Regulations on Final Disposal of Low Level Waste
and Safety Management of the Facilities


Enforced by Letter Hui-Wu-Tzu No.0920023657
September 10, 2003
Chapter 1 General Principles
Article 1 These Regulations are enacted pursuant to Article 21 of the Nuclear
Materials and Radioactive Waste Management Act.
Article 2 The terms used in these Regulations are defined as follows:
1. Solidifying & Packing: refers to transforming the waste into
stable solidified waste and encapsulating them into the
containers, so as to making the operation of waste packages
suitable for loading, unloading, transportation, storage, and
disposal.
2. Leaching index: refers to the index of radioactive nuclides’
leaching from the solidified waste. Apply the leaching
experiment to the solidified waste for ten consecutive times,
work out the effective diffusion coefficient of a single nuclide
from the experiment data, and work out the common logarithm
of the reciprocal of the coefficient to get the mean value of the
ten experiments.
3. Final disposal facilities of low level waste (hereinafter
shortened as “low level disposal facilities”): refer to the lands,
buildings, structures, and equipments used to dispose the low
level waste.
4. Multiple barrier: refers to the combination of solidified waste,
containers, buffering and backfill materials, engineering
structures, and stratums as well as natural barriers used by the
radioactive waste disposal facilities of to delay the leaching,
leakage, and migration of the radioactive nuclides.
5. Disposal control area: refers to the surface and underground
space within the range of the disposal facilities of radioactive
waste. Permanent monuments or markers shall be set to indicate
the borderlines of the disposal control area.
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Chapter 2 Requirements on Final Disposal of Low level Waste
Article 3 According to the concentration of the radioactive nuclides, low
level waste is classified as follows:
1. Class A waste: refers to the low level waste the concentration of
nuclides of which is not higher than 1/10 of the concentration
value in the Annexed Table 1 and not higher than the
concentration value in the column 1 of the Annexed Table 2, or
the nuclides contained in which are not listed in Annexed Tables
1 and 2.
2. Class B waste: refers to the low level waste the concentration of
nuclides of which is higher than 1/10 of the value listed in the
column 1 and not higher than that listed in the column 2 of the
Annexed Table 2.
3. Class C waste: refers to the low level waste the concentration of
nuclides of which is higher than 1/10 and not higher than the
value in the Annexed Table 1, or higher than the value listed in
the column 2 but not higher than that listed in the column 3 of
the Annexed Table 2.
4. Greater than Class C waste: refers to the low level waste the
concentration of nuclides of which is higher than the value in the
Annexed Table 1, or higher than the value in the column 3 of the
Annexed Table 2.
Article 4 The final disposal of low level waste shall meet the following
provisions:
1. Class A waste shall meet the provisions of Article 5. Where Class
A waste is disposed together with Class B or C waste, the
relevant provisions for Class B or C waste shall be observed.
2. Solidifying & packing shall be performed for Class B waste, and
the waste shall meet the provisions of both Article 5 and Article
6. Where Class B waste is disposed together with Class C waste,
the relevant provisions for Class C waste shall be observed.
3. Solidifying & packing shall be performed for Class C waste, and
the waste shall meet the provisions of both Article 5 and Article
6. Additionally, the engineering design of the disposal area shall
be strengthened to ensure the safety of those inadvertent
intruders after institutional control period.
4. Grater than Class C waste may not be disposed in the low level
disposal facilities waste unless it is approved by the competent
authority.
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Article 5 The waste of the low level disposal facilities shall meet the
following provisions:
1. The volume of free standing water may not be more than 0.5% of
the total volume.
2. Explosion will never occur under normal temperature and
normal pressure.
3. Fire endurance shall be provided.
4. No toxic, corrosive or infectious substance is contained.
5. No harmful toxic gas, steam or fume is contained or will be
produced.
Article 6 The homogeneous solidifying waste shall meet the following
provisions:
1. The single-axis compression strength of cement-solidified waste
shall be more than 15kg/cm2; the compression strength of
bituminous waste shall be measured by penetration test, and the
value of penetration shall be less than 100.
2. The leaching index shall be greater than 6.
3. After the process of water resistance test, the cement-solidified
waste shall meet the provisions of Subparagraph 1.
4. After the process of weather resistance test, the provisions of
Subparagraph 1 shall be observed.
5. After the process of radiation resistance test, the provisions of
Subparagraphs 1 and 2 shall be observed.
6. After the process of bacteria-resistance test, the provisions of
Subparagraph 1 shall be observed.
