Principles and strategies for the development of radioactive waste disposal standards

This is the second of three articles on the development of standards for geologic disposal of radioactive waste presented in this issue of Radioactive Waste Management and Environmental Restoration. The requirements of geologic radioactive-waste repositories are defined along with a brief discussion of how repositories meet these requirements. The hierarchy of regulations that assures repositories meet the safety requirements and the function of each level of criteria are then discussed with emphasis on the higher criteria levels. The technical basis, applications, and limitations of each level are covered. Systematic procedures for developing a complete set of standards for a class of repositories are suggested, followed by some observations concerning current standards development. (author) 9 figs., 2 tabs., 25 refs