· Download WordPerfect 5.1 > View transcript of related public meeting on June 17, 1999
> View also: Staff Requirements Memorandum SECY-99-0012
(July 26, 2000)
(last updated 18 Nov 2003)
This page provides information on recently published rules or rules under development, covering the operation and decommissioning of uranium mines and mills and the management of uranium mine wastes and mill tailings.
> see also:
has released its Final Toxicological Profile for Uranium (1999). under the order no. PB99-163362.!
The draft toxicological profile had been released in 1997 and had been open for public comment.
Oct. 19, 1999)
> See also:
GAO criticizes EPA Radon Rule for Drinking Water
"SUMMARY: In September 1995, the staff issued guidance on: (1) the disposal of material other than Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA) 11e.(2) byproduct material in uranium mill tailings impoundments; and (2) the processing of material other than natural uranium ores (hereinafter, "alternate feed material") at uranium mills. Both of these guidance documents are provided in Attachment 1. The uranium recovery industry has raised concerns about this guidance. In this paper, the staff discusses the industry's concerns and provides recommendations to the Commission on ways to address the issues raised."In this paper, the NRC staff proposes to seek legislative change with regard to the types of materials to be disposed of in an Atomic Energy Act 11e.(2) tailings impoundment. The proposed legislative change would allow disposal of non-AEA 11e.(2) byproduct material and hazardous materials, that is material that is not similar to uranium mill tailings.
> Access SECY-99-012 (April 8, 1999): View HTML · Download WordPerfect 5.1
> View transcript of related public meeting on June 17, 1999
> View also: Staff Requirements Memorandum SECY-99-0012 (July 26, 2000)
"SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has historically regulated operations at ISL facilities under the authority of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (AEA). The uranium recovery industry, however, believes that NRC's regulation of ground water at these facilities is duplicative of the ground-water protection programs administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or EPA authorized States under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The industry also has raised concerns about staff guidance documents that it believes preclude the disposal of certain types of wastes generated at ISL facilities at uranium mill tailings impoundments. In this paper, the staff discusses the industry's concerns and provides recommendations to the Commission on ways to address the issues raised."In this paper, NRC staff recommends for NRC to rely on the EPA Underground Injection Control program, thus removing NRC from the review of ground-water protection issues at ISL facilities.
> Access SECY-99-013 (March 12, 1999): View HTML · Download WordPerfect 5.1
> View transcript of related public meeting on June 17, 1999
> View also: Staff Requirements Memorandum SECY-99-0013 (July 26, 2000)
> See also: NRC develops approach for reducing or eliminating dual regulation of ground-water protection at ISL uranium facilities (2003)
· PDF format
Criterion 12: "The final disposition of tailings or wastes at milling sites should be such that ongoing active maintenance is not necessary to preserve isolation."
· April 9 , 1999
Meanwhile, however, the rule was tabled (= suspended). "The action was prompted by the threat of costly legal action and a decision to focus on other ways to confront the problem, said Dianne Nielson, director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and a member of the radiation control board." (Salt Lake Tribune August 11, 1999 )
> View Board Meeting Minutes of August 6, 1999
> View background information: Processing of alternate feed material at White Mesa uranium mill (Utah)
):
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting comments on a Draft Standard Review Plan for Review of a Reclamation Plan for Mill Tailings Sites Under Title II of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (NUREG-1620) from interested parties.
The areas include radon attenuation and long-term stability of the reclaimed site, soil cleanup, and groundwater restoration reviews.
Written comments must be received prior to May 4, 1999.
> View NUREG-1620 , Draft Standard Review Plan for the Review of a Reclamation Plan for Mill Tailings Sites Under Title II of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act, January 1999 (636k)
> View NUREG-1623 , "Design of Erosion Protection for Long-Term Stabilization, Draft, Report for Comment, February 1999 (369k)
Note 1: the final NUREG-1620 was published in July 2000.
Note 2: the final NUREG-1623 was published in September 2002.