The items, methods, and standards of the tests referred to in the
Subparagraphs 1, 3 of Article 5 and above Subparagraphs are shown
in the Annexed Table 3.
Chapter 3 Requirements on the Sites and Design of the Final
Disposal Facilities
Article 7 The sites of low level disposal facilities shall meet the following
provisions:
1. Area must be avoided in active faulting or other areas likely to
influence the safety of the disposal facilities.
2. Area must be avoided where the geochemical conditions are
四
unfavorable for effectively suppressing the diffusion of
radioactive nuclides, and it is likely to endanger the disposal
facilities.
3. Area must be avoided where the surface and underground
hydrographic conditions and geology are likely to endanger the
disposal facilities.
4. Area must be avoided in the ecological protection areas that are
already known or announced by the government.
5. Area must be avoided in the areas of known important natural
resources or announced by the government as national resources.
6. Area must be avoided in the historical protection areas that are
known or announced by the government.
7. Area must be avoided in the areas of high population density and
development potentials.
Article 8 The design of low level disposal facilities shall ensure the annual
effective equivalent dose caused to a general public outside the
facilities are not more than 0.25mSv, and confirm to the as low as
reasonably achievable principle.
Article 9 Multiple barriers shall be designed in the low level disposal
facilities, and the waste shall be disposed in different sections
according to their class.
Article 10 The design of the safety system and component of low level
disposal facilities shall meet the following provisions:
1. Inspection, maintenance, and test can be performed.
2. Protective measures can be taken for expectable natural disasters.
3. The function of emergency response shall be provided.
4. The function of mutual substitute or redundant shall be provided.
Article 11 Before the closure of low level disposal facilities, the drainage and
anti-infiltration design shall be able to prevent the waste from
contacting with the accumulated water or infiltrated water.
Article 12 The security and alarm design of low level disposal facilities shall
be able to prevent any individual inadvertently intruding into the
disposal site and occupying the site.
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Chapter 4 Safety Requirements on Disposal Operation of Low level
Waste
Article 13 Once closure of low level disposal facilities, consideration shall be
given to the land reuse after the active institutional controls are
removed.
Article 14 After the low level disposal facilities are sealed, the disposal control
area shall be observed and monitored for not less than five years.
Article 15 The design, manufacturing, installation, test, and maintenance
records of the important structures, system, and components of low
level disposal facilities shall be retained permanently for reference.
Chapter 5 Supplementary Provisions
Article 16 The operators of low level disposal facilities shall acquire the
ownership of or the rights to use the lands in the disposal control
areas before to construct the disposal facilities.
Article 17 The operators of low level disposal facilities shall renew the safety
analysis report once every five years during the operation period,
and submit the report to the competent authority for review and
approval.
Article 18 These Regulations will take effect as of the date of promulgation.
I
Annexed Table 1: Concentration Value of Single Long-lived Nuclides
Radionuclide Concentration
14C 0.30 TBq/m3
14C (in activated metal) 3.0 TBq/m3
59Ni (in activated metal) 8.1 TBq/m3
94Nb (in activated metal) 0.0074 TBq/m3
99Tc 0.11 TBq/m3
129I 0.0030 TBq/m3
TRU (Alpha emitting transuranic
nuclides with half-life greater than 5
years)
3.7 kBq/g
241Pu 130 kBq/g
242Cm 740kBq/g
II
Annexed Table 2: Concentration Values of Single Short-lived Nuclides
Radionuclide Concentration (TBq/m3)
Col. 1 Col. 2 Col. 3
Total of all nuclides with less than
5 year half-life 26 Note 1 Note 1
3H 1.5 Note 1 Note 1
60Co 26 Note 1 Note 1
63Ni 0.13 2.6 26
63Ni (in activated metal) 1.3 26 260
90Sr 0.0015 5.6 260
137Cs 0.037 1.6 170
Note 1: There are no limits established for these radionuclides in Class
B or C wastes. Practical considerations such as the effects of
external radiation and internal heat generation on transportation,
handling, and disposal will limit the concentrations for these
wastes. These wastes shall be Class B unless the concentrations
of other nuclides in Table 2 determine the waste to the Class C
independent of these nuclides.
Note 2: Classification of mixtures of radionuclides:
If there are mixtures of radionuclides in the low level waste, the
following inequation shall used to classify them.
1
1 ,0
≤ Σ=
n
i i
i
C
C
Where,
Ci: the concentration of the No.i nuclide.
Ci,0: the concentration of Class 0 of No.i nuclide (0=A,B,C).
n: the number of the nuclides contained.
If the above inequation is satisfied, then the waste can be classified into
Class 0 (0=A, B, C).