WASHINGTON, D.C. – EM celebrated a milestone recently when DOE issued the long-awaited Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Disposal of Greater-Than-Class-C (GTCC) Low-Level Radioactive Waste and GTCC-Like Waste.

   Publication of the Final GTCC EIS brings the Department a step closer to disposing of GTCC low-level radioactive waste, whose radionuclide concentrations exceed the limits for Class C low-level radioactive waste provided in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulation 10 CFR 61.55 and for GTCC-like waste, which has similar characteristics to GTCC but is owned or generated by DOE.   

   The combined inventory of GTCC low-level radioactive waste and GTCC-like waste has a packaged volume of 12,000 cubic meters, enough to cover a football field up to 7.1 feet high. GTCC low-level radioactive waste types include activated metals from commercial nuclear power plants; sealed sources used in hospitals and universities; and other waste from environmental cleanup activities at EM’s West Valley Demonstration Project site in New York state. 

   The Final EIS identified a preferred alternative of disposal at EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant geologic repository in New Mexico and/or land disposal at generic commercial facilities. 

   The next step is for DOE to submit a report to Congress as required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which stipulates the report must include all alternatives under consideration for disposal of GTCC low-level radioactive waste. DOE must then await congressional action, and only then can the Department issue a record of decision of which disposal alternative to implement.

   Efforts to develop a disposal strategy for GTCC low-level radioactive waste date to 1985, when Congress passed the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act, which specifies that the federal government is responsible for the disposal of GTCC low-level radioactive waste. 

   Managing the EIS for GTCC low-level radioactive waste has been a labor of love for several generations of EM personnel, including some who have retired. Theresa Kliczewski, environmental protection specialist in the Office of Disposition Planning and Policy, counts herself the fifth in a line of GTCC EIS document managers. Kliczewski has worked on GTCC since 2011.

   "Completion of this Final GTCC EIS has been a long time coming and I am excited we can finally mark this as an accomplishment. A lot of hard work and effort went into developing this document. As part of next steps, I am currently developing the GTCC Report to Congress," she said.