Environmental Protection Agency
We, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are promulgating amendments to our public health and safety standards for radioactive material stored or disposed of in the potential repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Congress directed us to develop these standards and required us to contract with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a study to provide findings and recommendations on reasonable standards for protection of the public health and safety. The health and safety standards promulgated by EPA are to be "based upon and consistent with" the findings and recommendations of NAS. Originally, these standards were promulgated on June 13, 2001 (66 FR 32074) (the 2001 standards). On July 9, 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated portions of the 2001 standards concerning the period of time for which compliance must be demonstrated. The Court ruled that the compliance period of 10,000 years was not "based upon and consistent with" the findings and recommendations of the NAS and remanded those portions of the standards to EPA for revision. These remanded provisions are the subject of this action. This final rule incorporates compliance criteria applicable at different times for protection of individuals and in circumstances involving human intrusion into the repository. Compliance will be judged against a standard of 150 microsieverts per year ([mu]Sv/yr) (15 millirem per year (mrem/yr)) committed effective dose equivalent (CEDE) at times up to 10,000 years after disposal and against a standard of 1 millisievert per year (mSv/yr) (100 mrem/yr) CEDE at times after 10,000 years and up to 1 million years after disposal. This final rule also includes several supporting provisions affecting the projections of expected disposal system performance prepared by the Department of Energy (DOE).
Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Environmental Protection Agency 40 CFR Part 197 [EPA-HQ-OAR-2005-0083; FRL-8724-9] RIN 2060-AN15 AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: We, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are promulgating amendments to our public health and safety standards for radioactive material stored or disposed of in the potential repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Congress directed us to develop these standards and required us to contract with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct a study to provide findings and recommendations on reasonable standards for protection of the public health and safety. The health and safety standards promulgated by EPA are to be “based upon and consistent with” the findings and recommendations of NAS. Originally, these standards were promulgated on June 13, 2001 ( 66 FR 32074 ) (the 2001 standards). On July 9, 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated portions of the 2001 standards concerning the period of time for which compliance must be demonstrated. The Court ruled that the compliance period of 10,000 years was not “based upon and consistent with” the findings and recommendations of the NAS and remanded those portions of the standards to EPA for revision. These remanded provisions are the subject of this action. This final rule incorporates compliance criteria applicable at different times for protection of individuals and in circumstances involvin…
Citation: 73 FR 61256
