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

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Draft pp. v and 3.1.6<br />

Issue<br />

188<br />

FUEL CYCLES<br />

Several commenters suggested that discussions <strong>of</strong> fuel cycles did not emphasize that in<br />

the once-through cycle, potentially valuable nuclear fuel is treated as waste. (198,<br />

218-DI0)<br />

Response<br />

The Statement compares the waste management environmental impacts <strong>of</strong> the once-through<br />

cycle with the recycle fuel cycle. Except for the waste management aspect, no attempt is<br />

made to address the overall advantages and disadvantages <strong>of</strong> reprocessing versus no repro-<br />

cessing.<br />

Draft pp. 1.11 and 2.13<br />

Issue<br />

The established fuel cycle, deferring a decision on the ultimate disposition <strong>of</strong> spent<br />

fuel, should be addressed in the Statement. (181)<br />

Response<br />

The Statement does examine the implications <strong>of</strong> deferring a decision to dispose <strong>of</strong> or<br />

to reprocess spent fuel (see Section 2'.1 <strong>of</strong> draft and Chapter 7.0 <strong>of</strong> final).<br />

Draft p. 3.1.75<br />

Issue<br />

One commenter questioned whether the statement--"The majority <strong>of</strong> nuclear wastes are<br />

residuals from defense programs."--represented a measure <strong>of</strong> volume or a measure <strong>of</strong> curies.<br />

(32)<br />

Response<br />

On strictly a volume basis, there is a large quantity <strong>of</strong> defense wastes on hand.<br />

However, high-level wastes from the defense program are radioactively more dilute than<br />

commercial HLW. The TRU wastes from both sources are similar. See Appendix I for addi-<br />

tional discussion <strong>of</strong> key defense and commercial waste characteristics.

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