Under proposed 40 CFR part 191, subpart B—Environmental Standards for Disposal, §191.13, “Containment Requirements”, specifies that for 10,000 years after disposal (a) releases of radioactive materials to the accessible environment that are estimated to have more than one chance in 100 of occurring over a 10,000 year period (“reasonably foreseeable releases”) shall be projected to be less than the quantities permitted by Table 2 of that regulation's appendix; and (b) for “very unlikely releases” (i.e., those estimated to have between one chance in 100 and one chance in 10,000 of occurring over a 10,000 year period), the limits specified in Table 2 would be multiplied by 10. The basis for Table 2 is an upper limit on long term risks of 1,000 health effects over 10,000 years for a repository containing wastes generated from 100,000 metric tons of heavy metal of reactor fuel. For releases involving more than one radionuclide, the allowed release for each radionuclide is reduced to the fraction of its limit that insures that the overall limit on harm is not exceeded. Additionally, to provide confidence needed for compliance with the containment requirements specified above, §191.14, “Assurance Requirements”, specifies the disposal of radioactive waste in accordance with seven requirements, relating to prompt disposal of waste; selection and design of disposal systems to keep releases to the accessible environment as small as reasonably achievable; engineered and natural barriers; nonreliance on active institutional controls after closure; passive controls after closure; natural resource areas; and design of disposal systems to allow future recovery of wastes.

The guidelines will be revised as necessary after the adoption of final regulations by the EPA.

The implementation of 40 CFR part 191, subpart B is required by 10 CFR 60.112. 10 CFR 60.113 establishes minimum conditions to be met for engineered components and ground-water flow; specifically: (1) Containment of radioactive waste within the waste packages will be substantially complete for a period to be determined by the NRC taking into account the factors specified in 10 CFR 60.113(b) provided that such period shall be not less than 300 years nor more than 1,000 years after permanent closure of the geologic repository; (2) the release rate of any radionuclide from the engineered barrier system following the containment period shall not exceed one part in 100,000 per year of the inventory of that radionuclide calculated to be present at 1,000 years following permanent closure, or such other fraction of the inventory as may be approved or specified by the NRC, provided that this requirement does not apply to any radionuclide which is released at a rate less than 0.1% of the calculated total release rate limit. The calculated total release rate limit shall be taken to be one part in 100,000 per year of the inventory of radioactive waste originally emplaced in the underground facility that remains after 1,000 years of radioactive decay; and (3) the geologic repository shall be located so that pre-waste-emplacement ground-water travel time along the fastest path of likely radionuclide travel from the disturbed zone to the accessible environment shall be at least 1,000 years or such other travel time as may be approved or specified by the NRC.

The guidelines will be revised as necessary to ensure consistency with 10 CFR part 60.