EPA Issues Final Yucca Mountain Radiation Standards

EPA has established radiation standards for the proposed spent nuclearfuel and high-level radioactive waste disposal facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. EPA is required to set standards consistent with the findings and recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and satisfy a July 2004 court decision to extend the standards' duration. The YuccaMountain standards are in line with approaches used in the international radioactive waste management community. The final standards will:

· Retain the dose limit of 15 millirem per year for the first 10,000 years after disposal;

· Establish a dose limit of 100 millirem annual exposure per year between 10,000 years and 1 million years;

· Require the Department of Energy (DOE) to consider the effects of climate change, earthquakes, volcanoes, and corrosion of the waste packages to safely contain the waste during the 1 million-year period; and

· Be consistent with the recommendations of the NAS by establishing a radiological protection standard for this facility at the time of peak dose up to 1 million years after disposal.

Human exposure to radiation varies from natural sources, such as radon and ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and other sources, such asmedical X-rays. The average annual radiation exposure from bothnaturally occurring and man made sources for a person living in the United States has been estimated to be 360 millirem per year. EPA, DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission perform different functions related to Yucca Mountain. Learn more about this action and the roles of the three federal agencies.