NRC regulatory requirements for disposal of high-level radioactive waste in geologic repositories

This paper will identify the three basic parts of regulating disposal of high-level radioactive waste: (1) establishing a standard of acceptable risk; (2) developing a disposal capability in the form of a geologic repository; (3) licensing of a geologic repository. It will identify the principals at the Federal Level responsible for accomplishing each part; namely, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), respectively. It will discuss, under an assumption of the existence of a standard of acceptable risk, the roles of NRC and DOE in terms of licensing--arriving at a judgment concerning protection of the public health and safety if waste is disposed in a geologic repository--and of licensability--that quality of a repository developed by DOE which will contribute to NRC's ability to arrive at a regulatory decision. The necessity that the fact of licensing be fully integrated into the repository development process is stressed.