Potential impact of the Department of Energy's performance objective for protection of inadvertent intruders on low-level waste disposals at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Performance objectives for disposal of low-level radioactive waste at Department of Energy (DOE) sites include limits on radiation dose to inadvertent intruders. This paper investigates the potential impact of the DOE's performance objective for protection of inadvertent intruders on the acceptability of low-level waste disposals at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The analysis is based on waste volumes and radionuclide inventories for recent disposals at ORNL and estimated doses to an inadvertent intruder per unit concentration of radionuclides in disposed waste for assumed exposure scenarios. The analysis indicates that more than 99% of the total volume of waste in recent disposals meets the performance objective for inadvertent intruders. Furthermore, the volume of waste found to be unacceptable for disposal is only about 16 m3. Therefore, the performance objective for protection of inadvertent intruders probably will not have unreasonably adverse impacts on acceptable disposals of low-level waste at ORNL. (author) 4 tabs., 12 refs