Year
2001
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Air Force are currently preparing a joint environmental assessment. The Air Force is assessing the removal of ten radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) from the Burnt Mountain Seismic Array Observatory in Alaska. The Air Force has asked the DOE to accept the ten strontium-90 RTGs when they are removed from Burnt Mountain. Under the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985, the DOE is responsible for disposal of low-level waste with radionuclide concentrations exceeding limits established by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for Class C radioactive waste. The RTGs from Burnt Mountain meet the description of greater-than-Class C waste. The law also requires that greater-than-Class C waste be disposed of in a facility licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The DOE has stated that it will begin accepting certain types of greater-than-Class C waste for storage prior to completion of a disposal facility. The proposed action in the environmental assessment calls for the Air Force to remove and transport ten Sr-90 RTGs via aircraft from Alaska to an Air Force base near a selected DOE storage facility, then transfer the ten RTGs via ground transport to the selected DOE site. The proposed action also examines capabilities within the DOE complex to provide long-term storage for ten Sr-90 RTGs. After the Air Force removes the RTGs from Burnt Mountain, the DOE will accept the RTGs and place them in long-term storage as low-level waste, as required by DOE Order 435.1, until a disposal facility licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is available. Because there are additional strontium-90 RTGs in interim storage throughout the United States, the environmental assessment also examines long-term storage for up to 40 additional RTGs as low-level waste.