Selected chapters from:

High-Level Dollars, Low-Level Sense:

Chapter 3: Overview and Critique of the Current Approach to Radioactive Waste Management

by: Arjun Makhijani and Scott Saleska

• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 3: Overview and Critique of the Current Approach to Radioactive Waste Management
• Chapter 5: Summary and Recommendations
• Table of Contents to the Full Report
• Bibliography and References
• Ordering Information

Due to the length of this chapter, it has been divided into separate files, based on subheadings within the chapter. The introduction to the chapter is given below. Other sections are as follows:

• A. Spent Fuel, High-Level, and Transuranic Wastes
  • Background on Nuclear Waste Disposal Issues
  • Current Standards and Regulations for Long-Term Management
  • Interim Management for Spent Fuel: MRS and Onsite Storage
  • Environmental and Financial Risks of Current Programs
    • Transuranic Wastes at WIPP
    • Yucca Mountain
    • Risks of Continued Reliance on the DOE
• B.Low-Level Waste
  • History of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal
  • Current Standards and Regulations
  • Current Status and Problems with Disposal Plans
• C. Mill Tailings

Introduction to Chapter 3

Current plans call for the disposal of low-level waste at various sites around the country; some transuranic wastes in a geologic repository near Carlsbad, New Mexico (The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant known by its acronym WIPP); and spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste in a separate geologic repository which has yet to be built. Uranium mill tailings are generally being dealt with on-site or near the site, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards.¹ Considerable problems remain to be addressed in each of these areas. There are no firm plans -- in some cases not even clear, viable proposals -- for large quantities of these wastes, most notably in the weapons complex, which is just starting to deal with the vast environmental contamination problems it has created over the past 45 years. Cost estimates for the clean-up run upwards of $150 billion, notwithstanding the fact that some sites may be irreversibly contaminated.

The main focus of our analysis here is on the long-lived and more dangerous components of the conventional waste categories. This includes:

• Commercial spent fuel, high-level reprocessing waste, and transuranic waste, all of which (except for part of the transuranic waste) according to current U.S. law and policy are slated for permanent disposal in a deep geologic repository.
• The long-lived or especially dangerous components of low-level waste from both commercial and military sources, most of which are currently disposed of through shallow burial in radioactive waste landfills.
• Uranium mill tailings, especially concerning the long-lived components radium-226 and thorium-230.

In the sections below, we consider U.S. plans for dealing with each of these issues.

• Preface
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 3: Overview and Critique of the Current Approach to Radioactive Waste Management
• Chapter 5: Summary and Recommendations
• Table of Contents to the Full Report
• Bibliography and References
• Ordering Information

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Last Updated October, 1996

1. EPA 1983c, a (40 CFR 192).