Terry R. Hunt

Disposal of Transuranic Waste

Radioactive waste is generally classified under four different categories: high-level radioactive waste, primarily composed of spent nuclear reactor fuel; low-level nuclear waste, made up of ordinary items that become contaminated during the use of radioactive materials; uranium mill tailings, the byproducts of uranium ore processing; and transuranic waste. Transuranic waste gets its name from the presence of a certain concentration of isotopes that have a higher atomic number than uranium. Transuranic waste is produced primarily from nuclear weapons development and production and consists largely of ordinary items such as rags, clothing, and tools that become contaminated by transuranic radioactive material, most prominently plutonium.

Because of the source of transuranic wastes, the Department of Energy (DOE) took jurisdiction over its handling, storage, and disposal rather than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which regulates most other use and disposal of radioactive materials. For many years, transuranic waste was stored at several DOE research and development sites around the country. After a series of fires at a DOE transuranic waste storage facility resulted in the airborne release of plutonium over populated areas of Colorado in 1969 and 1970, the DOE decided to develop a permanent site for the waste. After exploring the possibility of a permanent disposal site in Kansas, the DOE finally settled on a site in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Although study of the site began in the late 1970's, the permanent transuranic waste disposal site, called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), did not begin disposal operations until 1999.

As part of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act (Act), under which the DOE took over exclusive control of the land containing the WIPP facility, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was given responsibility for establishing radioactive waste disposal standards for the plant to protect the public health and the environment. Accordingly, the DOE was required to develop a design for the facility and its operations that would meet EPA standards; otherwise, the facility would not have been allowed to open. Having determined that WIPP does meet EPA radioactive waste disposal standards, the EPA must continue to ensure that the operation of WIPP complies with other federal environmental statutes, including the Clean Air Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act; the Safe Drinking Water Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund) on an ongoing basis.