[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 24]
[Revised as of July 1, 2006]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR191.12]
[Page 9-10]
TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
PART 191_ENVIRONMENTAL RADIATION PROTECTION STANDARDS FOR MANAGEMENT AND
DISPOSAL OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL, HIGH-LEVEL AND TRANSURANIC RADIOACTIVE
WASTES--Table of Contents
Subpart B_Environmental Standards for Disposal
Sec. 191.12 Definitions.
Unless otherwise indicated in this subpart, all terms shall have the
same meaning as in subpart A of this part.
Accessible environment means: (1) The atmosphere; (2) land surfaces;
(3) surface waters; (4) oceans; and (5) all of the lithosphere that is
beyond the controlled area.
Active institutional control means: (1) Controlling access to a
disposal site by any means other than passive institutional controls;
(2) performing maintenance operations or remedial actions at a site, (3)
controlling or cleaning up releases from a site, or (4) monitoring
parameters related to disposal system performance.
Annual committed effective dose means the committed effective dose
resulting from one-year intake of radionuclides released plus the annual
effective dose caused by direct radiation from facilities or activities
subject to subparts B and C of this part.
Aquifer means an underground geological formation, group of
formations, or part of a formation that is capable of yielding a
significant amount of water to a well or spring.
Barrier means any material or structure that prevents or
substantially delays movement of water or radionuclides toward the
accessible environment. For example, a barrier may be a geologic
structure, a canister, a waste form with physical and chemical
characteristics that significantly decrease the mobility of
radionuclides, or a material placed over and around waste, provided that
the material or structure substantially delays movement of water or
radionuclides.
Controlled area means: (1) A surface location, to be identified by
passive institutional controls, that encompasses no more than 100 square
kilometers and extends horizontally no more than five kilometers in any
direction from the outer boundary of the original location of the
radioactive wastes in a disposal system; and (2) the subsurface
underlying such a surface location.
Disposal system means any combination of engineered and natural
barriers that isolate spent nuclear fuel or radioactive waste after
disposal.
Dose equivalent means the product of absorbed dose and appropriate
factors to account for differences in biological effectiveness due to
the quality of radiation and its spatial distribution in the body; the
unit of dose equivalent is the ``rem'' (``sievert'' in SI units).
Effective dose means the sum over specified tissues of the products
of the dose equivalent received following an exposure of, or an intake
of radionuclides into, specified tissues of the body, multiplied by
appropriate weighting factors. This allows the various tissue-specific
health risks to be summed into an overall health risk. The method used
to calculate effective dose is described in appendix B of this part.
Ground water means water below the land surface in a zone of
saturation.
Heavy metal means all uranium, plutonium, or thorium placed into a
nuclear reactor.
Implementing agency means:
(1) The Commission for facilities licensed by the Commission;
(2) The Agency for those implementation responsibilities for the
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, under this part, given to the Agency by the
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act (Pub. L. 102-579, 106
Stat. 4777) which, for the purposes of this part, are:
(i) Determinations by the Agency that the Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant is in compliance with subpart A of this part;
(ii) Issuance of criteria for the certifications of compliance with
subparts B and C of this part of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant's
compliance with subparts B and C of this part;
(iii) Certifications of compliance with subparts B and C of this
part of
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the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant's compliance with subparts B and C of
this part;
(iv) If the initial certification is made, periodic recertification
of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant's continued compliance with subparts
B and C of this part;
(v) Review and comment on performance assessment reports of the
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant; and
(vi) Concurrence by the Agency with the Department's determination
under Sec. 191.02(i) that certain wastes do not need the degree of
isolation required by subparts B and C of this part; and
(3) The Department of Energy for any other disposal facility and all
other implementation responsibilities for the Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant, under this part, not given to the Agency.
International System of Units is the version of the metric system
which has been established by the International Bureau of Weights and
Measures and is administered in the United States by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology. The abbreviation for this system
is ``SI.''
Lithosphere means the solid part of the Earth below the surface,
including any ground water contained within it.
Passive institutional control means: (1) Permanent markers placed at
a disposal site, (2) public records and archives, (3) government
ownership and regulations regarding land or resource use, and (4) other
methods of preserving knowledge about the location, design, and contents
of a disposal system.
Performance assessment means an analysis that: (1) Identifies the
processes and events that might affect the disposal system; (2) examines
the effects of these processes and events on the performance of the
disposal system; and (3) estimates the cumulative releases of
radionuclides, considering the associated uncertainties, caused by all
significant processes and events. These estimates shall be incorporated
into an overall probability distribution of cumulative release to the
extent practicable.
Radioactive material means matter composed of or containing
radionuclides, with radiological half-lives greater than 20 years,
subject to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.
SI unit means a unit of measure in the International System of
Units.
Sievert is the SI unit of effective dose and is equal to 100 rem or
one joule per kilogram. The abbreviation is ``Sv.''
Undisturbed performance means the predicted behavior of a disposal
system, including consideration of the uncertainties in predicted
behavior, if the disposal system is not disrupted by human intrusion or
the occurrence of unlikely natural events.
Waste, as used in this subpart, means any spent nuclear fuel or
radioactive waste isolated in a disposal system.
Waste form means the materials comprising the radioactive components
of waste and any encapsulating or stabilizing matrix.
[50 FR 38084, Sept. 19, 1985, as amended at 58 FR 66414, Dec. 20, 1993]