Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain Standards

Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain Standards

  • Publisher: National Academies Press
  • ISBN: 9780309052894
  • eISBN Pdf: 9780309588188
  • eISBN Epub: 9780309176330
  • Place of publication:  United States
  • Year of digital publication: 1995
  • Month: July
  • Pages: 222
  • Language: English

The United States currently has no place to dispose of the high-level radioactive waste resulting from the production of the nuclear weapons and the operation of nuclear electronic power plants. The only option under formal consideration at this time is to place the waste in an underground geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. However, there is strong public debate about whether such a repository could protect humans from the radioactive waste that will be dangerous for many thousands of years. This book shows the extent to which our scientific knowledge can guide the federal government in developing a standard to protect the health of the public from wastes in such a repository at Yucca Mountain. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is required to use the recommendations presented in this book as it develops its standard.

  • Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain Standards
  • Copyright
  • PREFACE
  • Contents
  • EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
    • PROTECTING HUMAN HEALTH
      • Elements of the Standard
      • Protection of the General Public
    • ASSESSING COMPLIANCE
      • Physical and Geologic Processes
      • Exposure Scenarios
    • HUMAN INTRUSION
    • IMPLICATIONS OF OUR CONCLUSIONS
      • Limits of the Scientific Basis
      • Technology-Based Standards
      • Administrative Consequences
  • 1 INTRODUCTION
    • SCOPE OF THE STUDY
    • BACKGROUND AND APPROACH
      • The Repository System
      • Issues to Be Considered in Approaching the Study
        • Large but improbable doses
        • Demonstration of compliance
        • Fundamental vs. derived standards
        • Time scale
      • Choices Affecting the Bases of the Standard
  • 2 PROTECTING HUMAN HEALTH
    • THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF IONIZING RADIATION
    • DEVELOPMENT OF RADIATION PROTECTION STANDARDS
      • General Consensus in Radiation Protection Principles and Standards
    • THE FORM OF THE STANDARD
    • ELEMENTS OF AN INDIVIDUAL-RISK STANDARD
      • What Level of Protection?
      • Who Is Protected?
      • For How Long?
    • PROTECTING THE GENERAL PUBLIC
    • PROTECTING THE GLOBAL POPULATION
    • NEGLIGIBLE INCREMENTAL RISK
    • PROTECTING LOCAL POPULATIONS
      • Population-Risk Standard
      • Spatial Gradient in Risk
    • PREFERRED FORM OF THE STANDARD
  • 3 ASSESSING COMPLIANCE
    • INTRODUCTION
    • PART I: OVERVIEW OF PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT
      • Reasonable Confidence
      • Time scale
      • Probabilistic Analysis of Risk
    • QUANTITATIVE CALCULATION OF REPOSITORY PERFORMANCE
      • Elements of Performance Assessment
        • Conceptual model
        • Mathematical model
        • Numerical analysis
        • Model parameters
        • Boundary conditions
      • Treatment of Uncertainty
        • Probabilistic modeling
        • Bounding estimates
        • Alternative conceptual models
      • Summary
    • PATHWAYS AND PROCESSES FOR PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN
    • PART II: EARTH SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FACTORS IN PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN
      • Transport Among Reservoirs
        • Release from the waste form
        • Transport from canisters to the near-field unsaturated zone
        • Gas phase transport from the unsaturated zone to the atmosphere above Yucca Mountain
        • Atmospheric circulation leading to dispersal of gaseous radionuclides in the world atmosphere
        • Aqueous phase transport from the unsaturated zone to the water table
      • Gradual and Episodic Natural Modifiers
        • Climate change
        • Seismicity
        • Volcanism
    • PART III: EXPOSURE SCENARIOS IN PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT
      • Selection of Exposure Scenarios for Performance Assessment Calculations
      • Exclusion Zone
  • 4 HUMAN INTRUSION AND INSTITUTIONAL CONTROLS
    • INTRODUCTION
      • The Consequences of Intrusion
        • Technical basis
        • Consequence-based analysis
    • ADDITIONAL BASES FOR OUR RECOMMENDATION
      • Categories of Future Human Intrusion Events
      • Categories of Hazards Resulting From an Intrusion
  • 5 IMPLICATIONS OF OUR CONCLUSIONS
    • COMPARISON WITH 40 CFR 191
      • Considerations
        • Generic vs. site-specific standards
        • Dose vs. risk
      • Differences From 40 CFR 191
        • Time period
        • Population health effects and release limits
        • Human intrusion
        • Ground-water protection
      • Common Elements With 40 CFR 191
        • Dose apportionment
        • Reference biosphere
        • Exclusion zone
        • Use of mean values
    • LIMITS OF THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS
    • TECHNOLOGY-BASED STANDARDS
      • The ALARA Principle
    • 10 CFR 60
      • Minimum Early Release
    • ADMINISTRATIVE CONSEQUENCES FOR EPA, USNRC, AND DOE
  • APPENDIX A BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON COMMITTEE MEMBERS
  • APPENDIX B CONGRESSIONAL MANDATE FOR THIS REPORT
    • TITLE VIII–HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE
    • TITLE VIII–HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE
  • APPENDIX C A PROBABILISTIC CRITICAL GROUP
    • EXAMPLE STEPS REQUIRED FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF A MONTE CARLO ANALYSIS
      • Step 1: Identify general lifestyle characteristics of the larger population that includes the critic...
      • Step 2: Quantify important characteristics, distributions of characteristics, and geographic locatio...
      • Step 3: Simulation of radionuclide transport and identification of potential exposure areas
      • Step 4: For each plume realization, identify critical ''snapshots" of radionuclide distribution at t ...
      • Step 5: Generate exposure realizations
      • Step 6: Calculation of dose distributions for exposure realizations
      • Step 7: Interpretation of exposure simulation results to identify critical subgroups
      • Step 8: Calculation of average risk to members of the critical group
  • APPENDIX D THE SUBSISTENCE-FARMER CRITICAL GROUP
    • CALCULATION OF GEOSPHERE PERFORMANCE
    • CALCULATION OF BIOSPHERE PERFORMANCE
  • APPENDIX E PERSONAL SUPPLEMENTARY STATEMENT OF THOMAS H. PIGFORD
    • INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
    • COMMENTS AND EXPLANATION
    • REFERENCES FOR APPENDIX E
  • APPENDIX F THE COMMITTEE CHAIR'S PERSPECTIVE ON APPENDIX E
  • GLOSSARY
  • REFERENCES

Subjects

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