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Regulatory Framework

The NRC's geologic disposal regulation is structured around a concept of the multiple barriers and the Commission's principals of defense-in-depth, and primarily focuses on the performance objectives for the repository. The NRC produced the regulation in the early 1980's and it contains technical requirements, contents of a potential license application, quality assurance, and consultation with States, Indian Tribes, and affected local governments. Part 60 does not prescribe specific criteria for site suitability. However, it does identify factors for considering potential sites. For example, if potentially adverse conditions are identified, the DOE must demonstrate that the conditions can be compensated for by the repository design or by other favorable site conditions. The regulation is written to favor the selection of a candidate site with certain waste isolation capabilities. However, it is the DOE's responsibility to select an appropriate site and design an adequate repository.

The EPA issued general environmental standards for a high-level radioactive waste repository in 1985. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act permitted the NRC to publish its regulations before the EPA; however, the NRC's regulations must be consistent with the EPA standards. The EPA, in 40 CFR Part 191, established specific limits on the release of radioactive material from the repository during 10,000 years following the permanent closure of the repository. The NRC regulations are consistent with this requirement.

In March 1986, several petitions for review of the EPA regulations were filed by a number of States and environmental groups. They were consolidated in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Court in Boston. In July 1987, the court remanded the standard to the EPA for reconsideration of several of its provisions. Principal among these was Subpart B, the individual and ground water protection requirements. The Court requested further notice and comment on these provisions as well as their interrelationship to the EPA's requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

In October 1992, the Waste Isolation Pilot Project Land Withdrawal Act was enacted, which reinstated all of the EPA's regulations except those provisions that were the subject of the remand by the First Circuit. Moreover, the Act also required issuance of new standards to address those that were the subject of the judicial remand and exempted the Yucca Mountain site from the EPA's Part 191 standards. Final disposal standards in 40 CFR Part 191, for sites other than Yucca Mountain, were issued in December 1993.

In late 1992, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act which required the EPA to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on specific aspects of the standards for Yucca Mountain. The Academy completed its deliberations and issued findings and recommendations in August of 1995. According to the Energy Policy Act the EPA must issue environmental standards for Yucca Mountain that reflect these findings and recommendations. After the EPA issues its standards, the NRC must revise its regulations to be consistent with the EPA standards.

Important differences exist between the National Academy of Sciences findings and recommendations and the prior EPA standards for high-level radioactive waste as well as the existing geologic disposal regulations. A key recommendation from the Academy was that the revised standard limit individual risk to a member of the public and in doing so, abandon the existing quantitative release limit with its implied population-protection basis. Specifically, the Academy has recommended that the level of protection provided for in the new environmental standard should be comparable to that level of risk that may be acceptable to society at large. The Academy stated society currently tolerates involuntary risks such as accidental deaths from automobile, airplane crashes or drowning, of about 1-in-100,000 to 1-in-1,000,000 per year. To demonstrate that the geologic repository can be designed to provide comparable protection to society, the Academy recommended that assessments of individual risks be conducted for certain target populations of people, in the Yucca Mountain vicinity, using the "critical group" approach specified by the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

The NRC has been reviewing selected technical aspects of the Academy's recommendations. These reviews support ongoing NRC staff interactions with the EPA and others during the development of environmental standards and conforming rule making. The NRC is cooperating with the EPA to develop implementable high-level radioactive waste standards that consider the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences. Once the EPA issues its final standards, the NRC must produce conforming regulations within one year. The EPA proposed new standards specific to Yucca Mountain, designated 40 CFR Part 197, in August 1999. The EPA published the final standards on June 13, 2001. The NRC's initiative to develop implementing regulations is described elsewhere.