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19 March 2010

Answer to Question #1107 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Category: Radioactive Waste Disposal — U.S. High Level Waste Issues (Yucca Mountain)

The following question was answered by an expert in the appropriate field:

Approximately how many tons of high-level radioactive waste are there in the United States that will need to be stored at the Yucca Mountain repository? How long is it estimated that this material will pose a danger to the environment?

The proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is currently being evaluated for disposal of 63,000 tons of commercial reactor spent fuel, 4,300 tons of defense program high-level waste, and 2,700 tons of Department of Energy (DOE) owned fuel from research, naval, and production reactor programs. Unlike many other waste materials that are hazardous essentially forever, radioactive material (including spent fuel) decays away with a finite half-life such that it eventually is no longer radioactive. In its draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the repository, the DOE assesses the potential long-term impacts associated with disposal of the spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste at the repository. DOE estimates that in the first 10,000 years after closure of the repository, people living near Yucca Mountain are expected to receive little or no increase in radiation exposure. 10,000 years is the period specified by the Environmental Protection Agency to be used by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in evaluating whether to issue a license for the repository. In the draft EIS, the DOE has also projected the potential for radiation exposure over much longer periods of time. DOE estimates that the maximum level of exposure may occur between 300,000 to 550,000 years following closure of the repository. During that period the level of potential radiation dose to people living near Yucca Mountain is estimated between 120 to 260 millirem per year, which is somewhat less than, and in addition to, the 300 millirem per year exposure that people in the U.S. receive from natural sources of radiation in the environment. You can find more information on this topic at the DOE Web site for the Yucca Mountain Project. Ralph Andersen, CHP

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