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

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4.7.2 Environmental Impacts Related to Predisposal Operations for the
Reprocessing Fuel Cycle
Waste treatment operations required in the reprocessing fuel cycle were discussed in
Sections 4.3.2 through 4.3.5 for fuel reprocessing plants (FRPs) and mixed-oxide fuel fabri-
cation plants (MOX-FFPs). Potential waste storage requirements were discussed in Sec-
tions 4.4.2 through 4.4.4. In this section we will summarize the environmental effects of
these waste management operations. The effects will be summarized for three different
reference facilities: 1) a 2000 MTHM/yr FRP, 2) a 400 MTHM/yr MOX-FFP, and 3) a retriev-
able waste storage facility (RWSF) that has capacity to store all the high-level and TRU
wastes from FRPs and MOX-FFPs during the passage of 45,000 MTHM through the fuel cycle. An
RWSF will be necessary only if reprocessing is initiated significantly before a repository
is available.
The environmental effects of waste treatment, storage, and transportation are summarized
here for the example concepts defined in Sections 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5 for the reprocessing fuel
cycle. The environmental effects of alternative concepts were also examined in DOE/ET-0029;
only in the off-gas case, where the results are significantly different from those of the
example concepts, are the alternatives discussed here.
The use of other than deep geologic repositories for disposal of the high-level waste
could alter the number and type of waste management facilities required. As in the once-
through cycle, additional transportation facilities such as ships and docking facilities
would be required for disposal by the island, subseabed, or ice sheet disposal concepts.
Use of the rock melting or well injection concepts to dispose of liquid waste would elimi-
nate the need for high-level waste solidification and solidified high-level waste storage
facilities but would probably require the addition of substantial liquid high-level waste
storage facilities. Use of the space disposal concept would require additional chemical
processing facilities and, perhaps, the addition of substantial liquid high-level waste
storage facilities.
4.7.2.1 Resource Commitments in Reprocessing Fuel Cycle Waste Management
Land use commitments for waste management facilities at the reference FRP are about
19 ha compared to 60 ha for the production facilities. At the reference MOX-FFP, the waste
management facilities occupy about 0.3 ha of the 6 ha required for the production
facilities. An RWSF of the reference size would require 170 ha for buildings and storage
areas.
Water used during construction of waste management facilities amounts to about
1.4 x 105 m 3 , 5.9 x 103 m 3 and 3.1 x 105 m 3 , for the FRP, MOX-FFP, and RWSF, respectively.
If these quantities of water are withdrawn over the period of construction from a river such
as R River, as described in the reference environment, the impact on downstream uses will
be insignificant.
Resources committed for construction and operation of-the waste management facilities
are summarized in Table 4.7.5. Resources for construction and use of waste shipping