3 General Provisions
8 Disposal of very low level wastes
and underlying waste waterproofing (shelter against precipitation, allocation on asphalt or concrete site, arrangement of storm collectors etc.) must also be provided.
7.2.18 To reduce the waste volumes, to decrease a tendency to deposition or compacting after disposal and to minimize radionuclide release from VLLW, waste treatment can be performed during disposal (compacting, incineration, re-melting etc.), provided that this is practicable and economically feasible.
7.2.19 Metallic wastes meeting the requirements of GN 2.6.1.2159-07 "Man-made radionuclide contents in metals" after decontamination may be subjected to unlimited reuse with the economical purposes, if this is economically reasonable (the appropriate procedure is under SanPiN 2.6.1993-00 regulation).
7.2.20 Burnable VLLW shall be conveyed for incineration in special installations equipped with filters of gas-aerosol treatment (purification), if this is practicable and economically reasonable. If incineration is unreasonable, content of such kind of wastes in VLLW under disposal must not exceed 10 %.
• the landfill life time and environmental monitoring.
8.1.11 The designed system of VLLW disposal must ensure:
• waste isolation from the environment;
• monitoring of possible radionuclide discharges into the environment;
• observation of the site during the established period after disposal.
8.1.12 The design must define the containment barriers to limit migration into soil and spread of radioactive and toxic substances in the environment under condition of selected option of VLLW disposal. This is ensured by application of:
• arrangement and equipment of drainage system;
• covering of bottom and walls of the site with waterproof film, use of clay etc.;
• construction of roof and other types of covering to prevent atmospheric precipitation ingress;
• arrangement of multilayer covering after termination of the landfill operation.
8.1.13 Insulation properties (filtration and sorption) of natural barriers of the disposal site must limit both any contact of underground waters with engineered containment barriers and migration of radionuclides and chemicals (containing in wastes) into the nearby area of the disposal site, in case of the engineered barrier damages.
8.1.14 The adopted technical solution with respect to the disposal site construction must not cause elimination of insulation properties of the natural barrier.
8.1.15 The design defines selection of disposal type (surface, shallow, or deep); deepness of allocation of sections and/or cells for waste disposal and their construction (required to ensure safety and protection of the disposal facility); properties and amount of barriers (and their functions), depending upon:
• waste form;
• waste amount;
• radionuclide composition of the waste;
• activity and specific activity of the waste;
• waste class of hazard;
• features of waste packages;
• duration of potential hazard of the waste;
• properties of host rocks;
• geological and hydrogeological characteristics of the region and of the site for the landfill allocation.
8.1.16 The design of the site for VLLW landfill must consider possible design basis accidents and measure for their prevention.
8.1.17 Depending upon characteristics of the disposal facility and weather conditions, the following must be envisaged:
control of unexpected water ingress inside the landfill;
prevention of superficial and underground water penetration into the place of disposal;
8.1.18 Siting for the landfill construction is permitted under condition of the positive sanitary epidemiological certificate issued by the bodies designated to implement the state sanitary epidemiological supervision.
8.2 Operation of the disposal landfill
8.2.1 Operation of the disposal landfill includes the following steps:
• commissioning;
• taking on and education of the personnel;
• engineering and radiation control and monitoring during operation;
• acceptance of wastes;
• emplacement of wastes;
• control of discharges and effluents, monitoring maintenance;
• emergency preparedness;
• decommissioning (closure) of the landfill.
8.2.2 The volume and characteristics of wastes accepted in the landfill, must comply with the designed documentation according to the Instruction (Technical regulation) developed at the facility and coordinated with the bodies designated to implement the state sanitary epidemiological supervision.
8.2.3 VLLW must enter to the landfill in a packed form by the special transport.
8.2.4 VLLW package (container, plastic bag) must be strong, ensure integrity of the content, and minimize the waste dispersal (scattering) in transport, on roads and on the landfill.
8.2.5 The waste accepted for disposal must have covering (accompanying) documents presenting the waste characteristics.
8.2.6 The VLLW registration journal must be arranged at the disposal landfill (recommended form of which is given in Annex 2 of this Guidance), which contains information about date of the VLLW reception and name of division of the industrial site – waste producer, type, amount (volume, mass), activity and radionuclide composition, near surface (0.1 m) gamma dose rate, class of hazard and code of place of waste disposal.
The waste producer division provides information about waste under conveyance for disposal by agreement with the radiation safety and protection team of the particular site.
8.2.7 In the course of the disposal landfill operation, entrance control of packages must be performed to confirm compliance with safety and acceptance criteria, including:
• availability and completeness of accompanying documentation;
• integrity of packages;
• marking of packages;
• dose rate at the surface of the package;
• assessment of measured data compliance with the certificate data of the package.
8.2.8 When justifying radiation safety of the disposal system with respect to workers, the public and the environment in terms of characteristics of the site, the design special features and characteristics of engineered containment barriers of the landfill, radionuclide composition of waste conveyed to the STS landfill, specific activity exceeding is permitted up to 30.0 kBq/kg. In some packages (not more than 10% of total disposal volume), such waste may be disposed, specific activity of which reaches 100.0 kBq/kg (Table 2).
8.2.9 If the package does not comply with the established requirements and it is impossible to lead its characteristics to the safety criteria, the VLLW package is to be returned to the waste forwarder (producer).
Table 2. Acceptable characteristics of VLLW, conveyed to SevRAO disposal landfill, at isotope composition 90Sr (20%) and 137Cs (80%)
Specific activity of radionuclides in the package,
kBq/kg
Maximum specific activity of radionuclides in the package,
kBq/kg
Levels of VLLW superficial beta
contamination, part/m*cm2
Exposure dose rate, μSv/h
Maximum content of
long-lived alpha-active radionuclides, % Very low
level waste
0,3-30,0 < 100,0 50,0-500,0
≤ 10,0 at 0.1 m distance from
the package 0,1 8.2.10 VLLW package emplacement at the landfill must be carried out according to the procedure and within time constraints, envisaged in the landfill design.
8.2.11 VLLW packages with lower dose at the surface are emplaced at the periphery and by the landfill sides.
8.2.12 When allocating VLLW packages, fire safety requirements are to be taken into account.
8.2.13 At the landfill arranged on-site, VLLW may be disposed containing toxic substances of III and IV hazard classes.
8.2.14 VLLW must be disposed in such manner that assures the public and environmental radiation protection for the full period of their potential hazard.
8.2.15 During the operational period of VLLW load at the landfill, the following must be envisaged:
• a roof to avoid atmospheric precipitation ingress into the disposal area (rain, snow);
• a system for stopping both of atmospheric precipitation penetration and emergency underground water ingress;
• collection and treatment of contaminated water and filtrates up to authorized norms.
8.2.16 During VLLW disposal, occupational and public protection is assured through observance of established norms and regulations, as well as by means of the environmental contamination monitoring.
8.2.17 Members of the STS personnel carry out all operations at the landfill, provided that they have special occupational skill to implement necessary set of operations.
8.2.18 Uncontrolled access of unauthorized persons to the disposal facility must be forbidden.
8.2.19 In the course of the VLLW disposal landfill operation, once in five years, operator must carry out safety assessment of disposal taking account operation experience.
8.2.20 VLLW disposal landfill located beyond the industrial site must have a reliable enclosure for the whole period of its potential hazard, which ensures prevention of human intrusion to the landfill (for example, 2 m height concrete fence). If at unauthorized getting in the VLLW disposal facility an individual could be exposed to dose less than 0.3 mSv/year, some warning signs and light enclosure (barbed wire, light concrete fence) are enough.