“For decades, the most radioactive category of low-level waste in the U.S. has had a disposal plan that exists only on paper: a deep geologic repository that was never built. Late last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) moved to replace that plan with one that can actually be licensed.

The agency proposed a sweeping update to its Part 61 regulations that would, for the first time, establish a clear regulatory pathway for disposing of Greater-Than-Class-C (GTCC) waste—higher-activity material generated by commercial nuclear operations, medical procedures, and industrial uses that is currently stranded at reactor sites, sealed-source facilities, and Department of Energy (DOE) locations across the country…

At the technical core of the proposal is a shift in how the NRC decides what can be disposed of and where. Rather than classifying waste by its origin, the proposed rule would scale disposal requirements to the actual radiological hazard of the material, using site-specific, risk-informed analyses to match waste streams to appropriate disposal depths and engineered barriers. Nieh said the agency has built the technical basis for that approach over several years and concluded that nearly 80% of the GTCC inventory by volume is potentially suitable for near-surface disposal, given site-specific analyses and appropriate safety controls.”

From POWER magazine.