Environmental impacts of options for disposal of depleted uranium tetrafluoride (UF{sub 4}).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) evaluated options for managing its depleted uranium hexafluoride (UF{sub 6}) inventory in the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Long-Term Management and Use of Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (PEIS) of April 1999. Along with the impacts from other management options, the PEIS discussed the environmental impacts from the disposal of depleted uranium oxide, which could result from the chemical conversion of depleted UF{sub 6}. It has been suggested that the depleted UF{sub 6} could also be converted to uranium tetrafluoride (UF{sub 4}) and disposed of. This report considers the potential environmental impacts from the disposal of DOE's depleted UF{sub 6} inventory after its conversion to UF{sub 4}. The impacts were evaluated for the same three disposal facility options that were considered in the PEIS for uranium oxide: shallow earthen structures, belowground vaults, and mines. They were evaluated for a dry environmental setting representative of the western United States. To facilitate comparisons and future decision making, the depleted UF{sub 4} disposal analyses performed and the results presented in this report are at the same level of detail as that in the PEIS