11e(2) Byproduct Material
|
Tailings or waste produced
by the extraction or concentration of uranium or thorium
from any ore processed primarily for its source material
(i.e., uranium or thorium) content. This excludes underground
ores depleted by uranium solution extraction operations
(in situ leaching) that continue to remain underground.
11e(2) byproduct material is defined by law under Section
11e(2) of the Atomic Energy Act as amended by Title II of
the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978.
|
Active Facility
|
A facility that is being used to conduct DOE missions and
has not yet been transferred to the Office of Environmental
Management (EM) for management and/or cleanup.
|
Atomic Energy Act
|
The
federal law that administers and regulates the production
and uses of atomic power. The act was passed in 1946 and
amended substantially in 1954 and several times since then.
|
Buried Transuranic Waste (Buried TRU)
|
Transuranic waste that was disposed of (e.g. disposal in
shallow burial trenches) prior to 1970.
|
Central Internet Database (CID)
|
A web-based reporting tool that is being developed by the
Department of Energy (DOE) in accordance with the PEIS Settlement
Agreement [Natural resources Defense Council et al., v.
Richardson, Civ No. 97-9369 (SS)]. The CID meets the PEIS
Settlement Agreement stipulation that DOE develop and deploy
an integrated database containing available information
on waste, facilities, and contaminated media for which DOE
has responsibility. For additional information on terms
and requirements for the CID, please refer to the PEIS
Settlement Agreement.
|
Cleanup
|
The process of addressing
contaminated land, facilities, and materials in accordance
with applicable requirements. Cleanup does not imply that
all hazards will be removed from the site. The term "remediation"
is often used synonymously with cleanup.
|
Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 USC
906 et seq)
|
A federal law enacted in 1980
and amended in 1986 that governs the cleanup of hazardous,
toxic, and radioactive substances. The Act and its amendments
created a trust fund, commonly known as Superfund, to finance
the investigation and cleanup of releases of hazardous substances.
The 1986 amendments included provisions that require DOE
and other federal agencies to clean up their facilities
under Federal Facility agreements with EPA.
|
Contaminant
|
A general term used to define any hazardous constituent
or radionuclide that exists in a waste stream.
|
Contaminated Media
|
Contaminated environmental media are materials such as
soil, sediment, surface water, groundwater, and others (e.g.,
sludge and rubble/debris that are intermixed with media)
that are contaminated at levels requiring cleanup or require
further assessment to determine whether an environmental
restoration action is warranted.
|
Criticality
|
A term describing the conditions
necessary for a sustained nuclear chain reaction.
|
Curie
|
A measure of the rate of radioactive decay; it is equivalent
to the radioactivity of one gram of radium or 37 billion
disintegrations per second.
|
Data Dictionary
|
A collection of definitions for each piece of data (i.e.,
data element) in a database. The CID data dictionary provides
a detailed explanation of the meaning of each data element
in the CID.
|
Deactivation and Decommissioning (D&D)
|
Often called facility disposition, actions taken to reduce
the potential health and safety impacts of contaminated
DOE facilities, including activities to remove a facility
from operation, followed by decontamination, dismantlement,
or conversion of a facility to another use.
|
Destination Activity
|
The next planned management activity for the waste/media/spent
nuclear fuel stream in its planned disposition path.
|
Destination Site
|
The site where the waste/media/spent nuclear fuel stream
will be moving next in the course of treatment or where
the stream will undergo final disposal.
|
Disposal
|
A particular management activity for a waste/media stream
where the waste is emplaced in a manner that ensures protection
of human health and the environment within prescribed limits
for the foreseeable future. For waste/media that has undergone
disposal, there is no intent of retrieval and deliberate
action is required to regain access to the waste.
|
Disposal Cell
|
An engineered unit or waste
disposal and containment structure that is designed to safely
store waste for extended periods and prevent escape of contaminants
to the surrounding environment. The disposal cell may include
a multi-layered cover which inhibits the escape of contaminants,
prevents wind and water erosion of the contaminated materials
in the cell, and prevents precipitation from percolating
through the waste.
|
Disposition
|
A term used by DOE that refers to the set of management
activities that a waste/media or SNF stream will undergo
throughout its life cycle from generation until final disposal.
