Congress created the US Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) in the 1987 amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA). It advises both Congress and the Secretary of Energy on technical issues related to DOE implementation of the NWPA. The Board evaluates the technical validity of all activities undertaken by the Secretary of Energy related to DOE’s obligation to manage and develop an approach to dispose of SNF and HLW. The NWTRB is a unique federal agency and is completely independent, nonpartisan, and nonpolitical. Its 11 members are appointed by the President from a list of nominees submitted by the National Academy of Sciences, which makes its nominations based solely on the expertise of the individual in relevant scientific and engineering disciplines. The inde­pendent technical peer review offered by the NWTRB contributes to the acceptance by the public and scientific communities for different approaches to managing nuclear waste.

The DOE has responsibility for, among other matters, nuclear energy, nuclear weapons programs, nuclear and radiological weapons nonprolifera­tion, radioactive waste management, and new nuclear-related activities for environmental remediation of contaminated sites and surplus facilities. It has regulatory authority over its facilities and nuclear activities, and those operated or conducted on its behalf, except where the NRC is specifically authorized by statute to regulate certain DOE facilities and activities.

Specifically, the DOE is responsible for regulating its SNF and RAW management activities pursuant to the AEA, except in cases where Con­gress has specifically provided the NRC with licensing and related regula­tory authority over DOE activities or facilities. Radiation and environmental protection are ensured by a rigorous framework of federal regulations, DOE Orders and Directives, and external recommendations by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. The DOE regulates facility operations and radiation protection through standards and requirements established in DOE Orders and Directives.

The DOE implements applicable radiation protection standards consid­ering and adopting, as appropriate, recommendations of authoritative organizations such as the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements and the International Commission on Radiological

Protection. It is also DOE policy to adopt and implement standards gener­ally consistent with those of the NRC.

A dual regulatory framework exists for mixed waste, which is waste that the EPA considers to be hazardous and radioactive. The EPA or authorized states regulate the hazardous waste component and the NRC, NRC

Agreement States, or DOE regulate the radioactive component. The NRC and DOE regulate mixed waste radiation hazards using Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (AEA) authority. The EPA regulates mixed waste chemical hazards under its Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) authority. The NRC is authorized by the AEA to issue licenses to commercial users of radioactive materials.

The EPA issued regulations in 2001 that apply to:

• storage at the generator site or another site operating under the same license

• treatment in a tank or container at the generator site or another site operating under the same license

• transportation to a licensed treatment facility or LLW disposal facility

• disposal at a licensed LLW disposal facility, as long as the waste meets RCRA treatment standards for hazardous constituents.

The EPA has also established National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs) under the Clean Air Act for airborne radionu­clide emissions from a variety of industrial sources. Various subparts apply to underground uranium mines, inactive uranium mill tailings piles, and active uranium mill tailings piles, respectively.

The EPA issues radiation standards and certifies compliance of the WIPP disposal facility. The WIPP Land Withdrawal Act (LWA), as amended, required the EPA to issue final regulations for disposal of SNF, HLW, and TRU waste. It also gave the EPA authority to develop criteria implementing final WIPP radioactive waste disposal standards. The EPA must also deter­mine every five years whether the WIPP facility is in compliance with applicable standards. The WIPP LWA also requires the EPA to determine whether WIPP complies with other federal environmental and public health and safety regulations, such as the Clean Air Act and the Solid Waste Dis­posal Act. The EPA conducts inspections of both waste generators and WIPP operations. Separate inspections may be conducted for waste char­acterization activities, quality assurance, or WIPP site activities (procedural or technical).

The EPA also has regulatory authority for radioactive waste disposal standards for SNF, HLW, and TRU radioactive waste; final individual pro­tection standards; final groundwater protection standards; and contamina­tion in offsite underground sources of drinking water.

The EPA has regulatory responsibilities for a variety of other man-made and naturally occurring radioactive wastes:

• developing general radiation protection guidance to the federal government

• limiting airborne emissions of radionuclides

• setting drinking water regulations, under the Safe Drinking Water Act (as amended), including standards for radionuclides in community water systems

• coordinating with state radiation protection agencies to protect the environment, workers, and the public from naturally occurring radioac­tive materials exposed or concentrated by mining or processing

• coordinating with the DOE, NRC, and states on orphaned sources, recycled materials, and controlling imports and exports to prevent radio­actively contaminated scrap from entering the United States. The US Coast Guard and the US Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection have the lead in detecting and taking steps to prevent the illegal entry of such materials. They have the authority to take enforcement actions and, depending on the circumstances, may seize or have a shipment returned to the point of origination.

