United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2000-06-30 monographic deposited born digital 68 p. GA 1.13:RCED-00-152 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-152 P0b002ee18038c570 f:rc00152 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-152 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-152 RCED-00-152 Nuclear waste management Interagency relations Health hazards Radiation exposure hazards Radioactive waste disposal Safety standards Cost analysis Public health research Environmental monitoring Safety regulation DOE Yucca Mountain Project (NV) Superfund Program Letter Report RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) radiation standards, focusing on: (1) whether the U.S. radiation protection standards have a well-verified scientific basis; (2) whether federal agencies have come closer to agreeing on standards since GAO reported on this issue in 1994; and (3) how implementing these standards may affect the costs of nuclear waste cleanup and disposal activities.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) U.S. regulatory standards to protect the public from the potential health risks of nuclear radiation lack a conclusively verified scientific basis, according to a consensus of recognized scientists; (2) scientists have assumed that even the smallest radiation exposure carries a risk; (3) this assumption extrapolates better-verified high-level radiation effect to lower, less well-verified levels and is the preferred theoretical basis for the U.S. radiation standards; (4) some say that the model is overly conservative and that below certain exposure levels, there is no risk of cancer from radiation; (5) others say that the model may underestimate the risk; (6) interest among scientists in obtaining a more conclusive understanding of the effects of low-level radiation has been evident in recent federally funded initiatives, including a reassessment by the National Academy of Sciences of the latest research evidence on the risks of low-level radiation; (7) also, a 10-year DOE research program, begun in fiscal year 1999, has been specifically addressing the effects of low-level radiation within human cells, in part to help verify or disprove the linear model; (8) although GAO recommended as far back as 1994 that EPA and NRC take the lead in pursuing an interagency consensus on acceptable radiation risks to the public, they continue to disagree on two major regulatory applications: (a) the proposed disposal of high-level nuclear waste in a repository at Yucca Mountain; and (b) the cleanup and decommissioning of nuclear facilities; (9) centrally at issue between the two agencies is groundwater protection; (10) EPA applies community drinking water limits for radioactive substances to groundwater at nuclear sites while NRC includes groundwater and other potential contamination sources under a less restrictive limit of 25 millirem a year for all means of exposure, an approach that conforms to internationally recommended radiation protection guidance; (11) as applied in proposed standards for nuclear waste disposal at Yucca Mountain, EPA's groundwater approach has been criticized as technically unsupported by the National Academy of Sciences, which Congress mandated to recommend standards for the repository; (12) the costs of implementing different radiation standards vary, depending on the standards' restrictiveness; and (13) comprehensive estimates of overall costs to comply with current and prospective standards were unavailable. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-152/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-152.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-152/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-152.pdf GAO/RCED-00-152 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-00-152 Letter Report GAO/RCED-00-152; Radiation Standards: Scientific Basis Inconclusive, and; Nuclear waste management Interagency relations Health hazards Radiation exposure hazards Radioactive waste disposal Safety standards Cost analysis Public health research Environmental monitoring Safety regulation DOE Yucca Mountain Project (NV) Superfund Program