23.04.2013 Views

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

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

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Response<br />

142<br />

WASTE MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS<br />

DOE agrees that the heat generation in high-level waste 30 years from the time <strong>of</strong><br />

reprocessing is at or below about 600 watts per metric ton. However this does not mean<br />

that the heat generated following that time can be ignored or that the critical period is<br />

as short as 30 or 50 years. For a discussion <strong>of</strong> thermal criteria in a geologic repository<br />

and the temprature pr<strong>of</strong>iles in the geologic media as a function <strong>of</strong> time see Appendix K <strong>of</strong><br />

the final Statement.<br />

Draft p. 1.15<br />

Issue<br />

Do sentences 1 and 2, paragraph 1, refer to intact spent-fuel assemblies, or to the<br />

HLW from the reprocessing <strong>of</strong> same? (181)<br />

Response<br />

Both. It is a summary statement concerning waste focus that may potentially be dis-<br />

posed <strong>of</strong> in geologic repositories.<br />

Draft p. 1.17<br />

Issue<br />

The term "fuel residues" is dangerously ambiguous. The commenter assumes that it was<br />

used to mean cladding hulls and other hardware. (181)<br />

Response<br />

The assumption is correct. DOE defined what it included as "fuel residues" in Sec-<br />

tion 3.1.4.2 <strong>of</strong> the draft Statement, but the comment arose from reading an earlier section.<br />

First use in the final Statement is in Section 4.2 where it is defined.<br />

Draft p. A.3, 4, 20<br />

Issue<br />

Several commenters questioned DOE's credibility for using "truncated lists" <strong>of</strong> radio-<br />

nuclides. The commenters claim that more than 90% <strong>of</strong> the known 400 radionuclides in the<br />

spent fuel are not accounted for. (42, 68)<br />

Response<br />

Appendix Tables A.2 and A.3 in the draft were intended to show only the most signifi-<br />

cant (in terms <strong>of</strong> radioactivity) nuclides in the wast components described. Table A.17 in

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!