Also called disposition path. Waste/media management activities
can include treatment, disposal, recycling, and emplacing
on site. Spent nuclear fuel management activities can include
stabilization, moving to dry storage, and SNF treatment.
|
DNAPLs
|
An acronym for dense, non-aqueous
phase liquids. DNAPLs are composed of one or more organic
contaminants, do not mix with water, and are denser than
water. The most common DNAPLs contaminants in groundwater
are chlorinated solvents.
|
EM Corporate Database
|
Data source for archived CID radioactive waste and contaminated media reports.
|
Excess Facility
|
A facility that is no longer required for the conduct of
DOE missions because of inadequacy/age, lack of funding,
or changing mission priorities, but has not yet been transferred
to the Office of Environmental Management (EM) management
and/or cleanup.
|
Ex-Situ Contaminated Media
|
Contaminated environmental
media that have been or are planned to be remediated by:
1) excavating or otherwise removing the contaminated media
from the ground/environment; 2) treating when appropriate;
and 3) disposing of these media either back in their initial
location after treatment or in a specifically designed facility
that isolates the media from the environment.
|
Facility
|
A facility is defined as buildings, land, other structures
and facilities (OSFs), and trailers/modulars/containers
that are owned or leased by DOE.
|
Facility Information Management System (FIMS)
|
Data source for the CID that provides facility information
including contamination status, use status, and size.
|
Facility Status
|
Indicates the status of the facility that reflects programmatic
intentions such as whether it is operating, operations standby,
shutdown pending transfer, shutdown pending D&D, and
D&D in progress.
|
FIMS
|
see Facility Information Management System.
|
Fiscal Year
|
A 12-month period that defines a year of activities for
budgeting, accounting, and planning purposes. The Fiscal
year of the U.S. Government and its agencies, including
the Department of Energy, is from October 1 through September
30. The Central Internet Database reports all data in fiscal
years.
|
Formerly Utilized Site Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP)
|
In the 1940's and 1950's, the federal government contracted
with private firms to develop processes and perform research
projects on radioactive materials. Many of these programs
included storage and processing of uranium and thorium.
The sites where this work was done were cleaned up according
to the standards of that time. Since then, more stringent
standards have been developed. Where necessary, additional
cleanup is being performed to bring these sites into compliance
with today's higher environmental standards. The U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) is responsible for the cleanup of some of
these sites. FUSRAP was established in 1974 to identify
sites previously used by the Manhattan Engineer District
and the Atomic Energy Commission (DOE predecessor agencies)
and to evaluate environmental conditions at the sites.
|
Fuel Type
|
The Spent Fuel program categorizes fuel type as: (1) naval
SNF, (2) alum based SNF, (3) Hanford Production type SNF,
(4) Graphite type SNF, (5) Commercial type SNF, (6a) DOE
Test SNF SST clad, (6b) DOE Test SNF Zirc clad, (6c) DOE
Test SNF that does fit into 6a or 6b.
|
FUSRAP
|
see Formerly Utilized Site Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP).
|
Generating Program
|
The DOE program that is responsible for generating waste,
contaminated media, or spent nuclear fuel.
|
Geologic Repository
|
A facility that has an excavated
subsurface system for the permanent disposal of spent nuclear
fuel and high-level waste.
|
Half-Life
|
The time it takes for one-half
of any given number of unstable atoms to decay to another
nuclear form. Each isotope has its own characteristic half-life.
They range from millionths of a second to billions of years.
|
Hazardous Waste
|
A solid waste, or combination of wastes, that because of
its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical, or infectious
characteristics, may (a) cause or significantly contribute
to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible,
or incapacitating reversible illness, or (b) pose a substantial
hazard to human health or the environment when improperly
treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise
managed.
|
Heavy Metals
|
Metallic elements with high
atomic weights (e.g., mercury, chromium, cadmium, arsenic,
and lead) that can damage living organisms at low concentrations.
Uranium, thorium, and plutonium are also heavy metals.
|
High Level Waste (HLW)
|
The highly radioactive waste material resulting from the
reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, including liquid waste
produced directly in reprocessing and any solid material
derived from such liquid waste that contains fission products
in sufficient concentrations; and other highly radioactive
material that is determined, consistent with existing law,
to require permanent isolation. (DOE Order 435.1)
|
HLW - Vitrified
|
High-level waste that has been stabilized (chemically converted
to a less harmful form) through a vitrification process
(i.e., by mixing it with molten glass). The glass mixture
is poured into cylindrical metal canisters, where it hardens.
|
In-Situ
|
In-situ is Latin for "in place." In-situ cleanup strategies
address contaminated environmental media without excavation
through strategies that isolate and stop any further spread
into the surrounding environment.
|
In-Situ Containment
|
Response strategy consisting
of the placement of a barrier, seal, or diversion to contain
the further spread of contamination (e.g., capping, lateral
barrier, interception).
|
In-Situ Contaminated Media
|
Contaminated environmental
media that have been or are likely to be remediated, without
excavation, by using strategies that destroy, isolate, or
prevent any further spread of contaminants into the surrounding
environment (e.g., in-situ treatment, capping in place,
institutional controls).
|
Inventory
|
Material that is stored at the facility or site.
|
Isotopes
|
Different forms of the same chemical element, which are
distinguished by having different numbers of neutrons (but
the same number of protons) in the nucleus of their atoms.
