New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION › Chapter IV - QUALITY SERVICES › Subchapter C - RADIATION › Part 382 - REGULATION OF LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITIES › General Provisions › Section 382.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) As used in this
					 Part, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
(1) Aboveground disposal means the disposal of
					 low-level radioactive waste in engineered structures built such that all waste is
					 placed above final grade with no natural material cover until facility closure.
					 Aboveground disposal includes, but is not limited to, the use of aboveground
					 vaults.
(2) Active agricultural use
					 means lands used for agricultural purposes no less than two of the five
					 (calendar) years prior to the date on which the site characterization required by
					 section
					 382.6(b) 
					 of this Part begins.
(3) Active
					 maintenance means any significant activity needed during the period of
					 institutional control to maintain a reasonable assurance that the performance
					 objectives of sections
					 382.10  -382.15
					 of this Part are met. Such active maintenance includes ongoing activities such as
					 the pumping and treatment of water from a disposal unit or one-time measures such
					 as repair or replacement of all or part of a disposal unit. Active maintenance
					 does not include custodial activities such as fence repair, replacement or repair
					 of monitoring equipment, revegetation, minor additions to soil cover, minor
					 repair of disposal unit covers, and general disposal site upkeep such as mowing
					 grass.
(4) Advisory committee means
					 the advisory committee on siting and disposal method selection for permanent
					 disposal facilities established pursuant to section 29-0501  of the Environmental Conservation
					 Law.
(5) As low as reasonably
					 achievable means as low as reasonably achievable taking into account the state of
					 technology, and the economics of improvements in relation to:
(i) benefits to the environment and public
					 health and safety;
(ii) other
					 societal and socioeconomic considerations; and
(iii) the utilization of radioactive materials
					 in the public interest.
(6) Belowground disposal means the disposal of
					 low-level radioactive waste such that all waste is placed totally below final
					 grade in engineered structures which are located within the upper 30 meters of
					 the earth's surface, and are covered with natural material. Belowground disposal
					 methods include, but are not limited to, buried vaults, lined augered holes, and
					 earth-mounded bunkers.
(7) Buffer
					 zone means a portion of the disposal site that is controlled by the licensee and
					 that lies under the disposal units and between the disposal units and the
					 boundary of the site.
(8)
					 Certification means a decision issued by the department pursuant to article 29 of
					 the Environmental Conservation Law and section
					 382.6 
					 of this Part to the effect that one or two proposed disposal sites and the
					 disposal method or methods proposed for use at such site or sites are in
					 conformance with the applicable provisions of this Part.
(9) Class A waste means low-level radioactive
					 waste classified as Class A pursuant to section
					 382.80 
					 of this Part.
(10) Class B waste
					 means low-level radioactive waste classified as Class B pursuant to section
					 382.80 
					 of this Part.
(11) Class C waste
					 means low-level radioactive waste classified as Class C pursuant to section
					 382.80 
					 of this Part.
(12) Closure means site
					 closure and stabilization.
(13)
					 Commission means the Commission for Siting Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal
					 Facilities established pursuant to section 29-0301  of the Environmental Conservation
					 Law.
(14) Curie or Ci means that
					 amount of radioactive material which disintegrates at the rate of 37 billion
					 atoms per second.
(15) Department
					 means the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
(16) Disposal means the isolation of
					 radioactive wastes from the biosphere inhabited by humans, and containing their
					 food chains, by emplacement in land disposal facilities.
(17) Disposal site or site means that portion
					 of a land disposal facility which is used for disposal of waste. It consists of
					 disposal units and a buffer zone. [FN1]
(18) Disposal unit means a discrete structure
					 of the disposal site into which waste is placed for disposal.[FN2]
(19) Dissolution means a space or cavity in or
					 between rocks, formed by the solution of part of the rock material.
(20) Dose means that quantity of ionizing
					 radiation in rems absorbed, per unit mass, by any body tissue. Reference to a
					 dose during a specific period of time means the total quantity of radiation so
					 absorbed during such period.
(21)
					 Engineered barrier means a man-made structure or device that is intended to
					 improve the land disposal facility's ability to meet the performance objectives
					 in sections
					 382.10  -382.15
					 of this Part.
(22) Environmental
					 Conservation Law or ECL means chapter 43-B of the Consolidated Laws of New
					 York.
(23) Explosive material means
					 any chemical compound, mixture or device which produces a substantial
					 instantaneous release of gas and heat spontaneously or by contact with sparks or
					 flame.
(24) Final grade means the
					 grade surrounding the disposal unit after disposal unit closure.
(25) Geologic unit means the geologic media in
					 which an underground mined repository is constructed.
(26) Hydrogeologic unit means any soil or rock
					 unit or zone which, by virtue of its porosity and permeability, or lack thereof,
					 has a distinct influence on the storage or movement of groundwater.
(27) Inadvertent intruder means a person who
					 might occupy the disposal site after closure and engage in normal activities,
					 such as agriculture, dwelling construction, or other pursuits in which the person
					 might unknowingly be exposed to radiation from the low-level radioactive
					 waste.
