Performance Assessment Issuesin

Waste Management and Environmental Protection

Annual Meeting of theBaltimore-Washington Chapter of the Health Physics Society

May 15, 2008

Christopher GrossmanDivision of Waste Management and Environmental Protection

Office of Federal and State Management and Environmental ProgramsU.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

2

Introduction

• Evolution of the nuclear industry and its potential impacts on waste management activities at the NRC.

• The role of performance assessment in a risk-informed regulatory framework.

• Issues associated with performance assessment for waste management activities.

3

A Changing Environment

• Up to 21 potential new applications for conventional milling and in-situ uranium recovery facilities.

• Two new enrichment facilities and possibly two more applications in 2008.

• NRC has received nine site applications for 15 new reactors.

4

NRC Employs a Risk-Informed Approach

• The Commission’s Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) Policy Statement formalized the Commission’s commitment to risk-informed regulation.

• Risk insights are considered with other factors to establish requirements that better focus regulatory attention on issues commensurate with their importance to public health and safety.

• The transition to a risk-informed regulatory framework has been incremental.

• Risk insights are being incorporated into regulatory processes to improve efficiency and effectiveness of decisions.

5

Waste Management and Environmental Protection• NRC's program for the regulation of Decommissioning, Environmental

Protection, Low-Level Radioactive Waste and Uranium Recovery.

• Develops and implements the regulatory program under the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985, the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the West Valley Demonstration Project Act, the Ronald Reagan Defense Authorization Act and implementation of the license termination criteria in Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 20.

• Focal point for implementing the NRC's materials, power and non-power reactor decommissioning programs.

• Provides programmatic and technical support to States on uranium recovery, decommissioning, and low-level waste issues including support for regulation reviews and new Agreements.

• Consults with DOE on its incidental waste determinations for selected sites and monitors DOE incidental waste disposal activities.

6

Performance Assessment

• Performs analyses and reviews using risk informed approaches for the Decommissioning and Low-Level Waste programs, as well as DOE incidental waste determinations.

• Harmonizes approaches and methods for carrying out risk assessments within the NRC and with other Federal Agencies .

7

Performance Assessment is…

… a systematic method to address the risk triplet for the performance of a system to understand likely outcomes, sensitivities, areas of importance, system interactions and uncertainty.

DevelopMathematical

Models

CollectData

EvaluatePerformance

DevelopConceptual

Models

8

Low-Level Radioactive Waste

• NRC performed a strategic assessment of its LLW regulatory program in 2007 and prioritized staff activities to anticipate challenges and respond to changes in the regulatory and technical environment.

• High priority tasks include the estimation of impacts for the disposal of large quantities of depleted uranium under current 10 CFR 61 waste classifications.

9

Depleted Uranium Disposal

• In 2005, the Commission directed the staff to consider whether the quantities of depleted uranium from uranium enrichment facilities warrant amending 10 CFR 61 waste classification tables.

• The nature of depleted uranium requires consideration of its gradually increasing radiological hazard over time due to the in-growth of decay products.

10

Incidental Waste Determinations

• The Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act gave the NRC new roles for DOE waste management of some radioactive material from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.

• NRC’s roles include consultations with DOE in their determination of whether the waste is non-High-Level Radioactive Waste (HLW) as well as monitoring DOE’s disposal actions for this “incidental” waste.

• Waste determinations are based on meeting the performance objectives of 10 CFR Part 61, Subpart C, or comparable performance objectives.

11

Incidental Waste Disposal

• Incidental waste disposal actions typically involve a cementitious waste form overlain by an engineered cap to limit radionuclide migration to the environment.

• NRC uses risk insights to focus monitoring activities on key aspects of the waste disposal systems.

12

Afterwords

• Performance assessment enhances the credibility and effectiveness of radioactive waste management.

• Risk information from tools like performance assessment supports the safe and effective regulation of radioactive waste.