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DOÊY Yucca Mountain Studies DOÊY Yucca Mountain Studies D ’î 7.-*eUTIQN OF ТНЮ DOCUMENT « UNLIMITED DOE’s Yucca Mountain Studies U.S. Department of Energy YUCCA MOUNTAIN SITE CHARACTERIZATION PROJECT Post Office Box 98608 Las Vegas. NV 8919ЗД608 (702) 794-7900 Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Education and Information Division (RW5) 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington. D C. 20585 (202) 586-2835 The iollowtnf number Is for OCRWM record* management pvrpewt only and ihould not be turd when ordering Ihis publication. Accession No.: HQO*9203U*00l0 DOE/RW-0349P • December 1992 ■ * C # ТНЛ DOCUMENT I« This booklet is about the disposal o f high-level nuclear waste in the United States. It is fo r readers who have a general rather than a technical background. It discusses wiy scientists and engineers think high-level nuclear waste may be disposed ofsaßly underground It also describes why Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is being studied as a potential repository site andprovides basic information about those studies. The question of how to dispose o f high-level nuclear waste safely has been a scientific andpublic concern since the beginning o f the nuclear age. The first commercial nuclear power plant in the United States began operation in 1957. Since then, the United States has come to rely on nuclear energy as a significant source o f electricity second only to coal Nuclear energy is used to make important contributions to mediane, research, and national security But the b erets o f nuclear power come coupled with great challenges. In this case, the challenge is the safo disposal o f radioactive waste. A repository is an enormous This project is also a challenge to the held each year throughout Nevada challenge ability of people to work together to State and К ка! officiais are invited to A repository is a deep, underground resolve a com plex issue. It involves participate in these meetings mine where high-level nuclear waste important decisions about the envi­ DOE: offers frequent tours of Yucca would remain safely isolated from ronment and energy, decisions that Mouniam and related facilities Dur­ people and the environment Scien­ will affect and protect not only our­ ing these, citizens talk to the scien­ tists believe ii is possible, using tech­ selves but future generations tists doing the studies nology,- we have today, to design, Additionally, DOE: sends speakers construct and operate a re pi sitory DOE places high priority on throughout Nevada with displays, safely What is challenging about this communicating with the publication.*», x a le models anti au- project is using different fields ol sci­ public dio-visual matenals to explain the ence to predict complex environ­ The I'.S Department of Einergy program. mental interactions for thousand* of iPO FJ regards communicating with Three public m lom ution offices are years. Specialists in different fields ol the public as a significant pan of its open daily in Lis Vegas, E’ahrump science must understand how their responsibilities in the Yucca Moun­ and Eieatty DOH also mails informa­ findings interact, then make predic­ tain Sue Characterization lro|ect tion about the Project to ans one who tions based on these interactions Stall member* make a concened ef­ requests it All of these activities are For example, evaluating water move­ fort to be available ro me public and done to provide the public with ment through nxk ь not enough to communicate technical informa­ reads' access to information about Possible changes in climate, and re­ tion in ways that are easy to under­ what DOE: is doing If you want sulting effects on erosion and on the stand. DOE: staff members hold pub­ more information, please write movement of water through rock lic meetings in Nevada to tell citizens or call: os er thousands of years, must be what is happening and to answer considered. their questions Several meetings are l ! S Department of Ltu-гцу YUCCA MOUNTAIN SITE CHARACTERIZATION PRO JECT P O Box 4MMW IjsV cr*,. N\ НУ|Ч*-8(чВД 1702» 7^4-7000 Suifus Sldít- íistfJ us pritíí-i ttií tinj rare. fakrall\ hsltd as thiniu nul Legislation governing high-level nuclear waste disposal State and local governments have a say in the process...................2 Licensing is governed by an independent agency...........................3 DOE's work is checked by other expens....................................... 4 About the plants and Who pays for nuclear waste management?.................................... 5 anim als on these p a g e s ,... The Yucca Mountain Site Characterisation Project The plants, mammals, What will scientists study? .............................................................7 reptiles and insects in this Studying the movement of water.................................................. 8 booklet are being studied in Studying earthquakes and the movement ol rock.........................8 the Yucca Mountain Volcanoes and Yucca Mountain......................................................Я Environmental Program. How a repository might affect quality of life..................................>) Environmental scientists go How will scientists get this information?......................................10 to work before site studies begin. They d ocum ent tl?e What is nuclear waste? environment around Yucca W hat is spent fuel?....................................................................... 11 M ountain as it exists before What about reprocessing fuel?.....................................................12 field work starts, and develop methods to mitigate effects from site Plans for safe operation characterization. This Preparing waste for shipping....................................................... 13 information helps protect What would a repository look like?............................................. H plants and animals and What happens when a rejjository is full?..................................... 14 their environment, cultural resources, air quality and Could radioactive materials get out of a repository? water resources. There are What about radiation protection?................................................ 15 m ore d etails a b o u t this Understanding the hazards of radiation...................................... 16 program in the sections Factors that increase exposure to radiation..................................17 "How a repository might Would there be a tadiation dose to people nearby?.....................17 affect quality o f life ” a n d Americans’ average personal radiation exposure......................... 18 ‘W h a t happens w hen a repository is fu ll ?” Plans for safe transportation Ship by road? Ship by rail? Ship by both?...................................21 Legislation governing high-level nuclear waste disposal Spent nuclear fuel is ihe radioactive date* back to N 57 when ihe Na­ The need to fin d safe, by-product ol making electricity at tional Academy oí Sciences recom­ permanent disposal is commercial nuclear power plant*, mended that the Ivst means ol pro­ and high-level nuclear w-a.sk is the tecting the public health and sateu becoming more criticaL by-product from production at d e­ and the environmeni would be to Congress specified that the fense facilities In N 82. Congress es- depose of the waste in rock deep uMvsWeti л m\\ona\ pohcv \o soWe underground public as m il as the the problem of high-level nuclear Scientists had studied many options, scientific community waste disposal This policy is a tod­ including leaving the waste where it could be involved in the era! lau called ihe Nuclear Waste was. burying it in the ivean iloor. Policy Act Congress Ьач-d this putting it in polar ice sheets, anti waste disposal program policy on what most scientists agreed rocketing it into outer space Based because waste disposal was the best way to dispose of on the final environmental impact nuclear waste statement that evaluated all of these will affect present and Additionally. the Nuclear Waste options. underground disposal was future generations. Policy Act provided a detailed pro­ determined to pose the least overall cess that ПОН is lollowmg. To pay risk to the environment. The impact Scientists, concerned lor the waste disposal program. Con­ statement included a review by the citizens, and members o f gress established the Nuclear Waste public Congress, industry, and Fund Ratepayers w ho use nuclear ln N76, nearly 20 years after the power pay lor nuclear waste disposal first commercial nuclear power plant federal, state and local through their utilities began operating, a federal program governments participate The Nuclear Waste Policy Act made was established to collect data on po­ DOI: responsible for finding a site, tential repository sites. The N 8 2 Act in this program. This building and operating an under­ was based on what was learned dur­ involvement underscores ground disposai facility called a geo­ ing ihis earlier program In N 83. logic repository. The recommenda­ DOE selected nine locations in six the Project’s commitment tion to ust' a geologic repository states for consideration as potential to protecting public sites health and safety These sites were studied and results of these preliminary studies were re­ ported m N 8 5 I Based on those reports, the president the Nuclear W aste Negotiator The 1 hive agencies have been created by approved three sites for intensive sci­ oltice ot the negotiaior is within the the state ol Nevada to conduit re­ entific study called site characteriza­ Executive Oltice. appointed by the pository-related activities
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