(28) Inadvertent intrusion
					 means the act of occupying the disposal site after closure and engaging in normal
					 activities, such as agriculture, dwelling construction, or other pursuits in
					 which a person might unknowingly be exposed to radiation from the low-level
					 radioactive waste.
(29) Institutional
					 control period means a period of time after closure of the land disposal facility
					 during which the State maintains control of access to the site and carries out a
					 program including environmental monitoring, periodic surveillance and minor
					 custodial care.
(30) Intruder barrier
					 means an engineered structure or a sufficient depth of cover over the low-level
					 radioactive waste or disposal units that inhibits contact with the waste and
					 helps to ensure that radiation exposures to an inadvertent intruder will meet the
					 performance objectives of sections
					 382.10  - 382.15
					 of this Part.
(31) Land disposal
					 facility means the land, buildings and equipment which are intended to be used
					 for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste into the subsurface of the
					 land.[FN3]
(32) License means a
					 license to operate a low-level radioactive waste land disposal facility issued
					 pursuant to Title 12, Part 38, of the Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State
					 of New York.
(33) Licensee means the
					 holder of a license to operate a low-level radioactive waste land disposal
					 facility issued pursuant to Title 12, Part 38, of the Codes, Rules and
					 Regulations of the State of New York.
(34) Low-level radioactive waste or waste means
					 those low-level radioactive wastes that are acceptable for disposal in a land
					 disposal facility pursuant to the provisions of this Part. For the purpose of
					 this Part, low-level radioactive waste has the same meaning as in the Federal
					 Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985,
					 42 USC
					 2021b et seq. (see section
					 382.99
					 of this Part); that is, radioactive material that:
(i) is not classified as high-level radioactive
					 waste, spent nuclear fuel, or by-product material as defined in section 11e(2) of
					 the Atomic Energy Act [FN4] (see section
					 382.99
					 of this Part); and
(ii) is classified
					 as low-level radioactive waste consistent with Federal law and in accordance with
					 subparagraph (i) of this paragraph by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
					 Commission.
(35) Major
					 natural phenomena means rarely occurring natural events such as tornados,
					 hurricanes, floods, wildfires, vulcanism and earthquakes.
(36) Mass wasting means the movement of rock or
					 soil material under the influence of gravity either as the movement of the
					 products of weathering down a slope or as a mass movement of rock or soil along
					 joint planes or bedding planes. Mass wasting includes, but is not limited to,
					 creep, mud flows, earth flow, soil flow, rock avalanche, landslide, landslip and
					 slumping.
(37) Microcurie means one
					 one-millionth (0.000001) of a curie.
(38) Millicurie means one one-thousandth
					 (0.001) of a curie.
(39) Millirem
					 (abbreviated mrem) means one one-thousandth (0.001) of a rem.
(40) Minimize means to reduce to the least
					 quantity or degree which can reasonably be attained, taking into account:
(i) the state of technology;
(ii) the benefits to be gained from any
					 possible further reduction; and
(iii)
					 the impacts of the measures or efforts required to achieve any possible further
					 reduction.
(41) Mixed
					 low-level radioactive and hazardous waste means waste that satisfies the
					 definition of low-level radioactive waste in this Part and contains hazardous
					 waste designated pursuant to ECL article 27, title 9, that either:
(i) is listed as a hazardous waste in section
					 371.4  of
					 this Title; or
(ii) causes the
					 low-level radioactive waste to exhibit any of the hazardous waste characteristics
					 identified in section
					 371.3 
					 of this Title.
(42) Model
					 means a conceptual description and the associated mathematical, graphical and/or
					 analogous representation of a system, subsystem, component or condition that is
					 used to predict changes from a baseline state as a function of internal and/or
					 external stimuli and as a function of time and space.
(43) Monitoring means observing and making
					 measurements to provide data to evaluate the performance and characteristics of
					 the disposal site.
(44) Nanocurie
					 means one one-billionth (0.000000001) of a curie.
(45) Natural characteristics means the elements
					 which comprise the physical and biological environment, including the ecology,
					 geochemistry, geology, hydrology, meteorology and climate, and seismology. These
					 elements also include natural resources with agricultural, cultural, economic,
					 recreational and scenic values.
(46)
					 Naturally-occurring and accelerator produced radioactive material or NARM means
					 any radioactive material that can be considered naturally occurring and is not
					 source, special nuclear, or by product material or that is produced in a charged
					 particle accelerator.
(47) NARM waste
					 means all putrescible and nonputrescible material or substances containing NARM
					 that are discarded or rejected as spent, useless, worthless, or in excess to the
					 owner at the time of such discard or rejection.
(48) Person means any individual; public,
					 private or government corporation; joint-stock company; industry; partnership;
					 copartnership; firm; association; trust; estate; public or private institution;
					 group, government agency, department or bureau of the State, or political
					 subdivision thereof; and any legal subsidiary, successor, representative, agent
					 or agency of the foregoing, or any other legal entity whatsoever.
