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

6.177
6.2.2.7 Long-Term Maintenance and Surveillance Requirements
Future generations cannot reasonably be expected to assume a burden of maintaining and
monitoring the nuclear wastes of present generations. Thus a desirable assessment factor
for waste management concepts is that they require minimal maintenance or monitoring
following decommissioning. The Environmental Protection Agency has included in its draft
standards for waste management a stipulation that surveillance and maintenance should not
be relied upon for a period exceeding 100 years after termination of active disposal opera-
tions (43 Fed. Register, Section 221, November 1978). A more general performance standard
was adopted for this analysis that reliance should not be placed on maintenance and surveil-
lance for extended times following termination of the operational period.
6.2.2.8 Resource Consumption
Any waste management option would require the consumption of certain resources includ-
ing energy, critical nonfuel materials, and land. Certain materials which are important to
a waste management option may be in short supply, potentially producing market disruptions
or increased dependence on uncertain supplies. Potentially critical materials are listed
in Table 6.2.5. It is important that no waste isolation approach use an unreasonable amount
of any critical resource, but no specific standard is advanced.
TABLE 6.2.5. Potentially Critical Materials(a)
Aluminum Cobalt Nickel Water
Antimony Columbium Platinum Natural Gas
Asbestos Graphite Potash Electricity
Bismuth Iodine Quartz (crystals) Coal
Cesium Manganese Tantalum Petroleum-Derived Fuels
Chromium Mica Tin Other Fuels
(a) The nonfuel minerals of this group are considered to be "major problems
from the national viewpoint" by the U.S. Bureau of Mines
because of U.S. low-grade resource or reserve inadequacy to
YpAr ?nnn
6.2.2.9 Equity of Risk
Although the responsibility for disposal of high level radioactive waste belongs to the
Federal government, the implementation of a specific solution will require cooperation with
the state and local governments, and with the general public. A few localities will be
required to accept and service the facilities for disposal of waste that was created in pro-
viding service and benefits to a very broad segment of the country's population. Conse-
quently, the implementation of a disposal method will have to be judged against the equity
of risk by the political subdivision involved.