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

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We recognize that a trade-off takes place between the degree of detail
In analyses and the comprehensiveness of the documentation. Sometimes
less detail is necessary to gain understanding. In this statement, the
latter course might have proved useful. The constant use of technical
jargon seriously weakens the analysis regardless of its scientific
mejargonits. This is especially true with regard to the discussion of
otential design failures related to the transport of nuclear waste
potential design a repsto
across the country to a repository.
the ability of the site and repository to meet regulatory
standards. Such reevaluations would lead either to abandon-
ment of the site or a decision to proceed to the next step.
Reliance on conservative engineering practices and multiple
independent barriers can reduce some risks and compensate for
some uncertainties. However, even at the time of decormission-
inqsome uncertainty about repository performance will still
exist. Thus, in addition to technical evaluation, a societal
judgment that considers the level of risk and the associated
One important issue, the possibility of deliberate reopening of a
radioactive waste disposal site, should be presented in the final
radioactie te sis should be secure and guarded over the long-term
uncertainty will be necessary." (Emphasis added)
A discussion of these issues should be included in section 3.1.6,
to prevent future release of radioactivity.
Research and Development Needs, in the final statement.
Relationship to the IRG Report
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Technological Issues
The President has recognized the immediate and long-term problems of
nuclear waste management. In March 1978 he established a Federal Interagency
Review Group (IRG) for nuclear waste management. The task force
released its recommendations in a draft report in March 1979. This
report also contained IRG's responses to the extensive public comment
on the subject.
The statement is an impressive encyclopedic compilation of information
on radwaste generation and disposal. It presents the state-of-the-art
for high-level and transuranic waste-disposal technology and is markedly
superior to earlier documents. The major conclusion that disposal of
radwastes in mined repositories is, for the near-term, the preferred
approach is in keeping with conclusions reached by the Interagency
Review Group (TID-29442).
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The IRG's summary statement appears to be more candid than this EIS.
On page 42 of the final report (TID-29442) the IRG stated:
On report page 42 -Unlike of the final
statement appears biased in its technological optimism.
However, the statement appears biased in its technological optimism.
the IRG's measured optimism regarding the feasibility of
"Present scientific and technological knowledge is adequate
to identify otential repository sites for further investiga-
No ientific or technical reason is known that would
prevent identifying a site that is suitable for a repository
provided that the systems view is utilized rigorously to
evaluate the suitability of sites and designs, and in
minimizing the influence of future human activities. A suitable
site is one at which a repository would meet predetermined
criteria and which would provide a high degree of assurance
that radioactive waste can be sucessfully solated from the
biosphere for periods of thousands of years. For eriods beyd
few thousand e our caaiit to assess-he erToance
of the repository diminishes and the degree of assurance is
therefore high-leve l reduced. waste in The mined feasibility repositories of safely can only disposing be assessed of
geologic disposal of radwaste, this document leaves the reader with
the impression that all existing uncertainties are solvable, given
time and money. While we agree that radwaste can, with rigorous
application of the systems approach, and with generated implementation
procedures, be safely isolated from the biosphere for a few thousand
years, this report implies that such an outcome will be the normal
result of existing and as-yet-to-be-developed technology. The final
statement should recognize that:
a) Radwaste disposal is a new technology which, like all preceding
technologies, will develop over the course of decades in
response to experiences which in all likelihood could include
some failures;
b) Successful design of systems in the geotechnical fields
on the basis of specific investigations at and determinations
of suitability of particular sites. Information obtained at
each successive step of site selection and repository development
will permit reevaluation of risks, uncertainties, and
differs markedly from that in other engineering fields,as
succinctly stated recently by C. H. Dowding: "The process
of exploring to characterize or define small-scale properties