The EPA establishes generally applicable environmental standards to protect the environment from hazardous materials and certain radioactive materials. It has authority to establish standards for remediating active and inactive uranium mill tailing sites, environmental standards for the uranium fuel cycle, and environmental radiation protection standards for manage­ment and disposal of SNF, HLW, and TRU waste. The EPA promulgates standards for and certifies compliance at the WIPP in New Mexico for disposal of defense-generated TRU waste. EPA standards, under the Clean Air Act (EPA, 1990), limit airborne emissions of radionuclides from DOE sites. The EPA’s radioactive waste regulatory functions are described in more detail below.

18.1.3 Federal agencies

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The NRC is an independent regulatory agency created from the former AEC by Congress under the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 to ensure protection of the public health and safety and the environment, and to promote the common defense and security in the civilian use of byproduct, source, and special nuclear materials. The NRC is authorized to regulate private sector and certain government nuclear facilities, regulating the pos­session and use of nuclear materials as well as the siting, construction, and operation of nuclear facilities. It performs its mission by issuing regulations, licensing commercial nuclear reactor construction and operation, licensing the possession of and use of nuclear materials and wastes, safeguarding nuclear materials and facilities from theft and radiological sabotage, inspect­ing nuclear facilities, and enforcing regulations. The NRC regulates com­mercial nuclear fuel cycle materials and facilities as well as commercial sealed sources, including disused sealed sources.

The NRC regulates:

• commercial nuclear power, nonpower research, test, and training reactors

• fuel cycle facilities and medical, academic, and industrial uses of nuclear materials

• licensing of nuclear waste management facilities (including storage and disposal of SNF and HLW) as well as independent SNF management facilities

• certain DOE activities and facilities over which Congress has provided NRC licensing and related regulatory authority.

The NRC also regulates manufacture, production, transfer or delivery, receiving, acquisition, ownership, possession, and use of commercial radio­active materials, including associated RAW. The key elements of the NRC regulatory program are described in detail at http://www. nrc. gov. In addi­tion, the Department of Transportation has certain regulatory authority over the transport of SNF and HLW. Specifically, the NRC regulates man­agement and disposal of LLW and HLW, as well as decontaminating and decommissioning of facilities and sites. The NRC is also responsible for establishing the technical basis for regulations, and provides the informa­tion and technical basis for developing acceptance criteria for licensing reviews.

An important aspect of the NRC regulatory program is inspection and enforcement. The NRC has four regional offices that inspect licensed facili­ties in their regions, including nuclear waste facilities. Specific information on NRC Regional Offices can be accessed at http://www. nrc. gov/about-nrc/ organization. html. The NRC Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs communicates with state, local, and tribal governments, and oversees the Agreement State Program.

The regulatory system for SNF and radioactive waste management in the United States involves several agencies: the Nuclear Regulatory Commis­sion (NRC), regulating the commercial nuclear sector; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), establishing environmental standards; and the DOE, regulating government programs. Some NRC regulatory authority — excluding SNF, special nuclear material sufficient to form a critical mass, and HLW — can be delegated to the 50 states of the United States and the territories Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia under the Agreement State Program. This authority includes regulating commercial LLW disposal sites and uranium mill tailings sites, and regulatory authority over the dis­posal of mill tailings. Some states also have regulatory authority delegated to them by the EPA, such as for discharges from some industrial or mining practices.

Table 18.1 Key US laws governing RAW management

Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, established the Atomic Energy Commission, the predecessor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy, with federal responsibility to regulate the use of nuclear materials including the regulation of civilian nuclear reactors. Under Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1970, which created the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), authority to establish generally applicable environmental standards was transferred to the EPA along with authority to provide federal guidance on radiation protection matters affecting public health.

The Price-Anderson Act (1957) was enacted to encourage development of the nuclear industry and ensure prompt and equitable compensation in the event of a nuclear incident. The Act provides a system of financial protection for persons who may be liable for, and persons who may be injured by, such an incident.

Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, as amended, requires environmentally sound methods for disposal of household, municipal, commercial, and industrial waste. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is an amendment to the Solid Waste Disposal Act.

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, requires federal agencies to consider environmental values and factors in agency planning and decision making.

Clean Air Act of 1970 is the comprehensive federal law that regulates air emissions from stationary and mobile sources.

The Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972, also known as the Ocean Dumping Act, prohibits the dumping of material into the ocean unreasonably degrading or endangering human health or the marine environment.

Safe Drinking Water Act of 1972, as amended, protects public health by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply; it requires actions to protect drinking water and its sources: rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and groundwater wells.

Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended, abolished the Atomic Energy Commission and established the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration — the predecessor of the DOE.

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended, regulates the handling and disposal of hazardous wastes, which are generated mainly by industry, also requires that open dumping of all solid wastes be brought to an end throughout the country by 1983.

Department of Energy Organization Act (1977) brought together most of the Government’s energy programs, as well as defense responsibilities that included the design, construction, and testing of nuclear weapons into the new Department of Energy. The Department was established on 1 October 1977, assuming the responsibilities of the Federal Energy Administration, Energy Research and Development Administration, the Federal Power Commission, and parts and programs of several other federal agencies.

