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.
6. High-Integrity Container: refers to the low level waste container which
can maintain its structural integrity and prevent the radionuclide release in
at least three hundred years.
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.
Not suitable for solidifying or disqualified solidified Class A waste shall be
packed in the competent authority approved container which design life can
maintain its structural integrity in at least one hundred years or emplaced in
the repository’s engineering barriers which has the same function of integrity
or disposed by the competent authority approved method for disposal.
Not suitable for solidifying or disqualified solidified Class B and C waste shall
be packed in the competent authority approved high-integrity container or
disposed by the competent authority approved method for disposal.
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 or
high-temperature melting 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 provisions of
Subparagraph 1 shall be observed.
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 A site of low level waste disposal facility must not be located in
any of the following areas:
1. Area where active faulting or geological conditions could endanger the
safety of the disposal facility.
2. Area where the geochemical conditions are unfavorable for effectively
suppressing the diffusion of radioactive nuclides, and it is likely to endanger
the safety of the disposal facility.
3. Area where the hydrologic conditions of surface water or groundwater
are likely to endanger the safety of the disposal facility.
4. Area of high population density.
5. Areas that cannot be developed according to the law.
Article 8 The design of low level disposal facilities shall ensure the annual
effective 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.
Chapter 4 Safety Requirements on Disposal Operation of Low level
Waste
Article 12-1 Operation of low level disposal facilities shall meet the
provisions of its safety analyses report and radiation protection.
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 of its stability for not less than
five years and controlled by the competent authority approved institutional
controls program.
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 shall re-evaluate the disposal facilities once
every ten years, and submit an evaluation report including the following
contents to the competent authority for review and approval:
1. General description.
2. Examination and evaluation of the facility structures.
3. Examination and evaluation of the auxiliary equipment.
4. Evaluation of receive, treatment, storage and disposal operations.
5. Evaluation of the storage and disposal status of the waste.
6. Lesson learnt of the abnormal events
7. Evaluation of the impacts of radiation.
8. Closure and institutional controls plan.
9. Other matters designated by the competent authority.
Article 18 These Regulations will take effect as of the date of
promulgation.