Low-level waste (LLW) is any radioactive waste that is not classified as high-level waste, spent nuclear fuel, transuranic waste (containing manmade elements heavier than uranium that emit alpha radiation -- transuranic waste is produced during reactor fuel assembly, weapons fabrication, and chemical processing operations), or uranium or thorium mill tailings.
LLW often contains small amounts of radioactivity dispersed in large amounts of material, but may also have activity levels requiring shielding and remote handling. It is generated by reactor fuel production, reactor operations, isotope production, medical procedures, and research and development activities.
LLW usually comprises the following material contaminated with radionuclides: rags, papers, filters, solidified liquids, ion-exchange resins, tools, equipment, discarded protective clothing, dirt, construction rubble, concrete, or piping.
LLW usually, but not necessarily, includes waste with relatively low concentrations of radionuclides. Although the classification of waste can be complex, "Class A waste" generally contains lower concentrations of longer half-life radioactive material than "Class B and C wastes".
Greater than Class C waste are not considered low-level radioactive waste and must be handled and disposed of differently from Class A, B and C wastes.

Low-level waste is commonly disposed of by burial in near-surface shallow trenches.
After they are filled with containers, the trenches are usually covered with a low-permeability cover (such as clay). They are then often covered with a gravel drainage layer and a layer of topsoil.
Vegetation is planted on top for erosion control. There is no intent to recover the wastes once they are disposed of.
The volume of waste that is being disposed of each year is decreasing as the result of industry efforts to compact or incinerate part of the waste.

A reactor vessel can not be disposed of at a LLW site unless it meets waste classification requirements specified in the regulations and any site-specific requirements specified in the disposal facility's license.
In most cases where disposal of the reactor vessel has occurred, the reactor vessel internals have been removed before any parts of the reactor vessel were shipped to an LLW disposal site.
Licensees are required to demonstrate that the shipment meets the regulations for package integrity and that the package meets the acceptance criteria for the LLW disposal site, such as criteria for radionuclide concentration and waste form.

Liquid wastes are processed onsite. The liquid portion is separated from the solid portion. The solid portion is disposed of in the low-level waste site, as long as it meets the criteria for low-level waste.
The concentration of radioactive material in the liquid portion is measured, and if the concentration is below the limits in use for release of effluents, the liquid portion may be released offsite (for instance, to sewers or a nearby body of water).
Otherwise, the liquid portion is solidified (by mixing with concrete or similar solidifying or absorbing material) and disposed of as solid low-level waste.

The information is at this moment not "adaptable" to our cases.

Only some questions / answers of the original section are of application.

Licensees must submit an application for license termination at least 2 years (depends on the country, see section "Regulations") before the requested termination date of the license.
The license-termination plan must include :

•   a site characterization
•   identification of remaining dismantling activities
•   plans for site remediation
•   detailed plans for the final survey of residual contamination on the site
•   a method for demonstrating compliance with the radiological criteria for license termination.
  For restricted release, the license-termination plan should include a description of the site's end use and documentation on public consultation, institutional controls, and financial assurance needed to comply with the requirements for license termination for restricted release or alternative criteria.
•   an updated site-specific estimate of remaining decommissioning costs
•   a supplement to the environmental report that describes any new information or significant environmental changes associated with the licensee's proposed termination activities.

The initial decommissioning activities (decontamination and dismantling) are not significantly different from routine operational activities such as replacement or refurbishment.
Because of the framework of regulatory provisions that are in place in the licensing basis for each facility, these activities do not present significant safety issues for which a detailed plan such as the license-termination plan is warranted.
Therefore, it is appropriate that the licensee be permitted to conduct these activities without the need for a license amendment. At the license-termination stage (towards the end of the decommissioning process), the Commission must consider :
(1) the licensee's plan for assuring that adequate funds will be available for final site release,
(2) the radiation-release criteria for license termination, and
(3) the adequacy of the plans for the final survey that is required to verify that the release criteria have been met.

During operation, the plant is required to keep records of radiological surveillances that document where contaminations occur and locations of activation products and other sources of radiological materials.
This is the basis for a plant's initial assessment of the location of radioactive material and contamination.
Radiological surveys continue during all phases of decommissioning, and the records of these surveys are also kept. This information is used as part of the basis for the site-characterization plan; however, additional measurements are made at the site-characterization stage.
The characterization plan must be designed to demonstrate compliance with appropriate dose or risk-based regulations.

