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

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WASTE MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS
and indeed the result given in the GEIS is 8 x 103 man-rem. There are some values, how-
ever, that do not agree after this ratio is applied. Cases where there is a lack of agree-
ment between the two documents are outlined in a table which follows the discussion of rail
shipments.
For rail shipments, it is more difficult to determine if results for the reference
system given in DOE/ET-0029 have been properly converted to an all-rail system which is
used as the basis for impacts in the GEIS. The difficulty arises because the two systems
are so similar and only differ by the 10% of shipments from reactor to ISFSFs that are
transported by rail. It is difficult to determine if the ratio of 1.05 derived above has
been used or whether a ratio of 1.11 has been used. The 1.11 ratio is obtained from the
fact that the reference system has 90% of shipments from reactors to ISFSFs transported by
rail, and this may have been improperly applied to the total system to include shipments
from ISFSFs to final repositories which for both systems are 100% by rail. In addition,
both ratios are close to 1.0 and some results presented in the GEIS have been rounded off,
making it difficult to determine which ratio, if any, has been used. For example, the
amount of diesel fuel needed through the year 2050 is given in Table 4.1-5 of DOE/ET-0029
as 1.7 x 106 m 3 . On page N.3 of the GEIS, it is stated that 2 x 106 and m 3 of diesel fuel
is needed for an all-rail shipping scenario. It is therefore difficult to determine what,
if any, ratio was applied to obtain this result. The following table outlines cases where
the impacts presented in the GEIS are substantially different than properly converted values
obtained from DOE/ET-0029. Values given in parentheses are the results that would be
obtained if DOE/ET-0029 values are multiplied by the appropriate conversion factor developed
in the above discussion, i.e., 25 for truck shipments, 1.11 for rail shipments. It should
be noted that there is one impact where apparently the incorrect ratio of 1.11 was used
instead of 1.05. This is the result for nonradioactive effluents released through the
year 2050 for spent fuel rail shipments. Table 4.1.1-6 of DOE/ET-0029 shows, for example,
that 4.8 x 103 MT of particulates will be released under these circumstances. Applying the
incorrect ratio of 1.11 gives a result of 5.3 x 103 MT and this agrees with the result pre-
sented in Table N.4 of the GEIS. If the proper ratio of 1.05 had been used, the GEIS
result would be 5.0 x 103 MT. Since the results are not substantially different and are
within the uncertainty of these types of calculations, improper conversions of this type are
not included in the following table. It is recommended, however, that for accuracy and con-
sistency, the values given in the GEIS be properly converted. (208-NRC)
Response
All numbers were verified and errors in the Statement have been corrected.