Code of Massachusetts Regulations
310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Title 310 CMR 43.00 - Site Selection Criteria For Low-level Radioactive Waste Management Facilities
Section 43.02 - Definitions
Current through Register 1531, September 27, 2024
The following words and phrases when used herein shall have the following meaning:
Adverse Effect means an injurious impact which is reasonably significant in relation to the public health, safety, or environmental interest being protected.
Aquifer means a geologic formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that is capable of yielding significant quantities of ground water to wells or springs.
Board means the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Board established in M.G.L. c. 111H,§ 2.
Buffer Zone means a parcel of land which is an integral part of a facility that is controlled by the facility licensee and acts as a surrounding boundary to the facility.
C hie f Municipal Official means the city manager in any city having a city manager , the may or in any other city, the town manager in any town having a town manager or the chairperson of the Board of Selectmen in any other town.
Coastal High Hazard Zone means coastal zones identified by the Office of Coastal Zone Management which are subject to any inundation caused by coastal storms up to and including that caused by the 100 year storm, surge of record or storm of record which ever is greater including coastal beaches, coastal dunes, barrier beaches, coastal banks and rocky intertidal shores as those terms are defined in 310 CMR 10.27 through 10.31.
Community means a city or town of the Commonwealth.
Community Water System means a public water system which serves at least 15 service connections used by year round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year round residents.
Department means the Department of Environmental Protection.
Detailed Site Characterization means the on-site investigatory and analytical step of site selection established in M.G.L. c. 111H,§ 23 and conducted prior to the selection of any superior site.
DPH Performance Objectives means the performance objectives contained in regulations promulgated by the Department of Public Health at 105 CMR 120.811 through 120.814.
Dissolution means a space or cavity in or between rocks, formed by the solution of part of the rock material.
Disposal means the isolation of low-level radioactive waste from the biosphere inhabited by human beings and their food chain.
Downgradient means in a direction exactly opposite to upgradient (q.v.).
DPH means the Department of Public Health.
Economically Recoverable Resources means oil, gas, fossil fuels, sulphur, metals, ores, minerals, rock, soil, sand and gravel which because of their high quality, economic superiority or quantity are being exploited or are likely to be exploited in the reasonably foreseeable future.
Engineered Barrier means a man-made structure or device that is intended to improve a facility's ability to meet DPH performance objectives.
Environmental Monitoring Program means a monitoring programe stablished by DPH, after consultation with the Department and the board of health of each site community, pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111H,§ 36 for the purpose of collecting and analyzing environmental data prior to construction and throughout the construction, operation, closure, post-closure observation and maintenance and institutional control o f a facility.
Facility means a parcel of land, together with the structures, equipment and improvements thereon or appurtenant thereto, which pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111H, is being developed, is used, or has been used for the treatment, storage or disposal of low-level radioactive waste; but does not include any property used for temporary storage of low-level radioactive waste in sealed containers by a broker.
Fault means a fracture or a zone of fractures in any material along which strata on one side have been displaced with respect to that on the other side.
500 Year Floodplain means the estimated maximum lateral extent of flood water rising from creeks, rivers, streams, ponds, or lakes as result of a flood discharge of a magnitude likely to occur on the average of once every 500 years or, more properly, has a 0.2% chance of being exceeded in any year.
Flammable Liquid means a liquid whose flash point is less than 100°F.
Geographic Information System [GIS] means a computer based information handling program maintained by the Commonwealth that can store and manipulate both map-based information and associated tabular data such as zip codes or population density.
Ground Water means all the water below the land surface in soils or geologic formations, specifically that part of the subsurface water in the saturated zone except as otherwise defined by 310 CMR 22.00.
Hazardous Waste means a waste or combination of wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, safety, public welfare or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, used or disposed of or otherwise managed, however not to include solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1967 as amended, or source, special nuclear or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as further described in 310 CMR 30.000.
Holocene means the most recent epoch of the Quaternary period extending from the end of the Pleistocene Epoch to the present.
Horizontal Gradient means the change in static head per unit of distance along a flow path.
Hydraulic Conductivity means a characteristic property of a porous medium that measures the ability of water to move through it under a difference in hydraulic potential or head. If a porous medium is isotropic and the fluid is homogeneous, the hydraulic conductivity of the medium is the volume of water at the existing cinematic viscosity that will move in unit time under a unit hydraulic gradient through a unit area measured at right angles to the direction of flow.
Hydrogeologic unit means any soil or rock unit or zone which, by virtue of its porosity and permeability, or lack thereof, has a distinct influence on the storage or movement of groundwater.
Important to the Safety means those engineered structures, systems and components essential to the isolation of waste and prevention of a release of radioactivity which would result in an exposure in excess of DPH performance objectives.
Institutional Control means the continued observation, monitoring and c a re of a facility following transfer of the facility license from the operator to the Board.
