New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION › Chapter IV - QUALITY SERVICES › Subchapter C - RADIATION › Part 383 - Regulations For Low-level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facilities Financial Assurance Requirements › Subpart 383-10 - Requirements for Environmental Structural Monitoring › Section 383-10.4 - Environmental monitoring

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a)
					 Requirements for environmental monitoring.
(1)
					 The applicant must submit an environmental monitoring plan as part of the
					 complete permit application.
(2) The
					 permittee must establish and conduct an environmental monitoring program as
					 required by this section and in accordance with the environmental monitoring plan
					 approved by the department in the permit. The permittee must conduct the
					 environmental monitoring program from the effective date of the initial permit
					 until the end of the institutional control period.
(3) The permittee must design the environmental
					 monitoring program to provide data that can be used to:
(i) detect the movement of radionuclides or
					 other contaminants out of the disposal units;
(ii) evaluate the potential health and
					 environmental impacts that may arise during operation of the land disposal
					 facility;
(iii) provide reasonable
					 assurance that the land disposal facility meets the performance
					 objectives;
(iv) evaluate the
					 potential for long-term adverse effects caused by the land disposal facility and
					 the need for mitigative measures;
(v)
					 evaluate the accuracy of, and need for revision of, the environmental monitoring
					 program;
(vi) make a comparison with
					 the data collected during pre-operational monitoring (through such measures as
					 the use of the same sampling locations, frequencies, and analyses), where
					 practicable and where such measures would not conflict with meeting the other
					 requirements of this Subpart;
(vii)
					 make a comparison between the properties of the soils and earthen material
					 excavated with design assumptions; and
(viii) during the operation period, provide
					 data that can be used to assess the adequacy and appropriateness of the closure
					 plan.
(4) The
					 environmental monitoring program must include:
(i) monitoring of direct radiation, including
					 regular surveys to detect surface contamination outside of buildings;
(ii) monitoring of air, groundwater, surface
					 water and drainage systems, soil, flora, and fauna for the radionuclides in the
					 waste disposed of on the site;
(iii)
					 monitoring for seismic activity; and
(iv) every five years, or as deemed necessary
					 by the department, an aerial radiation survey of the disposal site and the land
					 within a five-mile radius of the disposal site, with the results of the on-site
					 survey referenced to the site grid system required by section
					 383-11.2(c) 
					 of this Part.
(5)
					 Monitoring stations used in the environmental monitoring program must be located
					 to collect data that will be representative of what is being monitored.
(6) For the monitoring required by paragraph
					 (4) of this subdivision, at least one monitoring station must be at each of the
					 following locations:
(i) on the disposal
					 site;
(ii) at the boundary of the
					 site;
(iii) off-site, but within one
					 mile of the site boundary; and
(iv)
					 at a location sufficiently removed from the land disposal facility to provide
					 background data.
(7) The
					 environmental monitoring program must have sufficient redundancy and overlap in
					 equipment used and media monitored and sampled to provide reasonable assurance
					 that the monitoring requirements of paragraphs (3) and (4) of this subdivision
					 will be met in the event of the failure, loss, or malfunction of individual
					 monitoring stations or equipment.
(8)
					 The environmental monitoring program must be capable of providing sufficient
					 warning of significant releases of radionuclides and other contaminants from the
					 disposal units. Significant releases to the ground, groundwater, or surface water
					 must be detected in sufficient time to allow the permittee adequate time to
					 respond before the released substances reach other disposal units or the site
					 boundary.
(9) The permittee must
					 periodically evaluate all environmental monitoring data to assure the early
					 detection of any significant releases of radionuclides and other contaminants
					 from the disposal units to allow the permittee adequate time to respond before
					 the released substances reach the site boundary.
(10) In addition to the requirements of this
					 Part, the monitoring requirements of Part 373 of this Title for hazardous wastes
					 must be satisfied for the treatment, storage, and disposal of mixed
					 wastes.