Postclosure Public Health and Environmental Standards

10 C.F.R. Part ..., Subpart L
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01

10 C.F.R. § 63.301 Purpose and scope.

This subpart covers the disposal of radioactive material in the Yucca Mountain repository by DOE. For the purposes of demonstrating compliance with this subpart, to the extent that there may be any conflict with the requirements specified in this subpart and the requirements contained in Subparts A-J of this part, including definitions, the requirements in this subpart shall take precedence.

10 C.F.R. § 63.302 Definitions for Subpart L.

All definitions in subpart K of this part, and the following: Accessible environment means any point outside of the controlled area, including: (1) The atmosphere (including the atmosphere above the surface area of the controlled area); (2) Land surfaces; (3) Surface waters; (4) Oceans; and (5) The lithosphere. Aquifer means a water-bearing underground geological formation, group of formations, or part of a formation (excluding perched water bodies) that can yield a significant amount of groundwater to a well or spring. Controlled area means: (1) The surface area, identified by passive institutional controls, that encompasses no more than 300 square kilometers. It must not extend farther: (i) South than 36°40′13.6661″ North latitude, in the predominant direction of groundwater flow; and (ii) Than five kilometers from the repository footprint in any other direction; and (2) The subsurface underlying the surface area. Disposal means the emplacement of radioactive material into the Yucca Mountain disposal system with the intent of isolating it for as long as reasonably possible and with no intent of recovery, whether or not the design of the disposal system permits the ready recovery of the material. Disposal of radioactive material in the Yucca Mountain disposal system begins when all of the ramps and other openings into the Yucca Mountain repository are sealed. Groundwater means water that is below the land surface and in a saturated zone. Human intrusion means breaching of any portion of the Yucca Mountain disposal system, within the repository footprint, by any human activity. Passive institutional controls means: (1) Markers, as permanent as practicable, placed on the Earth's surface; (2) Public records and archives; (3) Government ownership and regulations regarding land or resource use; and (4) Other reasonable methods of preserving knowledge about the location, design, and contents of the Yucca Mountain disposal system. Peak dose means the highest annual dose projected to be received by the reasonably maximally exposed individual. Period of geologic stability means the time during which the variability of geologic characteristics and their future behavior in and around the Yucca Mountain site can be bounded, that is, they can be projected within a reasonable range of possibilities. This period is defined to end at 1 million years after disposal. Plume of contamination means that volume of groundwater in the predominant direction of groundwater flow that contains radioactive contamination from releases from the Yucca Mountain repository. It does not include releases from any other potential sources on or near the Nevada Test Site. Repository footprint means the outline of the outermost locations of where the waste is emplaced in the Yucca Mountain repository. Slice of the plume means a cross-section of the plume of contamination with sufficient thickness parallel to the prevalent direction of flow of the plume that it contains the representative volume. Total dissolved solids means the total dissolved (filterable) solids in water as determined by use of the method specified in 40 CFR part 136. Undisturbed performance means that human intrusion or the occurrence of unlikely natural features, events, and processes do not disturb the disposal system. Undisturbed Yucca Mountain disposal system means that the Yucca Mountain disposal system is not affected by human intrusion. Waste means any radioactive material emplaced for disposal into the Yucca Mountain repository. Well-capture zone means the volume from which a well pumping at a defined rate is withdrawing water from an aquifer. The dimensions of the well-capture zone are determined by the pumping rate in combination with aquifer characteristics assumed for calculations, such as hydraulic conductivity, gradient, and the screened interval. Yucca Mountain disposal system means the combination of underground engineered and natural barriers within the controlled area that prevents or substantially reduces releases from the waste.

10 C.F.R. § 63.303 Implementation of Subpart L.

(a) Compliance is based upon the arithmetic mean of the projected doses from DOE's performance assessments for the period within 1 million years after disposal, with: (1) Sections 63.311(a)(1) and 63.311(a)(2); and (2) Sections 63.321(b)(1), 63.321(b)(2), and 63.331, if performance assessment is used to demonstrate compliance with either or both of these sections. (b) [Reserved]

10 C.F.R. § 63.304 Reasonable expectation.

Reasonable expectation means that the Commission is satisfied that compliance will be achieved based upon the full record before it. Characteristics of reasonable expectation include that it: (1) Requires less than absolute proof because absolute proof is impossible to attain for disposal due to the uncertainty of projecting long-term performance; (2) Accounts for the inherently greater uncertainties in making long-term projections of the performance of the Yucca Mountain disposal system; (3) Does not exclude important parameters from assessments and analyses simply because they are difficult to precisely quantify to a high degree of confidence; and (4) Focuses performance assessments and analyses on the full range of defensible and reasonable parameter distributions rather than only upon extreme physical situations and parameter values.

10 C.F.R. § 63.305 Required characteristics of the reference biosphere.

(a) Features, events, and processes that describe the reference biosphere must be consistent with present knowledge of the conditions in the region surrounding the Yucca Mountain site. (b) DOE should not project changes in society, the biosphere (other than climate), human biology, or increases or decreases of human knowledge or technology. In all analyses done to demonstrate compliance with this part, DOE must assume that all of those factors remain constant as they are at the time of submission of the license application. (c) DOE must vary factors related to the geology, hydrology, and climate based upon cautious, but reasonable assumptions of the changes in these factors that could affect the Yucca Mountain disposal system during the period of geologic stability, consistent with the requirements for performance assessments specified at § 63.342. (d) Biosphere pathways must be consistent with arid or semi-arid conditions.

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