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

4.94
with a colocated spent fuel packaging facility. About 60% of these injuries and deaths are
attributable to the AFR itself, and 40% are attributable to the packaging facility. Decom-
missioning activities are estimated to result in only about 3% as many deaths and injuries
as do the construction activities.
Injuries and deaths will also result from spent fuel transportation, as they do from
other transportation activities. For rail transport, we use estimates of 0.36 disabling
injuries and 0.039 deaths per million km. For truck transport, the estimates are 0.44 dis-
abling injuries and 0.045 deaths per million km. These injuries and deaths may occur either
to the transportation worker or to the public.
4.8.2 Accident Impacts for the Reprocessing Fuel Cycle
This section describes the impacts of postulated accidents in the predisposal waste
management operations required in the reprocessing fuel cycle.
4.8.2.1 Radiological Impacts from Accidents During the Treatment and Packaging of
Reprocessing Wastes
In the reprocessing fuel cycle, both high-level and TRU wastes are generated at the
fuel reprocessing plants (FRP), but only TRU wastes are generated at the fuel fabrication
plants (MOX-FFP). Discussions of waste management accidents at these facilities are divided
into high-level, transuranic, and gaseous or airborne waste management operations.
Calcination and vitrification processes were considered for the treatment of high-level
liquid wastes. Minor and moderate accidents involving in-cell material spills, process
equipment failures and the loss of components in the off-gas treatment processes were con-
sidered. No credible scenarios for severe accidents were identified for either of these
technologies. Accidental releases are, in part, mitigated by processing through the FRP
atmospheric protection system (a final exhaust-air filtration system).
The largest release from a minor accident results from a 2-kg calcine spill to the
cell. Spills of this magnitude are estimated to occur once in 10 to 1000 years, but smaller
spills to the cell probably will occur more frequently. The 70-yr accumulated dose to a
maximum-exposed individual from this accident is 6 x 10-6 rem.
A moderate accident involving the loss of an off-gas filter is estimated to occur once
every 5 years. The 70-yr accumulated dose to a maximum-exposed individual would be
2 x 10 - 4 rem for this accident. All other moderate accidents for the high-level waste
treatment facilities would result in smaller doses.
Transuranic wastes generated in the example FRP consist of fuel hulls and hardware,
failed equipment, combustible and noncombustible wastes and wet wastes. Similar wastes,
with the exception of hulls and hardware, are also produced at the MOX-FFP.
Packaging without compaction, hulls compaction and hulls melting were considered for
the treatment of fuel hulls and hardware. No credible moderate or severe accidents were
identified for any of these technologies. The worst minor accident postulated was a