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Does the radiotoxicity level of the waste affect the ease of approval for burial? E.g.: Compare 300- year vs 100,000-year lifetime.
Radiotoxicity does have an effect on the regulatory process for disposal in geologic repositories. For example, transuranic waste is treated differently and has different regulatory requirements compared to spent nuclear fuel or low-level radioactive waste. Deep Isolation repositories are designed primarily to dispose of high-level waste forms such as spent nuclear fuel and defense high-level waste, and will be subject to appropriate regulatory standards for those types of waste. Currently, there are no regulations specific to borehole disposal in the United States, and in the absence of these, Deep Isolation is using existing standards for mined repositories as a regulatory base.