The Department of Energy (DOE) periodically prepares a complex-wide life-cycle assessment of the adequacy of its low-level waste and mixed low-level waste disposal capacity. DOE initially conducted these assessments in response to a 1994 finding by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, and has continued them in order to monitor its disposal program for capacity shortfalls, completing three of these assessments in the past six years. The second assessment, performed in 1998, identified volumetric and radiological capacity shortfalls at several DOE disposal facilities. The most recent assessment, completed in late 2000, considered low-level and mixed low-level waste originating from approximately 30 DOE generating sites between 2000 and 2070. In this assessment, the Department evaluated the volumetric and radiological capacities of disposal facilities at six sites, including eight facilities disposing of low-level waste and two facilities capable of disposing of mixed low-level waste. The assessment also presented compiled information on the disposal of low-level and mixed low-level waste from environmental restoration activities in CERCLA disposal facilities, and assessed the potential impacts resulting from redirecting some future environmental restoration wastes to existing non-CERCLA disposal facilities. This paper compares the methodology and results of the three analyses prepared to date, identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the analyses, discusses how the analyses have been gradually improved, and identifies areas for improvement in future analyses.
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