Editing Low-level waste (section)

=== Disposal ===
[[File:NTS - Low-level radioactive waste storage pit.jpg|thumb|Low-level waste storage pit at the [[Nevada National Security Site]]]]

Depending on who "owns" the waste, its handling and disposal is regulated differently. All nuclear facilities, whether they are a utility or a disposal site, have to comply with [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]] (NRC) regulations. The four low-level waste facilities in the U.S. are [[Barnwell, South Carolina]]; [[Richland, Washington]]; [[Clive, Utah]]; and as of June 2013, [[Andrews County, Texas]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nei.org/Master-Document-Folder/Backgrounders/Fact-Sheets/Disposal-Of-Commercial-Low-Level-Radioactive-Waste |title=Disposal of Commercial Low-Level Radioactive Waste |website=Nuclear Energy Institute |date=April 2014 |access-date=8 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=New Federal Waste Facility Opens with Ribbon Cutting Ceremony|url=http://www.texassolution.com/documents/WCS%20FWF%20Grand%20Opening%20%20Press%20Release.pdf|website=Waste Control Specialists|access-date=9 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523225455/http://www.texassolution.com/documents/WCS%20FWF%20Grand%20Opening%20%20Press%20Release.pdf|archive-date=23 May 2014 |date=6 June 2013}}</ref> The Barnwell and the Clive locations are operated by EnergySolutions, the Richland location is operated by U.S. Ecology, and the Andrews County location is operated by Waste Control Specialists. Barnwell, Richland, and Andrews County accept Classes A through C of low-level waste, whereas Clive only accepts Class A LLW.  The DOE has dozens of LLW sites under management. The largest of these exist at DOE Reservations around the country (e.g. the [[Hanford Site|Hanford Reservation]], [[Savannah River Site]], [[Nevada Test Site]], [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]], [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]], [[Idaho National Laboratory]], to name the most significant).

Classes of wastes are detailed in 10 C.F.R. § 61.55 Waste Classification,<ref>[https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part061/part061-0055.html Official online version of 10 C.F.R. § 61.55 Waste Classification]</ref> enforced by the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]], reproduced in the table below.  These are not all the isotopes disposed of at these facilities, just the ones that are of most concern for the long-term monitoring of the sites. Waste is divided into three classes, A through C, where A is the least radioactive and C is the most radioactive. Class A LLW is able to be deposited near the surface, whereas Classes B and C LLW have to be buried progressively deeper.

In 10 C.F.R. § 20.2002, the NRC reserves the right to grant a free release of radioactive waste. The overall activity of such a disposal cannot exceed 1 mrem/yr and the NRC regards requests on a case-by-case basis. Low-level waste passing such strict regulations is then disposed of in a landfill with other garbage. Items allowed to be disposed of in this way include glow-in-the-dark watches (radium) and smoke detectors (americium).

{| class="wikitable" width=95%
|-
! Radionuclide
! Class A ([[Curie (unit)|Curie]]s/m<sup>3</sup>)
! Class B (Ci/m<sup>3</sup>)
! Class C (Ci/m<sup>3</sup>) (upper limit for LLW)
|-
| Total of all nuclides with less than 5-year [[half life]]
| 700
| No limit
| No limit
|-
| [[Tritium]] (<sup>3</sup>H)
| 40
| No limit
| No limit
|-
| [[Cobalt-60]] (<sup>60</sup>Co)
| 700
| No limit
| No limit
|-
| [[Nickel-63]] (<sup>63</sup>Ni)
| 3.5
| 70
| 700
|-
| Ni-63 in activated metal
| 35
| 700
| 7000
|-
| [[Strontium-90]] (<sup>90</sup>Sr)
| 0.04
| 150
| 7000
|-
| [[Cesium-137]] (<sup>137</sup>Cs)
| 1
| 44
| 4600
|-
| [[Carbon-14]](<sup>14</sup>C)
| 0.8
|
| 8
|-
| C-14 in activated metal
| 8
|
| 80
|-
| [[Nickel-59]] (<sup>59</sup>Ni) in activated metal
| 22
|
| 220
|-
| [[Niobium-94]] (<sup>94</sup>Nb) in activated metal
| 0.02
|
| 0.2
|-
| [[Technetium-99]] (<sup>99</sup>Tc)
| 0.3
|
| 3
|-
| [[Iodine-129]] (<sup>129</sup>I)
| 0.008
|
| 0.08
|-
| [[Alpha emission|Alpha emitting]] [[transuranic]] nuclides<br>with a half life greater than 5 years
| 10 nCi/g
|
| 100 nCi/g
|-
| [[Plutonium-241]] (<sup>241</sup>Pu)
| 350 nCi/g
|
| 3500 nCi/g
|-
| [[Curium-242]] (<sup>242</sup>Cm)
| 2000 nCi/g
|
| 20000 nCi/g
|}

LLW should not be confused with [[high-level waste]] (HLW) or [[spent nuclear fuel]] (SNF). C Class low level waste has a limit of 100 [[nano-]]Curies per gram of [[Alpha emitter|alpha-emitting]] [[transuranic]] nuclides with a half life greater than 5 years; any more than 100 nCi, and it must be classified as [[transuranic waste]] (TRU). These require different disposal pathways. TRU wastes from the U.S. nuclear weapons complex is currently disposed at the [[Waste Isolation Pilot Plant]] (WIPP) near [[Carlsbad, New Mexico]], though other sites also are being considered for on-site disposal of particularly difficult to manage TRU wastes.