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

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TABLE 4.7.8. Example Reprocessing Cycle Waste Management Operations at Individual
Facilities a)
70-Year Whole-Body Dose (man-rem) to:
Work Force Regional Population(b)
FRP Waste Management Facilities 14,000 9,200
MOX-FFP Waste Management Facilities 2,700 0.0014
RWSF 3,600 0.001
Waste Transportation 7,200 140
27,500 9,300
(a) 30-year operation in each case.
(b) The dose to the regional population from naturally occurring sources
is about 1 x 10 7 man-rem.
In this Statement, 100 to 800 health effects are postulated to occur in the exposed
population per million man-rem (see Appendix E). On that basis, the 70-year total body
doses to the regional population and the work force listed in Table 4.7.8, suggest that the
number of health effects expected to occur as a result of waste management operations at one
FRP and one MOX-FFP (plus transportation of wastes to the disposal facility) would be 2 to
20 health effects to the work force and 1 to 8 health effects to the regional population.
On this same basis, the regional population dose of 10 million man-rem received from natur-
ally occurring sources over the same 70 years suggests that 1,000 to 8,000 health effects
would occur from these naturally occurring sources.
4.7.2.4 Ecological Effects of Reprocessing Fuel Cycle Waste Management
Construction of waste management facilities will remove, for the life of the plants,
about 19 ha from its present use for agriculture and wildlife at the reference FRP site, and
about 0.3 ha at the reference MOX-FFP site. While this change in land use will eliminate
its utility as habitat for wildlife, no significant ecological impacts to the regions as a
whole are expected. Disturbance of animals from fugitive dust, noise, and human activities
during construction will be confined mainly to the restricted areas (2400 ha for the FRP and
400 ha for the MOX). Erosion caused by run-off may deposit silt in nearby surface waters
unless drainage is controlled by proper ditching, grading, and silt catchment. After con-
struction is completed and vegetation is reestablished or surfacing is completed in the dis-
turbed areas, this erosion problem will be reduced.
Calculated carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon levels caused by construction of the waste
management facilities are only a small fraction of the existing rural air concentrations
near the reference sites. Particulate concentrations are estimated to exceed Federal ambi-
ent air standards only on the construction site. Concentrations of the other materials are
below acceptable standards. Consequently, no measurable detrimental effects on the offsite
terrestrial ecosystem are anticipated.
The release of heat during operation of the waste management facilities is expected to
have no ecological impact. No perceptible impacts to the river ecosystem are foreseen from