RADIOActIVE WASTE

MANAGEMENT
2nd Edition

Edited by
James H. Saling &
Audeen W. Fentiman

.¡NIN

TAYLOR & FRANCIS

NewYork
 t
Denise T. Schanck, Vice President
Robert H. Bedford, Editor
Catherine M. Caputo, Assistant Editor
Tom Hastings, Marketing Director
Mariluz Segarra, Marketing Associate

Published in 2001 by
Taylor & Francis
29 West 35th Street
New York, NY 10001

Published in Great Britain by

Taylor & Francis
11 New Fetter Lane
London EC4P 4EE

Copyright © 2001 by Taylor & Francis

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.

AIl right reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any fonn or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording or in any infonnation storage or retrieval system without pennission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Radioactive waste management / edited by James H. Saling & Audeen W. Fentiman.-2nd ed.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: Radioactive waste management / Y.S. Tang, James H. Saling.
lncludes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56032-842-8 (alk. paper)
l. Radioactive waste disposal. 2. Radioactive wastes-Management.
1. Saling, James H. 11. Fentiman, Audeen W. 1lI. Tang, Y.S. (Yu S.), 1922-Radioactive waste
management. IV. Title.
TD812.R33 2001
363.72'89---dc21
2001023959
 •

CONTENTS

PREFACE ix

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Power Generation 2

1.2 Classification of Radwaste 8
1.3 Sources of Radwaste 10
1.4 Mixed Wastes 14
1.5 Environmental Restoration 17
1.6 Waste Management Activities and Responsibilities 18
1.7 Regulation of Activities and Regulatory Agencies 18
1.8 Legislative Involvement 19
References 21

2 RADIATION SOURCES, EXPOSURE,

AND HEALTH EFFECTS 23

2.1 Introduction 23
2.2 Basic Radiation Science 23
2.3 Radiation Doses 27
2.4 Health Effects 34
2.5 Historical Radiation Protection 43

v
vi CONTENTS

2.6 Computer Codes • 49

2.7 Discussion Questions and Problems 52
References 53

3 SPENT FUEL MANAGEMENT 55

3.1 Introduction 55
3.2 Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage 60
3.3 Dry Cask Storage of Spent Fuel at Reactors 70
3.4 Legislative and Regulatory Requirements Concerning Spent Nuclear Fuel 70
3.5 Federal Interim Storage and Monitored Retrievable Storage 78
3.6 Spent Fuel Packaging for Disposal 88
3.7 Transportation of Spent Fuel 89
3.8 Cooperative Demonstration Programs for Dry Storage 91
3.9 Experimental Programs for Storage Systems 95
3.10 Economic Evaluation of Spent Fuel Management Systems 97
3.11 Computer Codes 98
3.12 Discussion Questions and Problems 99
References 99

4 HIGH-LEVEL WASTE MANAGEMENT 103

4.1 lntroduction 103

4.2 Fuel Reprocessing Methodology 108
4.3 Treatment of High-Level Waste 118
4.4 Packaging of High-Level Waste 135
4.5 Transporting High-Level Waste 150
4.6 Computer Codes 151
4.7 Discussion Questions and Problems 152
References 152

5 DISPOSAL OF SPENT FUEL AND HIGH-LEVEL WASTE 157

5.1 Introduction 157

5.2 Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposal Methods 157
5.3 Major Development Programs in the United States 174
5.4 Development Programs in Other Countries 178
5.5 Experimental Programs for Disposal Systems 185
5.6 Socioeconomic Impacts and Institutional Issues 188
References 189

6 TRANSURANIC WASTE 193

6.1 Transuranic Waste. Definitions, Sources, and Inventories 193

6.2 Processing, Storage, and Transportation ofTransuranic Waste 197
 CONTENTS vii

6.3 Regulations and Standards for Transuranic Waste • 200

6.4 Waste Isolation Pilot Plant 201
6.5 Discussion Questions and Problems 207
References 207

7 LOW-LEVEL WASTE 209

7.1 Introduction 209

7.2 Historical Background, State Compacts, and Regulations 214
7.3 Treatment and Conditioning Processes 220
7.4 Low-Level Waste Packaging and Transportation 258
7.5 Operational Experience with Volume Reduction Systems 261
7.6 Shallow Land Disposal 265
7.7 Computer Codes 273
7.8 Discussion Questions and Problems 274
References 274

8 URANIUM ORE MILL TAILINGS MANAGEMENT 277

8.1 Introduction 277

8.2 History and Currenl Management ofTailings 279
8.3 Case Studies of Management and Disposal of Mill Tailings
and Wastes 283
8.4 Computer Codes 287
8.5 Discussion Questions and Problems 288
References 288

9 MIXEDWASTES 291

9.1 Introduction 291

9.2 Historical Background 292
9.3 Sources, Classification, and Inventories 292
9.4 Regulations and Standards for Mixed Wastes 293
9.5 Waste Minimization Methodologies 293
9.6 Waste Packaging and Disposal 295
9.7 Computer Codes 296
9.8 Discussion Question 297
References 297

10 ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION 299

10.1 Introduction 299

10.2 Description of the Nuclear Weapons Complex 299
10.3 Waste Inventories and Contamination at Nuclear Weapons
Complex Sites 305
viii CONTENTS

