Information utilized in licensing radioactive waste disposal

As a result of problems which have developed at several of the commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal sites, only three of the six commercial disposal sites are still operating. This has created particularly acute problems in the eastern and midwestern United States where over 70 percent of the radioactive waste volume is generated. Within the next several years, an urgent need to open new sites in the Northeast and Midwest will develop. The new sites will have to meet the licensing requirements laid out in the new Nuclear Regulatory Commission 10CFR Part 61 regulations on disposal of radioactive waste into near surface disposal facilities. In this paper, the basic information requirements of the new 10CFR61 will be reviewed. This information includes site selection requirements, ways of attaining the performance objectives of the regulation, land ownership, environmental data, description of the disposal operations, description of license applicant's organizational structures, closure plans, financial requirements, waste acceptance requirements, security requirements, design requirements, and general technical requirements