Regulatory Status of Commercial and Military Waste Generated in the US Nuclear Fuel Cycle (And you thought the tax system was complex!)
TYPE OF WASTE	CHARACTERISTICS	REGULATORY STATUS	COMMENTS	VOLUME (cubic meters)	RADIOACTIVITY (million curies)
HIGH-LEVEL WASTE
Spent Nuclear Fuel	Total weight = 34,600 MTIHM (metric tons of initial heavy metal) as of 12/31/95	-storage: NRC -disposal: NRC technical regs.; EPA regs. for all repositories except Yucca Mountain	Over 95% of all the radioactivity in nuclear waste. (See main article and editorial for info.on proposed Yucca Mtn. regs.)	14,200	28,6001 (no est. available for DOE spent fuel)
Reprocessing Waste	Supernate, sludge, "salt cake," and some vitrified waste.	-DOE: self-regulation -long-term regulations as above	Almost all from military plutonium separation. About 3% of total radioactivity in nuclear waste.	373,400	915.5
LOW-LEVEL WASTE
Class A	Booties, gloves, some medical waste, etc. May contain some long-lived radionuclides.	-this classification applies to NRC licensees	DOE has own classification system; EPA effort to regulate has been abandoned. Shallow land burial allowed. Can contain short-lived and long-lived radionuclides.	4,980,500	>20.8
Class B	Reactor filter resins, etc. Some waste has high radiation levels. May contain some long-lived radionuclides.
Class C	Irradiated reactor parts, some instruments, etc. Very radioactive.
Greater than Class C	The most radioactive irradiated reactor parts and some instruments.		NRC requires repository disposal. but DOE has no repository for it and no active plans to take it.	(no estimate available)	(no estimate available)
MIXED LOW-LEVEL WASTE	Generated mainly from nuclear weapons production; includes organic and inorganic toxics, heavy metals, and radioactive materials.	-DOE: Federal Facilities Compliance Act, agreements with states; RCRA -NRC licensees: NRC for radioactive portion; RCRA for non-radioactive portion	Management of toxics can complicate management of radionuclides.	>151,500	(no estimate available)
TRANSURANIC WASTE (TRU waste) includes mixed TRU waste	Mixed TRU waste generated mainly as part of nuclear weapons production.	-DOE: self-regulation -some EPA regulations apply for mixed TRU -EPA standards for TRU repository disposal	Repository slated for New Mexico (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant) but problems confront it and present plans omit buried TRU waste.	141,000 buried,2 75,600 stored: 216,600 total	>3.38
URANIUM MILL TAILINGS includes 11e(2)	Large volume; includes radium-226, thorium-230, and toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, molybdenum, vanadium, etc.	UMTRA Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act	200 to 1,000 yr. regulation time far less than 75,000 yr. half-life of thorium-230. Institutional control assumed after 1,000 years	145,700,000	On the order of 0.3 (radium-226 and thorium-230) combined.
DEPLETED URANIUM	By-product of uranium enrichment; radioactivity levels from alpha radiation similar to TRU waste.	not yet formally classified as a waste. DOE considering regs. NRC regulates minor quantities	95.2% of depleted uranium stocks are in DUF6 chemical form	120,000 (DUF6 only)	0.2
NORM	Large volume; includes radioactive waste from mining and refining of non-radioactive materials, such as copper; includes many radium-contaminated oil fields.	-mostly unregulated -some state regulations	EPA was considering regulations but effort was abandoned.	Considerable uncertainty about radioactivity and volume of most NORM wastes as they have never been thoroughly characterized.
Uranium mine waste	Large volume, comparable to mill tailings; part of NORM wastes.	-unregulated		Same order of magnitude as mill tailings.	(no estimate available)
DECOMMISSIONING AND CLEAN-UP WASTES	Structural components contaminated in varying degrees, contaminated soil, etc.	-NRC considering regs. -DOE has ad hoc approach	EPA was considering regulations for DOE but effort was abandoned.	Large volume, and growing	(no estimate available)
Sources: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Integrated Data Base Report - 1994: U.S. Spent Nuclear Fuel and Radioactive Waste Inventories, Projections, and Characteristics (Washington: US Department of Energy, DOE/RW-0006, Rev.11, September 1995), p. 15; and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Integrated Data Base Report - 1995 (DOE/RW-0006, Rev. 12, December 1996), p. 13.
DOE: Department of Energy DUF6: Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride EPA: Environmental Protection Agency NARM: Nuclear Accelerator-generated Radioactive Material NORM: Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials NRC: Nuclear Regulatory Commission RCRA: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act UMTRA: Uranium Mill Tailings Remediation Act
NOTES: 1. Calculated from US DOE September, 1995 p. 15, table 0.3 and extrapolated to 1996 values based on weight. 2. Buried TRU waste volumes are highly uncertain at this time.

Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

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October, 1997