Uranium Mill Tailings and Radiation Control Act of 1978, as amended, vested the EPA with overall responsibility for establishing health and environmental cleanup standards for uranium milling sites and contaminated vicinity properties, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with responsibility for licensing and regulating uranium production and related activities, including decommissioning, and the Department of Energy with responsibility for remediating inactive milling sites and long-term monitoring of the decommissioned sites.

Table 18.1 Continued

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 as amended, also known as Superfund, provided the EPA with authority to address abandoned hazardous waste sites and outlined the process to be followed in identifying and remediating sites, including determination of cleanup levels and pursuit of contribution to the cleanup or cost recovery against parties deemed to have contributed to the contamination. It includes radionuclides as a hazardous substance.

Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980 and Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 gave individual states — rather than the federal government — responsibility to provide disposal capacity for commercial Class A, B, and C low-level waste; authorized the formation of regional compacts (groups of states) for the safe disposal of such low-level waste; and allowed compacts to decide whether to exclude waste generated outside the compact. The acts gave the federal government responsibility for the disposal of greater-than-class C low-level waste that results from activities licensed by the NRC or Agreement States.

National Security and Military Applications of Nuclear Energy Authorization Act of 1980. Section 213 (a) of the Act authorizes Waste Isolation Pilot Plant ‘for the express purpose of providing a research and development facility to demonstrate the safe disposal of radioactive wastes resulting from defense activities and programs of the U. S. exempted from regulation by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.’

West Valley Demonstration Project Act of 1980 authorized the DOE to conduct a technology demonstration project for solidifying high-level waste, disposing of waste created by the solidification, and decommissioning the facilities used in the process. The Act required the DOE to enter into an agreement with the State of New York for carrying out the project.

Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 as amended by the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987 establishes the federal responsibility for disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste.

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act of 1992, as amended, withdraws land from the public domain for operation of the facility; defines operational limitations and the role of the EPA and the US Mine Safety and Health Administration; exempts transuranic mixed waste destined for disposal at the facility from treatment requirements and land disposal prohibitions under the Solid Waste Disposal Act. The Act provides for a continuing EPA oversight role, including recertification that the facility meets EPA standards.

Energy Policy Act of 1992 mandated site-specific public health and safety standards and site-specific licensing requirements for the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Among other things, it also authorized the DOE to reimburse certain ‘active’ uranium and thorium milling owners for a portion of their remedial action costs.

Energy Policy Act of 2005 sets forth an energy and development program and includes specific provisions addressing, among other things, disposal of greater — than-class C low-level waste (including certain sealed sources), naturally occurring radioactive materials, and accelerator-produced waste.

Title 10 (for NRC and DOE) and Title 40 (for EPA) of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) contain the general requirements for the three federal agencies responsible for regulating radioactive waste. US govern­ment regulations are developed through an open process, including the opportunity for public comment. New regulations are published in the Federal Register in proposed and final forms.

The separation between the EPA standard-setting function and the NRC ’s implementing function reflects a nearly 40-year-old congressional policy of centralizing environmental standard-setting in a single agency. When the EPA was established, it was given environmental authorities previously scattered among several older agencies, including the NRC pred­ecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). There are advantages to having an agency both set and implement standards, and the NRC does so in many subject areas, especially in reactor design and operation. Nonethe­less, there are also advantages to having environmental standards set on a national basis by a single agency whose jurisdiction is wide enough to permit the agency to rank risks from many sources, including nuclear.

18.1.2 Legislative system

The policy on regulatory control of RAW management in the United States has evolved through a series of laws establishing federal agencies respon­sible for the safety of radioactive materials. Federal legislation is enacted by Congress and signed into law by the President. US laws apply to all 50 states and its territories. Table 18.1 identifies key US laws governing radio­active waste management; pertinent legislation on the safety of SNF and RAW dates from the 1950s.

The DOE is responsible for and performs most of the SNF and RAW man­agement activities for government-owned and — generated waste and materi­als, mostly located on government-owned sites. These activities include managing SNF remaining from decades of defense reactor operations, which ceased in the early 1990s. Since then, the DOE has safely stored the remaining defense SNF and SNF generated in a number of research and test reactors. The DOE also provides safe storage for the core of the decom­missioned Fort St. Vrain gas-cooled reactor and the core of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor damaged in a 1979 accident.

The DOE has a system for managing government SNF and radioactive waste. This includes numerous storage and processing facilities (treatment and conditioning), such as operating disposal facilities for LLW and TRU waste. Other waste management treatment and disposal systems support cleanup and closure of decommissioned facilities no longer serving a DOE mission.

The United States also continues activities to remove and/or secure high — risk nuclear and radiological materials both domestically and internation­ally. Part of this initiative is continuing the program of accepting US-origin foreign research reactor SNF and returning it to the United States for safekeeping and recovery of disused sealed sources.