The purpose of the site characterization is to ensure that the final radiation surveys are conducted to cover all areas where contamination existed, remains, or has the potential to exist or remain as well as to provide data for planning further decommissioning activities.
The site characterization contains a description of
(1) the radiological contamination on the site before any cleanup activities associated with decommissioning took place,
(2) a historical description of site operations, spills, and accidents,
(3) a map of remaining contamination levels and contamination locations, and
(4) a description of the survey instruments and supporting quality assurance practices used in the site-characterization programme.

There are two broad categories of uses for the facility after the license termination.
The first is "unrestricted use", and the second is "restricted use". These will be discussed separately.

Unrestricted use means that there are no restrictions on how the site may be used.
The licensee is free to continue to dismantle any remaining buildings or structures and to use the land or sell the land for any type of application.

Restricted use means that the licensee has demonstrated that further reductions in residual radioactivity would result in net public or environmental harm, or residual levels are as low as is reasonably achievable.
The licensee must have made provisions for legally enforceable institutional controls (for example, restrictions placed in the deed for the property describing what the land can and cannot be used for), which provide reasonable assurance that the radiological criteria set by the regulator will not be exceeded.
In addition, the licensee must have provided sufficient financial assurance to an amenable independent "third party" to assume and carry out responsibilities for any necessary control and maintenance of the site.
There are also regulations relating to the documentation of how the advice of individuals and institutions in the community who may be affected by the decommissioning has been sought and incorporated in the license-termination plan related to decommissioning by restricted use.

Although power reactor licensees can choose either a restricted or unrestricted option for release, the restricted option is primarily for materials licensees and would not normally be selected by reactor licensees because of the low levels of site contamination.

There can be situations in which restricting site use can provide protection of public health and safety by reducing the total effective dose equivalent in a more reasonable and cost-effective manner than unrestricted site use.
This protection is afforded by limiting access to the site, limiting the amount of time that an individual spends onsite, or by restricting agricultural or drinking water use.
For many facilities, the time period requiring this type of restriction can be fairly short, and need only be long enough to allow radioactive decay to reduce radioactivity to levels that permit the site to be released for unrestricted use.

The term "residual radioactivity" means radioactivity in structures, materials, soils, groundwater, and other media at a site resulting from activities under the licensee's control.
This includes radioactivity from all licensed and unlicensed sources used by the licensee, but excludes background (natural) radiation. It also includes radioactive materials remaining at the site as a result of routine or accidental releases of radioactive material at the site and previous disposals at the site.
Criteria for the termination of the license are based on the residual radioactivity levels remaining at the site at the end of decommissioning.

The "total effective dose equivalent" is a term that is used to express how the radiation dose is calculated to an individual.
It means that the dose from radioactive material outside of the individual (external radiation) and the dose from any radioactive material that the individual may have inhaled or ingested (internal radiation) have been considered.
For the latter case, the internal radiation dose is considered for a period of 50 years following the intake of the radioactive material.
In addition, weighting factors are used that are specific to the body organs or tissues that are irradiated. These weighting factors are used to account for the variation in sensitivity of different organs or tissues to radiation.

This dose can be compared with the background dose which differs from country to country.
"Background radiation" means radiation from cosmic sources, naturally occurring radioactive material, including radon, and global fallout as it exists in the environment from the testing of nuclear explosive devices or from earlier nuclear accidents, such as Chernobyl, that contributes to background radiation and is not under the control of the licensee.
"Distinguishable from background" means that the detectable concentration of a radionuclide is statistically different from the background concentration of that radionuclide in the vicinity of the site.

It is unlikely that radioactive material located inside a piece of equipment or a structure is not detected during the final radiation survey.
The structures, systems, and components that have radioactive contamination exceeding "legal limits" will be decontaminated or dismantled and shipped to a low-level-waste disposal site.
The licensee must keep records of information during the operating phase of the facility that could be used to identify where spills or other occurrences involving the spread of contamination in and around the facility, equipment, or site have been located.

No. For sites that have been determined to be acceptable for unrestricted use, there are no requirements for further measurement of radiation levels.
It is not expected that these radiation levels would change -- other than to be reduced over time -- because the radioactive material will have been removed from the site, and there would be no mechanism for further contamination or radiological releases.

Once the license has been terminated and the site released for unrestricted use, there are no restrictions on the type of use.
Possible uses could range from restoring the natural habitat, to farming, to continued use as an industrial site (possibly leaving buildings and installing a gas-, coal-, or oil-powered generating plant).

Requests by licensees to initiate alternative uses of the site or site partial release before the decommissioning process is completed, would be reviewed by the Commission on a case-by-case basis.