Permanent Closure
§ 63.51 License amendment for permanent closure.
(a) DOE shall submit an application to amend the license before permanent closure of a geologic repository at the Yucca Mountain site. The submission must consist of an update of the license application submitted under §§ 63.21 and 63.22, including:
(1) An update of the assessment of the performance of the geologic repository for the period after permanent closure. The updated assessment must include any performance confirmation data collected under the program required by subpart F, and pertinent to compliance with § 63.113.
(2) A description of the program for post-permanent closure monitoring of the geologic repository.
(3) A detailed description of the measures to be employed--such as land use controls, construction of monuments, and preservation of records--to regulate or prevent activities that could impair the long-term isolation of emplaced waste within the geologic repository and to assure that relevant information will be preserved for the use of future generations. As a minimum, these measures must include:
(i) Identification of the site and geologic repository operations area by monuments that have been designed, fabricated, and emplaced to be as permanent as is practicable;
(ii) Placement of records in the archives and land record systems of local, State, and Federal government agencies, and archives elsewhere in the world, that would be likely to be consulted by potential human intruders--such records to identify the location of the geologic repository operations area, including the underground facility, boreholes, shafts and ramps, and the boundaries of the site, and the nature and hazard of the waste; and
(iii) A program for continued oversight, to prevent any activity at the site that poses an unreasonable risk of breaching the geologic repository's engineered barriers; or increasing the exposure of individual members of the public to radiation beyond allowable limits.
(4) Geologic, geophysical, geochemical, hydrologic, and other site data that are obtained during the operational period, pertinent to compliance with § 63.113.
(5) The results of tests, experiments, and any other analyses relating to backfill of excavated areas, shaft, borehole, or ramp sealing, drip shields, waste packages, interactions between natural and engineered systems, and any other tests, experiments, or analyses pertinent to compliance with § 63.113.
(6) Any substantial revision of plans for permanent closure.
(7) Other information bearing on permanent closure that was not available at the time a license was issued.
(b) If necessary, to take into account the environmental impact of any substantial changes in the permanent closure activities proposed to be carried out or any significant new information regarding the environmental impacts of permanent closure, DOE shall also supplement its environmental impact statement and submit this statement, as supplemented, with the application for license amendment.
Page Last Reviewed/Updated Wednesday, March 24, 2021