Year
1989
Abstract
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended, authorizes DOE to characterize the unsaturated tuff at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, to determine its suitability for the construction and operation of a high-level radioactive waste repository. The repository will isolate commercial spent nuclear fu;l (SNF) and vitrified high-level radioactive waste glass (HLW) from the accessible environment for 10,000 years, in accordance with r?gulations established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The waste forms, for which DOE must ultimately provide permanent disposal, have been produced under the authority of the Atomic Energy Act (AEA), and can be characterized as \"byproduct material.\" The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which regulates the disposal of hazardous waste, specifically exempts byproduct material from its jurisdiction. RCRA was not specifically written to cover radioactive waste. In May 1987, DOE issued an interpretative rule (10 CFR Part 962), which defined the term \"byproduct material\" to clarify DOE responsibilities under RCRA. The rule concludes that for AEA material the radioactive component of the waste is exempt from RCRA and the non-radicactive component of the waste is subject to RCPA. One of the bases for this rule was EPA's Mi