(49) Primary public water supply aquifer means
					 a highly productive water-bearing formation, identified by the department,
					 consisting of unconsolidated (nonbedrock) geologic deposits, which:
(i) receives substantial recharge from the
					 overlying land surface; and
(ii) is
					 presently utilized as a major source of water for public water supply, including
					 but not limited to the following aquifers: Endicott - Johnson City; Ramapo -
					 Mahwah River Valleys; Irondogenesee - Buried Valley; Jamestown; Elmira -
					 Horseheads - Big Flats; Clifton Park-Halfmoon; Olean-Salamanca; Croton-on-Hudson;
					 Owego-Waverly; Cohocton River; Tonawanda Creek; Seneca River; Corning; Fishkill -
					 Sprout Creek; Fulton; South Fallsburg-Woodbourne; Schenectady; and
					 Cortland-Homer-Preble.
(50) Principal aquifer means unconsolidated
					 (nonbedrock) geologic deposits identified by the department which:
(i) receive substantial recharge from the
					 overlying land surface;
(ii) are
					 known to be highly productive or whose geology suggests a potentially abundant
					 source of water; and
(iii) are not
					 presently used as a major source of water for public water supply.
(51) Pyrophoric means, when
					 referring to a liquid, any liquid that ignites spontaneously in dry or moist air
					 at or below 130° F (54.4° C). A pyrophoric solid is any solid material,
					 other than one classified as an explosive, which, under normal conditions, is
					 liable to cause fires through friction, retained heat from manufacturing or
					 processing, or which can be ignited readily and, when ignited, burns so
					 vigorously and persistently as to create a serious transportation, handling or
					 disposal hazard. Included are spontaneously combustible and water-reactive
					 materials.
(52) Quality assurance
					 means those planned and systematic actions to ensure that a product, facility or
					 operation meets or exceeds desired performance criteria and the documentation to
					 verify that the results have been obtained. Quality assurance includes quality
					 control.
(53) Recovery means removing
					 from a disposal unit waste that has been permanently disposed in a land disposal
					 facility.
(54) Rem means a unit of
					 dose equivalent for any type of ionizing radiation absorbed by body tissue in
					 terms of its estimated biological effect relative to an exposure of one roentgen
					 of X- or gamma-rays. The dose equivalent in rems is numerically equal to the
					 absorbed dose in rads multiplied by the quality factor, distribution factor, and
					 any other necessary modifying factors.
(55) Retrieval means recovery of waste in an
					 intact container.
(56) Site closure
					 and stabilization or closure means those actions that are taken upon completion
					 of operations that prepare the disposal site for custodial care and that assure
					 that the disposal site will remain stable and will not need ongoing active
					 maintenance.
(57) Shallow land burial
					 means emplacement of low-level radioactive waste in or within the upper 30 meters
					 of the surface of the earth in trenches, holes or other excavations:
(i) in which only soil provides:
(a) structural integrity;
(b) a barrier to migration of low-level
					 radioactive waste from, or subsurface water into, such excavation; or
(c) a barrier to entry of surface water to such
					 excavation; or
(ii) in a
					 manner that fails to allow for monitoring and control of releases of
					 radioactivity during the institutional control period.
(58) Slumping means a landsliding characterized
					 by movement of a generally independent mass of rock or earth along a slip surface
					 and about an axis parallel to the slope rim which it descends, and by backward
					 tilting of the mass with respect to that slope so that the slump surface often
					 exhibits a reversed slope facing uphill.
(59) Soil means all unconsolidated earthy
					 material overlying bedrock.
(60)
					 Solutioning means the chemical process by which rock material passes into
					 solution.
(61) Stability means
					 structural stability.
(62) Subsidence
					 means a local mass movement that involves principally the gradual downward
					 settling or sinking of the solid earth's surface with little or no horizontal
					 motion and that does not occur along a free surface (not the result of a
					 landslide or fracture of a slope).
(63) Surface facilities means the auxiliary
					 buildings and equipment located on the surface of the land above an underground
					 mined repository.
(64) Surveillance
					 means observation of the disposal site for purposes of visual detection of need
					 for maintenance, custodial care, evidence of intrusion, and compliance with
					 Federal and State statutory, regulatory, license and permit
					 requirements.
(65) Transuranic waste
					 means radioactive waste containing alpha-emitting radionuclides of atomic number
					 93 or higher with a half life greater than five years and in concentrations
					 greater than 100 nanocuries per gram.
(66) Underground mined repository means a land
					 disposal facility in which low-level radioactive waste is placed within the earth
					 at a depth greater than 30 meters below the surface of the earth.
(67) Waste means low-level radioactive waste.
[FN1] In the context of the selection of one or two sites
						by the commission pursuant to article 29 of the ECL, disposal site or site
						consists of real property the commission proposes to be used for a land disposal
						facility.
[FN2] Disposal units include, but are not limited to,
						vaults, excavations containing concrete modules, and the cavities of underground
						mined repositories.
[FN3] Land disposal facility includes, but is not limited
						to, underground mined repositories and the land, buildings and equipment which
						are intended to be used for aboveground disposal of low-level radioactive
						waste.
[FN4] Byproduct material as defined in section 11e(2) of
						the Atomic Energy Act is uranium or thorium tailings and waste.