> View details: Class V Underground Injection Control Study
> Download Information Summaries:
(188k, PDF format) (1321k, PDF)
(Environmental Protection Agency: Notice of Availability of Draft Summary of Class V Injection Well Study (EPA Working Draft))
> Federal Register January 7, 1999 (Vol. 64, No. 4) p. 1008-1009 (Environmental Protection Agency: Call for Peer Reviewers and Data on Aquaculture Injection Wells, Mining Wells, Sewage Treatment Effluent Wells, and Other Class V Injection Wells Including Certain Industrial Wells; Underground Injection Control (UIC) Class V Study)
See also further ongoing rulemaking in Federal Register July 29, 1998 (Vol. 63, No. 145), p. 40585-40619 (Environmental Protection Agency, 40 CFR Parts 144, 145, and 146, Class V Injection Wells Underground Injection Control Regulations, Revisions; Proposed Rule), and related Fact Sheet
> View DOE's Comments on Proposed UIC Class V Regulations (Nov. 30, 1998) (1M PDF format)
of Aug. 10, 1998 of Aug.3, 1998 (NRC meeting transcript June 17, 1998) and related NRC Staff Requirements Memorandum (NRC meeting transcript May 13, 1997) and related NRC Staff Requirements Memorandum (WMA)
Environmental Protection Agency
40 CFR Parts 148, 261, 266, 268, and 271
Land Disposal Restrictions Phase IV: Final Rule Promulgating Treatment Standards for Metal Wastes and Mineral Processing Wastes; Mineral Processing Secondary Materials and Bevill Exclusion Issues; Treatment Standards for Hazardous Soils, and Exclusion of Recycled Wood Preserving Wastewaters; Final Rule
SUMMARY: This rule promulgates Land Disposal Restrictions treatment standards for metal-bearing wastes, including toxicity characteristic metal wastes, and hazardous wastes from mineral processing. The set of standards being applied to these wastes is the universal treatment standards. These standards are based upon the performance of the Best Demonstrated Available technologies for treating these, or similar, wastes. This rule also revises the universal treatment standards for twelve metal constituents, which means that listed and characteristic wastes containing one or more of these constituents may have to meet different standards than they currently do. [...]
Download: part 1 (p. 28555-28604) · part 2 (p. 28605-28654) · part 3 (p. 28655-28704) · part 4 (p. 28705-28753)
See also: Land Disposal Restrictions Phase IV Facts
or Download self-extracting WordPerfect 6.1 file
or Download self-extracting WordPerfect 6.1 file
or Download self-extracting WordPerfect 6.1 file
):
"Summary: This notice provides supplemental information regarding implementation of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Final Rule on Radiological Criteria for License Termination (License Termination Rule (LTR)) which was issued on July 21, 1997, (62 FR 39058). This notice provides: (1) screening values for surface soil contamination release levels; and (2) information on additional NRC efforts in dose modeling. [...]"
The screening values apply for unrestricted use of the area and are based on a dose limit of 25 mrem/a (0.25 mSv/a). The value for radium-226, for example, is listed as 0.7 pCi/g, that is 0.0259 Bq/g.
This is by far lower than EPA's standard for cleanup of land at inactive uranium processing sites in 40 CFR 192.12, for example, listing radium-226 at 5 pCi/g (0.185 Bq/g), averaged over the first 15 cm of soil below the surface.
Comments on these tables may be submitted within 30 days from the date of this notice.
):
"SUMMARY: The U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations regarding decommissioning of licensed thorium mills and uranium recovery facilities to provide specific radiological criteria for the decommissioning of lands and structures. This final rule uses the existing soil radium standard to derive a dose criterion (benchmark approach) for the cleanup of byproduct material other than radium in soil and for the cleanup of surface activity on structures to be released for unrestricted use. This final rule is intended to provide a clear and consistent regulatory basis for determining the extent to which lands and structures can be considered to be decommissioned."> View NRC News Release No. 99-70
(April 8, 1999) · Download (WordPerfect 5.1)
):
"SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is soliciting comments on draft guidance for the radium benchmark dose approach, associated with the final rule, ``Radiological Criteria for License Termination of Uranium Recovery Facilities,'' that is in this publication. The guidance will be incorporated into the NRC final Standard Review Plan (SRP) for the Review of Reclamation Plans for Mill Tailings Sites and the SRP for In-Situ Leach Uranium Extraction License Applications. Public comments should be submitted within sixty (60) days of publication of this Notice."
)
NRC now plans to develop a separate rule for the
radiological cleanup criteria for uranium mills and in-situ
leaching mines ("Radiological Criteria for License
Termination: Uranium Recovery Facilities").
The NRC request for public comments on this issue was published
in Federal Register of July 21, 1997 (Vol.62, No.139) p.39093-
39095
(download full
text ). It is also available for
online
viewing .
View related
NRC
Press release No.97-106 of July 21, 1997.
> Watch NRC Rulemaking:
"Request for Additional Comments on Uranium Recovery Facilities"
> View SECY-98-084 - Status of Efforts to Finalize Regulations for Radiological Criteria for License Termination: Uranium Recovery Facilities (April 15, 1998)
Comments on the proposed rule:
(24k, PDF format) (NIRS)
Background material:
(603k) (1.2M ZIP-File containing document in WordPerfect 5.1 format, including appendices) (Proposed rule and
background documents) (Public Comments on proposed rule)
See also:
U.S. Department of Energy: 10 CFR Part 835 - Occupational Radiation Protection; Proposed Rule. Notice of proposed rulemaking and public hearings. In: Federal Register, December 23, 1996 (Volume 61, Number 247), p.67599-67621, download via GPO Access
SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing to amend its primary standards for occupational radiation protection. This proposed rule amendment is the culmination of a systematic analysis to identify the elements of a comprehensive radiation protection program and determine those elements of such a program that should be codified. As a result of this analysis, DOE proposes amendments to all of the subparts of 10 CFR part 835[...]
For further information, see also
Proposed 10
CFR 835 Amendment
Compiled by:
WISE Uranium Project (home)