Illinois Administrative Code › Title 32 - ENERGY › Part 332 - LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR SOURCE MATERIAL MILLING FACILITIES › Section 332.20 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 28, July 12, 2024
Unless otherwise indicated, the definitions of 32 Ill. Adm.
				Code 310 (General Provisions for Radiation Protection) apply to this Part. As
				used in this Part, each of the following definitions has the specified
				meaning.
"Act" means the Radiation Protection Act of 1990 [420 ILCS 40
				].
"Active maintenance" means any activity, other than minor
				custodial activities, needed to preserve isolation of the byproduct material.
				Active maintenance includes ongoing activities such as the pumping, removal, or
				treatment of surface water or groundwater or one-time measures such as
				replacement of a disposal area cover.
"Agency" means the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.
"Aquifer" means a geologic formation, group of formations, or
				part of a formation capable of yielding a significant amount of groundwater to
				wells or springs. Any saturated zone created by uranium or thorium recovery
				operations would not be considered an aquifer unless the zone is or potentially
				is:
hydraulically interconnected to a natural aquifer,
capable of discharge to surface water, or
reasonably accessible because of migration beyond the vertical
				projection of the boundary of the land transferred for long-term government
				ownership and care in accordance with Section
				332.280.
AGENCY NOTE: The determination of "significant" will be based
				on site specific criteria such as yield of the aquifer in volume per unit time,
				the degree of use or potential for future use for domestic, industrial or
				agricultural purposes, the availability of alternative sources and capability
				of users to change to alternative sources in the event groundwater protection
				standards are exceeded.
"Buffer zone" means the area surrounding the site used for
				disposal of either byproduct material or material contaminated with uranium or
				thorium during, or as a consequence of, source material milling operations. Use
				of the buffer zone is limited to those activities that would not be detrimental
				to containment of the wastes, environmental monitoring, interception and
				processing of any surface or groundwater effluents.
"Byproduct material" means, for purposes of this Part only, the
				tailings or wastes produced by the extraction or concentration of uranium or
				thorium from any ore processed primarily for its source material content,
				including discrete surface wastes resulting from uranium solution extraction
				processes. Underground ore bodies depleted by such solution extraction
				operations do not constitute byproduct material within this definition.
"Closure" means the activities following operations to
				decontaminate and decommission the buildings and site used to produce byproduct
				material, to reclaim the tailings area, to reclaim the waste disposal area and
				to restore the groundwater to the degree necessary to achieve compliance with
				the groundwater protection requirements of Section
				332.230(a).
"Closure plan" means the Agency approved plan to accomplish
				closure.
AGENCY NOTE: The Agency will approve a closure plan if the plan
				describes how the licensee will decontaminate, reclaim and stabilize the
				licensed site in accordance with the requirements.
"Compliance period" begins when the Agency sets specific
				secondary groundwater protection standards in accordance with Section
				332.230
				and ends when the owner's or operator's license is terminated and the disposal
				site is transferred to the State or federal agency for long-term care.
"Control boundary" means a physical barrier that separates a
				restricted area from an unrestricted area.
"Decommissioning" means to remove (as a facility) safely from
				service and reduce residual radioactivity to a level that permits release of
				the property for unrestricted use and termination of the license.
AGENCY NOTE: The byproduct material disposal site is not
				decommissioned because it will neither be released for unrestricted use nor be
				unlicensed. Land ownership and custody will be maintained by the State or the
				federal government as required by Section 332.280. Portions of the licensed
				site other than the actual byproduct material disposal site are
				decommissioned.
"Dike" means an embankment or ridge of either natural or
				man-made materials used to prevent the movement of liquids, sludges, solids or
				other materials.
"Disposal area" means the area containing byproduct material to
				which the requirements of Sections
				332.170
				and
				332.240
				apply. The disposal area includes only the surface area of the land immediately
				underlain by byproduct material and does not include any embankments, dams or
				other supporting structures that surround the byproduct material.
"Disposal site" means the land transferred to the State or
				federal government pursuant to Section 332.280. This land includes the disposal
				area, any surrounding embankments or dams that contain the byproduct
				material.
"Existing portion" means that land surface area of an existing
				surface impoundment or disposal area on which significant quantities of
				byproduct material have been placed prior to September 30, 1983.
"Fund" means the Radiation Protection Fund (see
				420
				ILCS 40/35 ).
"Groundwater" means water below the land surface in a zone of
				saturation. For purposes of this Part, groundwater is the water contained
				within an aquifer as defined in this Section.
"Leachate" means any liquid, including any suspended or
				dissolved components in the liquid, that has percolated through or drained from
				the byproduct material.
"Licensed site" means the area contained within the boundary of
				a location under the control of persons generating or storing byproduct
				material under an Agency license.
AGENCY NOTE: The licensed site would include, at a minimum, any
				actual or proposed disposal areas and sites, any additional land used by the
				licensee for the generation or storage of byproduct material and any buffer
				zones. Normally, such additional land areas and buffer zones will be
				decommissioned and reclaimed and not subject to land transfer pursuant to
				Section 332.280.
"Liner" means a continuous layer of natural or man-made
				material beneath, or on the sides of, a surface impoundment that restricts the
				downward or lateral escape of byproduct material, hazardous constituents or
				leachate.
"Long-term care" means the period following postclosure and
				termination of a license issued pursuant to this Part during which surveillance
				and monitoring activities are conducted by a State or federal agency.
"Minor custodial activities" means maintenance activities under
				State specific license, not necessary to preserve the isolation of the
				byproduct material. These activities could include repair of fencing, repair or
				replacement of monitoring equipment, minor additions to or repair of disposal
				area cover and general disposal site upkeep such as mowing grass.
"Point of compliance" means the site specific location in the
				uppermost aquifer where the groundwater protection standard must be met.
"Postclosure" means the period of time from completion of the
				closure plan for decontamination, reclamation and stabilization of the source
				material milling facility, byproduct material surface impoundment and disposal
				area, but prior to the termination of the license.
"Reclamation" means the following activities performed at a
				licensed site as a part of closure:
stabilize and isolate byproduct material contained within a
				disposal site. This may include relocation of the byproduct material;
backfill with uncontaminated soil any disturbed areas to
				achieve a topography compatible with surrounding terrain;
recontour land to support surface drainage; and
revegetate as necessary.
"Source material milling" means any operation in which uranium
				or thorium is extracted and concentrated from ore processed primarily for its
				source material content. This includes solution mining and heap leaching and
				any other operation that generates byproduct material as defined in this
				Part.
"Surface impoundment" means a natural topographic depression,
				man-made excavation or diked area that is designed to hold an accumulation of
				liquid wastes or wastes containing free liquids, and that is not an injection
				well.
"Surveillance" means monitoring and observation of the disposal
				site for the purposes of visual detection of the need for maintenance,
				custodial care, evidence of unauthorized access and compliance with other
				license and regulatory requirements.
"Uppermost aquifer" means the geologic formation nearest the
				natural ground surface that is an aquifer, as well as lower aquifers that are
				hydraulically interconnected with this aquifer within the facility's property
				boundary.