A single element may have many isotopes. For example, uranium
appears in nature in three forms: uranium-234 (142 neutrons),
uranium-235 (143 neutrons), and uranium-238 (148 neutrons);
each uranium isotope has 92 protons.
|
Life Cycle
|
EM defines life cycle as fiscal year 1997 through 2070.
Data are collected for individual years through 2010 and
for five-year blocks starting with 2011 (i.e., 2011-1015,
2016 - 2020, etc.).
|
Low Level Waste (LLW)
|
Low-level radioactive waste (LLW) is radioactive waste,
including accelerator-produced waste, that is not high-level
radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel, transuranic waste,
byproduct material (as defined in section 11e.(2) of the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954), or naturally occurring radioactive
material (DOE Order 435.1)
|
Managing Program
|
The DOE program that is responsible for the storage, treatment,
and disposal of the waste/media/spent nuclear fuel.
|
Materials in Inventory (MIN)
|
Materials that are not currently in use (i.e., have not
been used during the last year and are not reasonably expected
to be used within the coming year), that have not been designated
as waste, and that have not been set aside for national
defense purposes.
|
Materials in Inventory Database
|
Data source for the CID that provides information on "excess
fissile materials and other material inventories" as requested
by the Settlement Agreement.
|
Matrix Parameter Category (MPC) Code/MPC Name
|
The code and associated name that identifies the physical/chemical
form of a stream (e.g., soil/gravel, liquids, heterogeneous
debris, etc). In many of the CID standard reports, the user
can select specific MPC Names as a filter or one of three
groups of MPCs: Only Groundwater/Wastewater Quantities,
No Groundwater/Wastewater Quantities, or All Physical Forms.
|
MIN Category
|
A Grouping of MIN data based on defined characteristics.
There are 10 categories of MIN data that were studied in
the January 1996 Report, Taking Stock: A Look at the Opportunities
and Challenges Posed by Inventories from the Cold War Era:
sodium, lead, lithium, scrap metal and equipment, weapons
components, depleted uranium, natural and enriched uranium,
plutonium and other nuclear materials, spent nuclear fuel,
and chemicals.
|
MIN Subcategory
|
Each MIN category is further broken down into two subcategories:
nuclear materials and non-nuclear materials.
|
Mixed Low Level Waste (MLLW)
|
Mixed low-level waste (MLLW) is defined as LLW determined
to contain both a hazardous component subject to the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), as amended, and a
radioactive component subject to the Atomic Energy Act (DOE
Order 435. 1).
|
Nanocurie
|
One one-billionth of a curie.
|
Neutron
|
A massive, uncharged particle
that comprises part of an atomic nucleus. Uranium and plutonium
atoms fission when they absorb neutrons. The chain reactions
that make nuclear reactors and weapons work thus depend
on neutrons. Man-made elements can be manufactured by bombarding
other elements with neutrons in production reactors.
|
Non-Radioactive Hazardous
Waste
|
Non-radioactive hazardous
waste is any solid waste or combination of solid wastes,
which do not contain radionuclides of any type and, because
of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or
infectious characteristics may: 1) cause or significantly
contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in
serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible, illness;
or 2) pose a substantial present or potential hazard to
human health or the environment when improperly treated,
stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed.
|
Non-Routine Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA) Waste
|
Solid waste that is either
a listed hazardous waste (per 40 CFR 261.30 - 261.33)
or exhibits the characteristics of a hazardous waste, that
has resulted from one-time operations by environmental restoration
program activities, including primary and secondary wastes
associated with retrieval and remediation operations, "legacy
wastes," and wastes from decontamination and decommissioning/transition
operations.
|
Non-Routine Sanitary Waste
|
Waste that does not contain
radioactive or hazardous constituents sufficient to require
special management that has resulted from one-time operations
by environmental restoration program activities, including
primary and secondary waste associated with retrieval and
remediation operations, "legacy waste," and waste from decontamination
and decommissioning/transition operations.
