Plans for evaluation of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant's compliance with EPA standards for radioactive waste management and disposal

The Department of Energy (DOE) is actively pursuing the disposal of transuranic (TRU) waste in a geologic environment at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The accepted Standard is divided into two subparts. Supart A limits annual radiation doses to members of the public from waste management and storage operations at disposal facilities, and Subpart B limits cumulative releases of radioactive materials for 10,000 years, radiation doses to members of the public for 1000 years, and radioactive contamination of certain sources of ground water for 1000 years, as a result of disposal of wastes. The WIPP Project will assess compliance with Subpart A primarily by means of an extensive monitoring program. The Project will assess compliance with Subpart B primarily using performance-assessment techniques developed for the evaluation of the performance of high-level-waste repositories. Compliance with the Assurance Requirements and the Ground Water Protection Requirements will be assessed using other techniques. The WIPP Project will be the first to evaluate the compliance of a mined geologic repository with the EPA Standard. Although Subpart B of the Standard was remanded to EPA by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, this paper discusses the Standardmore » as first promulgated. Compliance plans for the WIPP will be revised as necessary in response to any changes in the Standard. 47 refs., 7 figs.« less