Interim Wellhead Protection Area (IWPA) means:
(a) with respect to public water supplies and well fields whose pumping rate is 100,000 gallons per day or greater and for which the Department has not approved a hydrologically delineated Zone II, the 1/2 mile radius surrounding such well or well field; and
(b) with respect to public water supplies and well fields whose pumping rate is less than 100,000 gallons per day and for which the Department has not approved an hydrologically delineated Zone I I , the radius calculated by multiplying the maximum pumping rate in gallons per minute for such well and well field by 32 and adding 400 feet thereto (i.e. IWPA = (32) X (y) + (400); where y = pumping rate in gallons per minute .
Liquefaction means the potential of certain soils to be transformed from a solid to liquid state as a result of increased pore pressure and reduced effective stress, such as might result from certain seismic loading conditions.
Lithified Earth Material meansallrock, including all naturally occurring and naturally formed aggregates or masses of minerals or small particles of older rock formed by crystallization of magma or by induration of loose sediments. This term does not include man-made materials, such as fill, concrete, and asphalt, or unconsolidated earth materials, soil or regolith lying at or near the earth surface.
Low-Level Radioactive Waste means radioactive material that:
Management means the storage, packaging, treatment, transportation or disposal, where applicable of low-level radioactive waste.
Mass Wasting means the movement of rock or soil material under the influence of gravity either as the movement of the product of weathering down a slope or as mass movement of rock or soil along joint planes or bedding planes. Mass wasting includes but is not limited to creep, mud flows, earth flow, soil flow, rock avalanche, landslide, landslip and slumping.
Maximum Horizontal Acceleration in Lithified Earth Material means the maximum expected horizontal acceleration depicted on a seismic hazard map, with a 90% or greater probability that the acceleration will not be exceeded in 250 years, or the maximum expected horizontal acceleration based on a site-specific seismic risk assessment.
Mixed Waste means low-level radioactive waste containing material that either:
Model means a conceptual description and the associated mathematical, graphical and/or analogous representation of a system, subsystem, component or condition that is used to predict changes from a baseline state as a function of internal and/or external stimuli and as a function of time and space.
Monitoring means observing and making measurements to provide data on a facility, its site, its surrounding environment, and its health, safety and environmental impacts.
Outstanding Resource Waters means waters in the Commonwealth given a protected status due to their ecological, socioeconomic, recreational and/or aesthetic value pursuant to 314 CMR 4.04(3).
Non-Community Water System means a public water system that is not a community system.
100 Year Floodplain means the estimated maximum lateral extent of flood water rising from creeks, rivers, streams, ponds, or lakes as the result of a flood discharge of a magnitude likely to occur on the average of once every 100 years or, more properly, has a 1% chance of being exceeded in any year.
Overburden means all material that lies between the ground surface and bedrock.
Performance Assessment means a comprehensive analysis that:
Population Density means the number of people residing in one square mile, as averaged over an area designated by the U.S. Bureau of Census.
Possible Location means a location, identified in accordance with the procedures established in M. G.L. c. 111H,§ 20, which will be the subject of a preliminary characterization.
Potential Non-Community Water System means a Class I aquifer, as defined in 314 CMR 6.03(1), capable of yielding water of sufficient quality and quantity for a non-community water system and which is located under a parcel of land that at the time of the issuance of the statewide mapping and screening report pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111H,§ 20(a) is:
Potential Private Ground Water Source means a Class I aquifer, as defined in 314 CMR 6.03(1), capable of yielding water of sufficient quality and quantity for a drinking water supply and which is located under a parcel of land that at the time of the issuance of the statewide mapping and screening report pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111H,§ 20(a) is:
Potential Productive Aquifer means all aquifers delineated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as a high or medium yield aquifer, and all aquifers located east of the Cape Cod Canal (Cape Cod), on Martha's Vineyard, on Nantucket and on the Elizabeth Islands.
Preliminary Characterization means the investigatory and analytical step established in M.G.L. c. 111H,§ 20, and conducted prior to the identification of candidate sites.
Protected Area means land or resources which have been restricted from siting a facility pursuant to state or federal laws or regulations in order to promote, protect or preserve its ecological, wilderness, historic, recreational, archeological, cultural or scenic value including, without limitation, the state and federal are as listed at Appendix A, provided that the designation of land as a protected area herein is not intended to expand, diminish or otherwise modify the scope of protection provided by said statutes or regulations in relation to the exercise of authority to acquire land or interests therein pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111H,§ 23(g). Protected areas do not include lands or resources restricted from development pursuant to municipal by-laws, ordinances or regulations.
Public Water Supply means a source of ground water or surface water supplying a public water system.
Public Water System means a system for the provision to the public of piped water for human consumption if such system has at least 15 service connections or regularly serves an average of a least 25 individuals daily for at least 60 days of the year.
Qualified for Development means a potential productive aquifer which the Department determines is capable of being developed into a public water system based upon the following demonstrations:
Radioactive Material means any solid, liquid or gas which emits radiation spontaneously.
Radioactivity means the transformation of unstable atomic nuclei by the emission of radiation.
Radionuclide means an isotope that eventually undergoes spontaneous disintegration, with the emission of radiation.
Saturated Zone means any portion of the earth below the land surface where every available opening (pore, fissure, joint, or solution cavity) is filled with water under pressure equal to or greater than atmosphere, except as otherwise defined by 310 CMR 22.00.
