Proposed Amendments to the Environmental Radiation Protection Standards for Yucca Mountain, Nevada

摘要

In 2001, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued public health and safety standards for the proposed high level waste repository now under construction at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a site 90 miles west of Las Vegas. In these standards, EPA set a limit of 150 microsieverts (μSv) per year committed effective dose equivalent (CEDE) for the reasonably maximally exposed individual (RMEI) living in the accessible environment near the repository. In July 2004, a Federal court remanded part of the standards to EPA for reconsideration. In response, EPA proposed additional standards in 2005 to protect human health over the anticipated period of geological stability for the repository, i.e. 1 million years. For the period of 10,000 to 1 million years, EPA is proposing a dose limit of 3.5 millisieverts (mSv) per year to the RMEI. In addition, the dose calculation methodology would be updated to an ICRP 60 and 72 basis instead of ICRP 26 and 30.