Recommendations to the NRC for review criteria for environmental monitoring and surveillance programs at LLW sites

The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 required the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to identify methods for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste other than shallow-land burial, to establish relevant technical information regarding those alternative methods, and to publish the requirements that must be met for a state or regional compact low-level waste disposal facility to be licensed by the NRC. The first step was to evaluate six alternative disposal methods, which was sponsored by the NRC. This paper reports that from that study NRC concluded that only three alternatives to shallow-land burial/disposal (SLB) were acceptable: earth-mounded concrete bunkers (EMCB), below-ground vaults (BGV), and augered shafts (AUS)