10.4 Laws and Department of Energy Orders That Apply

to Weapons Complex Sites •308
10.5 Department of Energy Plan s for Environmental Restoration 311
10.6 Environmental Restoration Technologies 312
10.7 Computer Codes 313
10.8 Discussion Questions and Problems 314
References 315

11 TRANSPORTATION 317

11.1 Introduction 317

11.2 Current Status of Radwaste Transportation Worldwide 318
11.3 Public Concerns 319
11.4 Regulations Governing Radwaste Transportation 320
11.5 Radioactive Waste Packages for Transportation 324
11.6 High-Level Waste and Spent Fuel Transportation 329
11.7 Shipper and Carrier Responsibilities 335
11.8 Risk Analysis for Transportation 338
11.9 Computer Programs 345
11.10 Discussion Questions and Problems 345
References 346

12 DECONTAMINATION AND DECOMMISSIONING 349

12.1 Introduction 349

12.2 Decommissioning Commercial Nuclear Power Plants 354
12.3 Decommissioning Environmental Impacts
and Regulatory Guides 363
12.4 Decon and Decommissioning Techniques
and Technology Development 365
12.5 Decommissioning Experience 373
12.6 Decommissioning Cost Estimates 388
12.7 Computer Codes 388
12.8 Discussion Questions 389
References 389

APPENDICES 393

INDEX 401
 •

PREFACE

Disposal of nuclear wastes has been studied for more than five decades under the aus-
pices ofthe U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and its successors, the U.S. Energy
Research and DevelopmentAdministration (ERDA) and the U.S. Department ofEnergy
(DOE). In 1982, the U.S. Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which, among
other things, directed the DOE to establish the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste
Management. The purpose of this organization was to design and construct facilities that
would accept and start disposing of spent nuclear fuel and high-level wastes by January 31,
1998. Almost two decades have passed since that act was signed into law, and after the
expenditure of several billion dollars, we still have no firm date for disposal of high-
level nuclear wastes.
Similar delays have occurred in disposing of other types of radioactive waste. Con-
struction of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, designed for the permanent disposal of
transuranic waste, was essentially complete in 1989, but the first shipment of waste was
not accepted until 1999. The Low-Level Waste Policy Act of 1980 made states respon-
sible for providing disposal capacity for their own low-level waste (LLW) and allowed
them to form compacts for that purpose, but in the intervening 20 years, no state or com-
pact has opened a new LLW disposal facility.
One wonders why a country with the technological capability to put aman on the
moon in a single decade has been unable to accomplish the seemingly much less chal-
lenging task of placing nuclear wastes safely underground in five decades. There may
be several reasons for this. The Department of Energy supported the development of
many technologies for packaging, storing, handling, transporting, and disposal of nu-
clear wastes, including spent fue\. As a result, the technical community developed a

ix
x PREFACE

competitive atmosphere with each developer insisting that its method was best, wl¡en
in fact, many of the technologies were quite adequate to safely handle the wastes.
Most scientists agreed that many of the technologies were adequate, but they still
pushed for their particular technology to be selected. This failure of the technical
community to agree on a single concept, particularly for high-level waste disposal, of-
ten confused the public and led them to question whether any disposal system would
be safe. Over time, the waste management issue has become politicized, and many be-
lieve decisions are often made for political reasons rather than technical ones, further
eroding public confidence.
We believe it is important for the federal govemment, industry, educators, and
other stakeholders to provide complete, factual, research-based information to the pub-
lic on nuclear power and nuclear waste and to refute any misinformation that has been
provided over the past several years. The information provided should include facts on
the volume of nonrenewable resources consumed for electricity production and the
many other uses of those resources for which there are currently no other economical
raw materials. In a democratic society, the public needs this factual information in
order to make decisions. Today's choices regarding fuel for electricity generation can
have a significant impact on the quality of life and national security for many decades
to come.
The original authors were motivated to write the first edition of this book by the
lack of suitable textbooks or reference books in the radioactive waste management field
when they were organizing a short training course in 1984, a nuclear waste management
overview for Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In the revised edition, we retain much
of the original material because of its historical value and add more recent information.
In addition, we broaden the scope to include chapters on mixtures of hazardous and ra-
dioactive wastes and on environmental restoration of Department of Energy sites. This
should allow the book to be used in environmental engineering courses as well as
courses in radiocative waste management. We also hope that the wider use of this book
will provide future decision makers with information that will allow them to consider
nuclear power as one of several methods to meet our country 's energy needs.
The purposes of the new edition of this book are as follows:

l. To broaden the scope to make the book useful for environmental engineers as well
as for radiocative waste managers.
2. To create a general awareness of technologies developed for radiocative waste man-
agement and environmental restoration.
3. To summarize the current status of such technologies.
4. To prepare practicing scientists, engineers, administrative personnel, and students
for participation in working teams applying such technologies.

Thus this book is aimed at serving as a textbook for students in nuclear engineering and
students in environmental engineering and as a reference book for those who have deci-
sion-making roles at various levels in govemment and private industry.
We are indebted to a number of people, too numerous to list, for their help in the
preparation of this book. We do wish, however, to acknowledge the contributions of
 PREFACE xi

Amber Climer, a graduate student in Nuclear Engineering a¡d in Environmental

Science at The Ohio State University, who gathered data, prepared tables and figures,
typed several of the chapters, and provided valuable insights from the student's per-
spective. Finally, we thank our spouses and families for their encouragement and un-
derstanding, without which we could not have completed this undertaking.

James H. Saling
Audeen W. Fentiman