Progress on the low level radioactive waste disposal facility projects in North Carolina and Illinois

December, 1993 marked two critical milestones for North Carolina`s low-level radioactive waste disposal facility project -- the selection of a preferred site and the submission of a complete license application for the facility by Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc. the state`s prime contractor. These achievements have moved the project significantly closer to having a disposal facility operational by January, 1996 to serve the eight-member states of the Southeast Compact. This paper discusses the 1993 North Carolina Project achievements and their implications on future project activities. After five years of screening the state of North Carolina, including two years of detailed characterization studies of two potentially suitable sites, the completion of the preliminary designs and completion of a draft license application for each of the candidate sites, the North Carolina Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority, on December 8, 1993, selected a site in southern Wake County to host a radioactive waste disposal facility to serve the Southeast Compact. Five days later, on December 13, 1993, Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc. submitted a license application for the facility to the North Carolina Division of Radiation Protection. That application has been certified complete and the Division and Chem-Nuclear are well into the license application review process. Decembermore » 1993 was also significant for the Illinois low-level waste process. The Governor of Illinois named the members of the Central Midwest Compact`s low-Level Radioactive Waste Task Group. This step starts an extensive scientific and public process that will ensure a location for a disposal facility site is chosen based on applicable technical criteria.« less