10 CFR 51.51 - Uranium fuel cycle environmental data

Regulations last checked for updates: Nov 25, 2024

Title 10 - Energy last revised: Nov 19, 2024

View all text of Subpart A [§ 51.10 - § 51.125]

§ 51.51 - Uranium fuel cycle environmental data—Table S-3.

(a) Under § 51.50, every environmental report prepared for the construction permit stage or early site permit stage or combined license stage of a light-water-cooled nuclear power reactor, and submitted on or after September 4, 1979, shall take Table S-3, Table of Uranium Fuel Cycle Environmental Data, as the basis for evaluating the contribution of the environmental effects of uranium mining and milling, the production of uranium hexafluoride, isotopic enrichment, fuel fabrication, reprocessing of irradiated fuel, transportation of radioactive materials and management of low-level wastes and high-level wastes related to uranium fuel cycle activities to the environmental costs of licensing the nuclear power reactor. Table S-3 shall be included in the environmental report and may be supplemented by a discussion of the environmental significance of the data set forth in the table as weighed in the analysis for the proposed facility.

(b) Table S-3.

Table S-3—Table of Uranium Fuel Cycle Environmental Data ¹

[Normalized to model LWR annual fuel requirement [WASH-1248] or reference reactor year [NUREG-0116]]

Environmental considerations	Total	Maximum effect per annual fuel requirement or reference reactor year of model 1,000 MWe LWR
Natural Resource Use
Land (acres):
Temporarily committed ²	100
Undisturbed area	79
Disturbed area	22	Equivalent to a 110 MWe coal-fired power plant.
Permanently committed	13
Overburden moved (millions of MT)	2.8	Equivalent to 95 MWe coal-fired power plant.
Water (millions of gallons):
Discharged to air	160	= 2 percent of model 1,000 MWe LWR with cooling tower.
Discharged to water bodies	11,090
Discharged to ground	127
Total	11,377	<4 percent of model 1,000 MWe LWR with once-through cooling.
Fossil fuel:
Electrical energy (thousands of MW-hour)	323	<5 percent of model 1,000 MWe LWR output.
Equivalent coal (thousands of MT)	118	Equivalent to the consumption of a 45 MWe coal-fired power plant.
Natural gas (millions of scf)	135	<0.4 percent of model 1,000 MWe energy output.
Effluents—Chemical (MT)
Gases (including entrainment): ³
SOX	4,400
NOX ⁴	1,190	Equivalent to emissions from 45 MWe coal-fired plant for a year.
Hydrocarbons	14
CO	29.6
Particulates	1,154
Other gases:
F	.67	Principally from UF6 production, enrichment, and reprocessing. Concentration within range of state standards—below level that has effects on human health.
HCl	.014
Liquids:
SO −4 NO −3 Fluoride Ca ⁺ C1 − Na ⁺ NH 3 Fe	9.9 25.8 12.9 5.4 8.5 12.1 10.0 .4	From enrichment, fuel fabrication, and reprocessing steps. Components that constitute a potential for adverse environmental effect are present in dilute concentrations and receive additional dilution by receiving bodies of water to levels below permissible standards. The constituents that require dilution and the flow of dilution water are: NH 3—600 cfs., NO 3—20 cfs., Fluoride—70 cfs.
Tailings solutions (thousands of MT)	240	From mills only—no significant effluents to environment.
Solids	91,000	Principally from mills—no significant effluents to environment.
Effluents—Radiological (curies)
Gases (including entrainment):
Rn-222		Presently under reconsideration by the Commission.
Ra-226	.02
Th-230	.02
Uranium	.034
Tritium (thousands)	18.1
C-14	24
Kr-85 (thousands)	400
Ru-106	.14	Principally from fuel reprocessing plants.
I-129	1.3
I-131	.83
Tc-99		Presently under consideration by the Commission.
Fission products and transuranics	.203
Liquids:
Uranium and daughters	2.1	Principally from milling—included tailings liquor and returned to ground—no effluents; therefore, no effect on environment.
Ra-226	.0034	From UF6 production.
Th-230	.0015
Th-234	.01	From fuel fabrication plants—concentration 10 percent of 10 CFR 20 for total processing 26 annual fuel requirements for model LWR.
Fission and activation products	5.9 × 10−6
Solids (buried on site):
Other than high level (shallow)	11,300	9,100 Ci comes from low level reactor wastes and 1,500 Ci comes from reactor decontamination and decommissioning—buried at land burial facilities. 600 Ci comes from mills—included in tailings returned to ground. Approximately 60 Ci comes from conversion and spent fuel storage. No significant effluent to the environment.
TRU and HLW (deep)	1.1 × 10 ⁷	Buried at Federal Repository.
Effluents—thermal (billions of British thermal units)	4,063	<5 percent of model 1,000 MWe LWR.
Transportation (person-rem):
Exposure of workers and general public	2.5
Occupational exposure (person-rem)	22.6	From reprocessing and waste management.

¹ In some cases where no entry appears it is clear from the background documents that the matter was addressed and that, in effect, the Table should be read as if a specific zero entry had been made. However, there are other areas that are not addressed at all in the Table. Table S-3 does not include health effects from the effluents described in the Table, or estimates of releases of Radon-222 from the uranium fuel cycle or estimates of Technetium-99 released from waste management or reprocessing activities. These issues may be the subject of litigation in the individual licensing proceedings.

Data supporting this table are given in the “Environmental Survey of the Uranium Fuel Cycle,” WASH-1248, April 1974; the “Environmental Survey of the Reprocessing and Waste Management Portion of the LWR Fuel Cycle,” NUREG-0116 (Supp.1 to WASH-1248); the “Public Comments and Task Force Responses Regarding the Environmental Survey of the Reprocessing and Waste Management Portions of the LWR Fuel Cycle,” NUREG-0216 (Supp. 2 to WASH-1248); and in the record of the final rulemaking pertaining to Uranium Fuel Cycle Impacts from Spent Fuel Reprocessing and Radioactive Waste Management, Docket RM-50-3. The contributions from reprocessing, waste management and transportation of wastes are maximized for either of the two fuel cycles (uranium only and no recycle). The contribution from transportation excludes transportation of cold fuel to a reactor and of irradiated fuel and radioactive wastes from a reactor which are considered in Table S-4 of § 51.20(g). The contributions from the other steps of the fuel cycle are given in columns A-E of Table S-3A of WASH-1248.

² The contributions to temporarily committed land from reprocessing are not prorated over 30 years, since the complete temporary impact accrues regardless of whether the plant services one reactor for one year or 57 reactors for 30 years.

³ Estimated effluents based upon combustion of equivalent coal for power generation.

⁴ 1.2 percent from natural gas use and process.

[49 FR 9381, Mar. 12, 1984; 49 FR 10922, Mar. 23, 1984, as amended at 67 FR 77652, Dec. 19, 2002; 72 FR 49512, Aug. 28, 2007]

authority: Atomic Energy Act of 1954, secs. 161, 193 (42 U.S.C. 2201,2243; Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, secs. 201, 202 (42 U.S.C. 5841,5842; National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332,4334,4335; Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, secs. 144(f), 121, 135, 141, 148 (42 U.S.C. 10134(f), 10141, 10155, 10161, 10168); 44 U.S.C. 3504 note

source: 49 FR 9381, Mar. 12, 1984, unless otherwise noted.

cite as: 10 CFR 51.51