|
Non-Routine State Waste
|
Any waste not specifically
regulated under RCRA, which may be regulated by State or
local authorities (such as used oil) that has resulted from
one-time operations by environmental restoration program
activities, including primary and secondary wastes associated
with retrieval and remediation operations, "legacy wastes,"
and wastes from decontamination and decommissioning/transition
operations.
|
Non-Routine Toxic Substance
Control Act (TSCA) Waste
|
Individual chemical wastes
(both liquid and solid) regulated by the Toxic Substances
Control Act that have resulted from one-time operations
by environmental restoration program activities, including
primary and secondary wastes associated with retrieval and
remediation operations, "legacy wastes," and wastes from
contamination and decommissioning/transition operations.
|
Nuclear Reactor
|
A device that sustains a controlled
nuclear fission chain reaction.
|
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
|
An independent agency of the
federal government created by the Energy Reorganization
Act of 1974, which abolished the Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC) and transferred its regulatory function to the NRC.
Responsible for ensuring adequate protection of public health
and safety, the common defense and security, and the environment
in the use of nuclear materials in the United States. Responsible
for regulation of commercial nuclear power reactors; non-power
research, test, and training reactors; fuel cycle facilities;
medical, academic, and industrial uses of nuclear materials;
and the transport, storage, and disposal of nuclear materials
as waste.
|
Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA)
of 1982
|
An Act to provide for the
development of repositories for the disposal of high-level
waste and spent nuclear fuel, to establish a program of
research, development, and demonstration regarding the disposal
of high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel, and for other
purposes. Section 151(b) discusses the provisions for title
and custody of low-level waste and the land on which it
is disposed.
|
Office of Environmental Management
(EM)
|
An office of the DOE that
was created in 1989 to oversee DOE's waste management and
environmental cleanup efforts. Originally called the Office
of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, it was
renamed in 1993.
|
Operations/Field Office
|
A management office in the field that carries the organizational
responsibility for (1) managing and executing assigned programs,
(2) directing contractors who conduct programs, and (3)
assuring that environmental, safety, and health protection
are integral parts of each program. DOE operations office
manage multiple geographic sites across the DOE Complex.
(Annual Report of Waste generation and Pollution Prevention
Progress, 1998)
|
Physical Form
|
see Matrix Parameter Category
(MPC) Code/MPC Name.
|
Plutonium
|
A man-made fissile element.
Pure plutonium is a silvery metal heavier than lead. Material
rich in the plutonium-239 isotope is preferred for manufacturing
nuclear weapons. The half-life of plutonium-239 is 24,000
years.
|
Pollution Prevention Database
|
Data source for the CID that provides information on non-radioactive
hazardous waste.
|
Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB)
|
A group of commercially produced organic chemicals used since
the 1940s in industrial applications throughout the nuclear
weapons complex. PCBs are found in many of the gaskets and
large electrical transformers and capacitors in the gaseous
diffusion plants.
|
Production Reactor
|
A reactor whose primary purpose is to produce fissile or other
materials or to perform irradiations on an industrial scale.
Unless otherwise specified, the term usually refers to either
a tritium- or plutonium-production facility used to produce
materials for nuclear weapons.
|
Profile
|
A defined group of
elements of a waste/media/spent nuclear fuel stream that
have similar isotopes and/or hazardous contaminants. A profile
is the lowest-level of categorization of parts of a waste/media/spent
nuclear fuel stream, or a "sub-stream." All sub-streams
of a single waste/media/spent nuclear fuel stream must total
to 100% of that stream.
|
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)
|
A document that evaluates
the environmental impacts of federal programs potentially
affecting one or more sites. The document is prepared in
accordance with Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental
Policy Act.
|
Radioactive Waste
|
Waste that contains or is
contaminated with radionuclides (nuclei of atoms that posses
properties of spontaneous disintegration - radioactivity)
that are regulated by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as
amended, at concentrations greater than established levels.
|
Radionuclide
|
A radioactive species of an
atom characterized by the constitution of its nucleus.
|
Receipts
|
A quantity that shows the amount of waste/media/spent nuclear
fuel a site receives from another site.
|
Receiving Site
|
The site that will
be receiving the waste/media/spent nuclear fuel from a shipping
site in the specified time range.
|
Remedial Action
|
An action taken according to Section 104 of CERCLA to respond
to a release of a hazardous substance to the environment.
