§ 960.4-2-8-1 — Natural resources.

10 CFR § 960.4-2-8-1

• Title: Title 10: Energy
• Part: Part 960: General Guidelines for the Preliminary Screening of Potential Sites for a Nuclear Waste Repository
• Source: eCFR (current through Apr 8, 2026)

Text

§ 960.4-2-8-1 Natural resources.

(a) Qualifying condition. This site shall be located such that—considering permanent markers and records and reasonable projections of value, scarcity, and technology—the natural resources, including ground water suitable for crop irrigation or human consumption without treatment, present at or near the site will not be likely to give rise to interference activities that would lead to radionuclide releases greater than those allowable under the requirements specified in § 960.4-1.

(b) Favorable conditions. (1) No known natural resources that have or are projected to have in the foreseeable future a value great enough to be considered a commercially extractable resource.

(2) Ground water with 10,000 parts per million or more of total dissolved solids along any path of likely radionuclide travel from the host rock to the accessible environment.

(c) Potentially adverse conditions. (1) Indications that the site contains naturally occurring materials, whether or not actually identified in such form that (i) economic extraction is potentially feasible during the foreseeable future or (ii) such materials have a greater gross value, net value, or commercial potential than the average for other areas of similar size that are representative of, and located in, the geologic setting.

(2) Evidence of subsurface mining or extraction for resources within the site if it could affect waste containment or isolation.

(3) Evidence of drilling within the site for any purpose other than repository-site evaluation to a depth sufficient to affect waste containment and isolation.

(4) Evidence of a significant concentration of any naturally occurring material that is not widely available from other sources.

(5) Potential for foreseeable human activities—such as ground-water withdrawal, extensive irrigation, subsurface injection of fluids, underground pumped storage, military activities, or the construction of large-scale surface-water impoundments—that could adversely change portions of the ground-water flow system important to waste isolation.

(d) Disqualifying conditions. A site shall be disqualified if—

(1) Previous exploration, mining, or extraction activities for resources of commercial importance at the site have created significant pathways between the projected underground facility and the accessible environment; or

(2) Ongoing or likely future activities to recover presently valuable natural mineral resources outside the controlled area would be expected to lead to an inadvertent loss of waste isolation.