <strong>of</strong> transuranic alpha activity per gram <strong>of</strong> waste.<br />

Draft p. 1.9<br />

Issue<br />

The heat generation in HLW from one metric ton <strong>of</strong> spent LWR fuel is below 600 watts 30<br />

years from the time <strong>of</strong> reprocessing, when heat generation was over 8 kw. The critical<br />

duration cited (500 years) is about an order <strong>of</strong> magnitude high when considering the impact<br />

<strong>of</strong> heat generation. (181)

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