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

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Issue<br />

338<br />

ALTERNATIVE DISPOSAL CONCEPTS<br />

In the event that the cooling system for the waste fails while still needed, it will<br />

be very difficult to repair because <strong>of</strong> its proximity to the waste. (208-NRC)<br />

Response<br />

The commenter addresses a valid concern. DOE's approach would be the incorporation <strong>of</strong><br />

independent cooling systems to the design. This is discussed in Section 6.1.2.2 <strong>of</strong> the<br />

final Statement. Another would be to design a "fail-safe" mode <strong>of</strong> operation where the<br />

emplacement shaft will automatically close upon stoppage <strong>of</strong> cooling water so that rock melt-<br />

ing would commence at that point and the cavity would be sealed. Either approach is con-<br />

sidered technically conservative.<br />

Draft p. 1.26<br />

Issue<br />

Island Disposal<br />

The statement on line 9, that island arcs are highly active seismically and vol-<br />

canically is not necessarily correct as there are tectonically inactive island arcs.<br />

(208-NC)<br />

Response<br />

The text in the final Statement (Section 6.1.3) has been revised to note that island<br />

arcs, at ocean continent margins, are frequently active seismically and volcanically.<br />

Draft p. 1.26<br />

Issue<br />

Other unresolved problems or disadvantages that should be mentioned regarding island<br />

disposal are: greater probability <strong>of</strong> disruptive geologic events (faulting, earthquakes,<br />

volcanism, etc.); perhaps greater erosion rates; more subject to higher rainfall rates,<br />

tropical storms, and tsunamis. (218-DI0)<br />

Response<br />

In the preparation <strong>of</strong> the final Statement efforts were made to provide a balanced dis-<br />

cussion <strong>of</strong> the advantages and disadvantages <strong>of</strong> the concept using the most current informa-<br />

tion available in the technical literature . Accordingly, for relatively undeveloped<br />

concepts, many <strong>of</strong> the issues that would be the subject <strong>of</strong> future R&D are not addressed. An<br />

example <strong>of</strong> such an issue is rainfall rates that would be expected to be site specific<br />

although very important to the evaluation <strong>of</strong> island hydrologies. No island sites have been<br />

considered by the DOE. Therefore, rainfall rate data are not available.

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