|
Reprocessing
|
A process for extracting uranium,
plutonium, and other radionuclides from dissolved spent
nuclear fuel and irradiated targets. The fission products
that are left behind are high-level waste. Reprocessing
is also known as chemical separation.
|
Routine Resource Conservation and Recovery Ac RCRA (Public Law 94-580)
|
A federal law enacted in 1976 to address the treatment, storage,
and disposal of hazardous waste.
|
Research Reactor
|
A reactor whose nuclear radiations are used primarily as a tool
for basic or applied research.
|
Routine Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA) Waste
|
Solid waste not specifically
excluded from regulation under 40 CFR 261.4, or delisted
by petition, that is either a listed hazardous waste (40
CFR 261.30-261.33) or exhibits the characteristics of a
hazardous waste (40 CFR 261.20-261.24) that is produced
by any type of production, analytical, and/or research and
development laboratory operations; treatment, storage, or
disposal operations; "work-for-others;" or any other periodic
and recurring work that is considered ongoing.
|
Routine Sanitary Waste
|
Waste that does not contain
radioactive or hazardous constituents sufficient to require
special management. Examples of sanitary waste are municipal
solid waste, construction/demolition debris, and some waste
water.
|
Routine State Waste
|
Any other hazardous waste not specifically regulated under RCRA,
which may be regulated by State or local authorities (such
as used oil) that is produced by any type of production, analytical,
and/or research and development laboratory operations; treatment,
storage, or disposal operations; "work-for-others;" or any
other periodic and recurring work that is considered ongoing.
|
Routine Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) Waste
|
Individual chemical wastes
(both solid and liquid), regulated by the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA). that is produced by any type of production,
analytical, and/or research and development laboratory operations;
treatment, storage, or disposal operations; "work-for-others;"
or any other periodic and recurring work that is considered
ongoing.
|
Selection Criteria
|
A feature of standard reports
that allows the user to select specific information to be
included in the report. Selection criteria categories include:
Reporting Period, State or Operations Office, Site, Managing
Program, Year Range, Waste Type, and Physical Form (MPC
Code).
|
Shipping Site
|
The site that will be sending
waste/media/SNF to a DOE, commercial, or other non-DOE site
in the specified year or range of years.
|
Site
|
An area of land (or a series
of buildings) where DOE has or is conducting cleanup work.
Click here to receive
a table of valid sites in the CID.
|
Site Area Name and Number
|
The name (and associated three-digit
number) assigned by the Operations/Field Office to identify
an administrative subdivision of a site.
|
Source Activity
|
The last management activity
for the waste/media/spent nuclear fuel stream.
|
Source Reactor
|
The nuclear reactor where
the spent nuclear fuel element was irradiated.
|
Source Reduction
|
Any practice which reduces
the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant
entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the
environment (including fugitive emissions) prior to recycling,
treatment, or disposal and reduces the hazards of public
health and the environment associated with the release of
such substances, pollutants, or contaminants.
|
Source Site
|
The site where the waste/media/spent
nuclear fuel stream was last managed.
|
Source System
|
The TSD system where
the waste/media/spent nuclear fuel stream was last processed.
|
Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF)
|
Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) is
fuel that has been permanently withdrawn from a nuclear
reactor following irradiation, but has not been processed
to remove its constituent elements. (DOE Order 5660. 1B,
Management of Nuclear Materials, May 26, 1994)
|
Spent Nuclear Fuel Database
|
DOE’s National Spent Nuclear Fuel Program database that stores
information on spent nuclear fuel throughout the DOE Complex.
|
Standard Report
|
Reports that are in a standard
format, but allow the user to tailor the output by selection
criteria to choose specific information to be included
to include or exclude particular records from the report
format and by sorting the records to present a user-specified
order.
|
Stream
|
A group of materials, media,
or wastes having similar origins or management requirements
(same disposition path). Also referred to as a waste stream,
media stream, or spent nuclear fuel stream.
|
Strontium (Sr)
|
An
element chemically similar to calcium. Isotope strontium-90
has a half-life of 28 years, and is one of the most common
fission products.
|
Summary Report
|
"Pre-generated" outputs available
in Portable Document Format (PDF), that aggregate detailed
data to provide site- and complex-wide information about
DOE waste management activities.
|
Thorium (Th)
|
A naturally occurring radioactive
element.
|
Total Curies
|
The CID presents curie data as total curies. A curie measures
the radioactivity of a stream, measured directly or estimated
based on isotopes present and isotope concentration. For
additional information, please refer to the definition for
Curie.
