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

5.104
5.9 SHORT-TERM USES OF THE ENVIRONMENT VERSUS LONG-TERM PRODUCTIVITY
In terms of short-term use, about 800 ha (2000 acres) will be restricted from present
use and until the repository is decommissioned (on the order of 30 years). After decommis-
sioning, this land could be returned to its former use. An exception would be the area on
which excess rock had been stockpiled, assuming no use elsewhere had been found for the
rock. The area that this rock would cover would depend on the height to which it was
finally piled. Characteristics of specific sites would probably dictate the size and shape
of the rock storage pile(s). If the height of the storage pile were about 3 m ( 10 ft) the
pile (ignoring the angle of repose of the rock) would occupy an area about 2200 m
(1.4 miles) on a side. If left in this state, this large pile would constitute a cost in
terms of lost productivity of the surface soils and in terms of an aesthetically displeasing
visual impact. On the other hand, this large pile for granite and basalt repositories could
be moved and modified to form a suitable marker for the repository. The costs would be
balanced by the benefits of permanent isolation of radioactive waste far beneath the earth's
surface.