Waste Disposal - STD-1128-98master0228

DOE-STD-1128-98

Guide of Good Practices for Occupational Radiological Protection in Plutonium Facilities

most common treatment will be compaction although some facilities have incinerators

available.

Depending on the treatment methods available, waste streams may be tailored to be

amenable to treatment. Some facilities are able to incinerate TRU waste. Facilities with this

capability may need to eliminate halogenated, nitrogenated, or sulfur-containing materials to

maximize incinerator acceptance and minimize hazardous effluents from the incinerator.

8.1.3 Waste Disposal

Waste classifications and treatability groups are important because they determine waste

disposal options.

Sanitary waste is by far the least costly and easiest to dispose of. Liquid sanitary waste is

disposed of in sanitary sewerage systems or septic systems. Sanitary solid waste is nearly

always disposed of by landfill disposal or by incineration with landfill disposal of ash.

Because sanitary waste disposal facilities still face various siting and permitting

requirements, it is desirable to minimize waste volumes.

Hazardous waste is second in ease of disposal for most DOE facilities. Hazardous waste

can be treated to eliminate the hazard only if a permit for the particular waste stream has

been granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Hazardous waste treatments

permitted in DOE facilities are usually limited to pH adjustment, precipitation, and ion

exchange for liquid waste and compaction or incineration for solid waste. Combustible

liquids may be incinerated either onsite or offsite, as conditions permit.

Low-level waste is still disposable at most sites. For NRC and state-licensed facilities,

commercial disposal is an option, but subject to the requirements of the Low-Level Waste

Policy Amendments Act (USC, 1985), which requires individual states or groups of states,

called compacts, to develop local disposal facilities. In general, local facilities have not been

developed, so disposal volumes are severely limited and/or significant surcharges are

imposed in addition to the already high disposal cost.

Several DOE sites are currently permitted to dispose of their own low-level waste by burial.

Other DOE sites have long-term storage facilities. In some cases, DOE waste is being

placed in retrievable storage in the hopes that the classification of the facility can be changed

and the waste allowed to remain permanently.

Mixed waste disposal facilities require all of the permitting for radioactive waste disposal

facilities plus all of the permitting for hazardous waste disposal facilities. For this reason,

there are very few such facilities in operation, and in general they are rather restricted in the

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