|
Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Databases
|
Data source for the CID that provides information on releases
of materials classified as toxic chemicals by the EPA.
|
Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Reporting
|
Required annual reporting of toxic chemicals as defined
by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Section
313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-know
Act (EPCRA) (also referred to as the Toxic Release Inventory
(TRI)). Facilities that meet the EPCRA/TRI reporting criteria
are required to report on releases of toxic chemicals into
the air, water, and land, as well as off-site transfers
of waste for treatment, energy recovery, recycling, or disposal
at a separate facility. The current TRI list contains more
than 500 individually listed chemicals and 28 chemical categories
(including two delimited categories containing 39 chemicals).
|
Toxic Substances Control Act
(TSCA) (Public Law 94-469)
|
A Federal law, enacted in
1976 to protect human health and the environment from unreasonable
risk caused by exposure to or the manufacturing, distribution,
use, or disposal of substances containing toxic chemicals.
PCBs are regulated under TSCA.
|
Transuranic Waste (TRU)
|
Transuranic Waste (TRU) is radioactive waste containing
more than 100 nanocuries of alpha-emitting transuranic isotopes
per gram of waste, with half-lives greater than 20 years.
The term transuranic means those elements with an atomic
number greater than that of uranium (i.e., atomic number
> 92). (DOE Order 435. 1)
|
Treatment
|
Any method, technique, or process designed to change the
physical or chemical character of waste to render it less
hazardous; safer to transport, store, or dispose; or reduce
its volume.
|
Treatment/Storage/Disposal (TSD) System
|
A discrete treatment or disposal capability for a waste/media/spent
nuclear fuel stream. A TSD system could be a physical structure,
such as a disposal cell or "non-physical," such as a specialized
treatment process.
|
TRI Database
|
See Toxic Release Inventory
Databases.
|
Tritium (T)
|
The heaviest isotope of the element hydrogen. Tritium is
produced in nuclear reactors and is three times heavier
than ordinary hydrogen. Tritium gas is used to boost the
explosive power of most modern nuclear weapons. Tritium
has a half-life of approximately 12 years.
|
Uranium
|
The basic material for nuclear technology. This element is naturally
slightly radioactive and can be refined to a heavy metal
more dense than lead.
|
Uranium-233
|
A man-made fissile isotope of uranium.
|
Uranium-235
|
The lighter of the two isotopes of uranium; it is the only naturally
occurring fissile element. Uranium-235 makes up 0.7% of
the uranium that is mined from the ground. It has a half-life
of 704 million years.
|
Uranium-238
|
The heavier of the two main isotopes of uranium. Uranium-238
makes up over 99% of uranium that is mined from the ground.
It has a half-life of 4.5 billion years and is not easily
split by neutrons.
|
Uranium Mill Tailings
|
Earthen residues that remain after the extraction of uranium from
ores. Tailings may also contain other minerals or metals
not extracted in the process.
|
Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation
Control Act (UMTRCA) of 1978 (Public Law 95-604)
|
The act that directed the Department of Energy to provide for
stabilization and control of the uranium mill tailings from
inactive sites is a safe and environmentally sound manner
to minimize radiation health hazards to the public. It authorized
the Department to undertake remedial actions at 24 designated
inactive uranium-processing sites and at an estimated 5,000
vicinity properties.
|
Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial
Action (UMTRA) Project
|
A program to reduce the hazards posed to the public by uranium
mill tailings. The program was created by the Department
of Energy in response to UMTRCA, which was enacted in 1978.
The DOE's Office of Environmental Management is responsible
for implementing the UMTRA Project.
|
Vitrification
|
A process that stabilizes nuclear waste by mixing it with
molten glass. The glass mixture is poured into cylindrical
metal canisters, where it hardens. Vitrification is a method
used to prepare waste, mainly high-level waste, for disposal.
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Waste Generation Report Database
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see Pollution Prevention Database.
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Waste Type
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Standard DOE classification of the waste/media/spent nuclear
fuel stream. Valid waste types include high-level waste,
high-level waste-vitrified, low-level waste, mixed low-level
waste, transuranic waste, buried transuranic waste, and
other (other includes 11e2 byproduct as defined as the waste
produced by the extraction or concentration of uranium or
thorium from any ore processed primarily for its source
material (i.e., uranium or thorium) content.
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Waste Information Management System (WIMS)
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A public system developed by Florida International University for
DOE that receives, organizes, and displays DOE waste forecast data.
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