Seismic Impact Zone means an area with a 10% or greater probability that the maximum horizontal acceleration in lithified earth material, expressed as a percentage of the earth's gravitational pull, will exceed 0.10g within 250 years or such extended time period in which projections can be made within reasonably conservative confidence limits.
Sensitive Populations means persons who because of their age, health status or physical characteristics have a significantly higher probability of suffering an adverse effect to health than a member of the general public if exposed to a release of radioactivity or associated toxic materials managed at the facility. Examples of such sensitive populations may include, but are not limited to, children, infirm persons, pregnant women and persons who have experienced acute or chronic exposures to higher than normal doses of radioactivity due to occupational or geographic circumstances.
Sensitive Population Locations means structures or areas which are principally designated or designed to serve sensitive populations or which are predominantly used by sensitive populations for extended periods of time. Examples of such places may include: day care facilities, grammar and secondary schools, playgrounds, bedded hospitals or radiation or prenatal clinics.
Shallow Land Burial means a land disposal method that relies on the site's natural characteristics as the primary barrier for isolation of the waste.
Significantly Higher Than Normal Risk means a significantly greater degree of risk of an adverse effect to health than the degree of risk which the general population would be exposed to in the event of a release of radioactive or hazardous waste managed at the facility.
Site means a parcel of land which, pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111H, is being considered, developed or used or has been used as a location for a facility.
Slumping means landsliding characterized by movement of a generally independent mass of rock or earth along a slip surface and about an axis parallel to the slope rim which it descends and by backward tilting of the mass with respect to that slope so that the slump surface often exhibits a reversed slope facing up hill.
Sole Source Aquifer means an aquifer so designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or by the Department under the authority of a state program as may be established, that supplies 50% or more of the drinking water for the aquifer service area, and the volume of water which could be supplied by alternative sources is insufficient to replace said aquifer should it become contaminated.
Storage means the holding of low-level radioactive waste for treatment or disposal.
Subsidence means the process by which the earth's surface sinks, either rapidly or slowly, with little or no horizontal motion.
Subsurface Dissolution means a process of chemical weathering by which minerals and rocks are dissolved in groundwater; evidenced by subsidence, widened fractures, sinkholes, caverns and/or underground streams.
Suitable Technology means a management technology which is qualified by the Board pursuant to regulations promulgated pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111H,§ 12 as being suitable to manage low level radioactive waste within the Commonwealth.
Superior site means any site selected by the Board, after detailed site characterization, pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111H,§ 23.
Transient population means people who do not reside within an area, but do pass through or spend a limited amount of time within an area, including, but not limited to, tourists, seasonal workers or sportsmen.
Tributary means a body of running water, including a river, stream, brook and creek, which moves in a definite channel in the ground due to a hydraulic gradient and which flows ultimately into a free flowing surface water supply. A tributary shall include the land over which the water runs and the banks thereto.
Upgradient means:
Upland Drainage Area means areas ordrainage basins that could discharge surface runoff to or through portions of the site, either by overland flow or by means of streams, rivers, and well defined drainage courses.
Urban Area means an area designated as such by the U.S. Census in accordance with its detailed published criteria.
Waste means low-level radioactive waste unless otherwise specifically designated herein.
Waste Management Area means that portion of a facility where low-levelradioactive wastes has been, is being, or will be treated, stored or disposed of.
Watershed means a region or area measured in a horizontal topographic divide which directs surface runoff from precipitation, normally by gravity, into a stream or a body of impounded surface water, except as otherwise defined by 310 CMR 22.00.
Water Table means that surface in an unconfined water body at which the pressure is atmospheric. It is defined by the levels at which water stands in wells that penetrate the water body just far enough to hold standing water. In wells which penetrate to greater depths, the water level will stand above or below the watertable if an upward or downward component of groundwater flow exists. For purposes of 310 CMR 43.00, unless otherwise stated, the elevation of the water table shall be taken to refer to its seasonal high level, which generally occurs in late winter or early spring.
Zone I means the protective radius required around a public supply well or well field.
Zone II means that area of an aquifer which contributes water to a well under the most severe recharge and pumping conditions that can be realistically anticipated (i.e., pumping at the approved safe yield of the well for 180 days without any natural recharge occurring); it is bounded by the groundwater divides which result from pumping the well and by contact of the edge of the aquifer with less permeable materials such as till and bedrock. In some locations, streams and lakes may form recharge boundaries. The Zone II shall extend up gradient to its point of intersection with prevailing hydrogeologic boundaries ( a ground water flow divide, a contact with till or bedrock or a recharge boundary.) For the purposes of 310 CMR 43.00, a Zone II area is one which has been defined and delineated in accordance with the Department's Division of Water Supply Guidelines and Policies for Public Water Systems, November 1993 Addendum to the October 1991 edition or the most recent version thereof.
Zone III means that land area beyond the area of a Zone II from which surface water and groundwater drain into a Zone II. The surface drainage area as determined by the topography is commonly coincident with the groundwater drainage area and will be used to delineate the Zone III. In some locations, where surface and groundwater drainage are not coincident, the Zone III shall consist of both the surface drainage and the groundwater drainage area.
Zone of Contribution means the land area which provides recharge to the well.
