EPA proposes two-tiered radiation standard for Yucca Mtn.

Washington (Platts)--9Aug2005

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a two-tiered standard
under which radiation releases from a repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. would
be regulated for 1-million years. The proposal unveiled today would maintain
the EPA's existing 10,000-year radiation protection standard for the site as
the first tier, limiting maximum releases to 15 millirem (mrem) a year from
all pathways and maintaining a separate groundwater protection standard of 4
mrem/yr. Post-10,000 years, the limit would be 350 mrem/yr and a separate
groundwater limit would no longer exist. "It is an unprecedented scientific
challenge to develop proposed standards today that will protect the next
25,000 generations of Americans," said Jeffrey Holmstead, EPA assistant
administrator for air and radiation. If it becomes final, the proposed
regulation would replace the 10,000-year standard a federal court remanded to
the agency last year because it did not comply with the National Academy of
Science's recommendation that it be long enough to cover the peak radiation
dose, which DOE has projected could occur more than 400,000 years after the
repository is sealed.

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