EPA’S PRELIMINARY DECISION ON DOE’S REMOTE-HANDLED WASTE CHARACTERIZATION PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

摘要

This paper describes the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency’s(EPA or we)preliminary decision concerning approval of the Department of Energy’s(DOE)proposed waste characterization(WC) program implementation plan(WCPIP)for characterizing remote-handled(RH)transuranic(TRU) waste.EPA regulates the disposal of TRU waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant(WIPP)repository in Carlsbad,New Mexico.In our WIPP Certification Decision of 1998,we stated that RH TRU waste sites may not dispose of their waste at WIPP until they demonstrate to EPA that such waste can be adequately characterized and can meet the regulatory limits for TRU waste emplaced at the WIPP.Our regulations also require that EPA evaluate site-specific WC activities leading to site WC(process/program) approvals. The paper briefly presents DOE’s rationale for(a)proposing an RH waste stream-specific characterization program different than that for contact-handled waste;and(b)providing flexibility to sites to develop WC approaches that comport with the general requirement that the processes must meet Data Quality Objectives,but could use any of the processes identified in the WCPIP,as well as procedures that may be different than those contained in the DOE’s WCPIP subject to prior approval by DOE and EPA.Additional information that RH sites must provide to EPA for approval prior to characterizing their RH waste destined for disposal in the WIPP repository is also presented.In addition, the paper will discuss the public comments we received related to our preliminary decision on the DOE’s WCPIP.