Chemical-radioactive-biological Waste

The physical and health hazards associated with chemicals should be determined before working with them This determination may involve consulting literature references. Laboratory Chemical Safety Summaries (LCSSs), Matmal Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs), or other reference materials (see also Chapter 3, section 3.B) and may require discussions with the laboratory supervisor and consultants such as safety and industrial hygiene officers. Every step of the waste minimization and removal processes should be checked against federal, state, and local regulations. Production of mixed chemical-radioactive-biological waste (see Chapter 7, section 7.C.1.3) should not be considered without discussions with environmental health and safety experts. 

Multihazardous waste, (a) Chemical-radioactive waste, or mixed waste," (b) chemical-biological waste, (c) radioactive biological waste, and (d) chemical-radioactive biological waste. 

Certain waste treatments reduce multiple hazards in one step. For example, incineration can destroy oxidizable organic chemicals and infectious agents, waste feed rates can be controlled to meet emission limits for volatile radionuclides, and radioactive ash can be disposed of as a dry radioactive waste. Likewise, some chemical treatment methods (e.g., those using bleach) both oxidize toxic chemicals and disinfect biological hazards. Such treatment could convert a chemical-radioactive-biological waste to a radioactive waste. 

In the past, hazardous wastes were often grouped into the following categories (1) radioactive substances, (2) chemicals, (3) biological wastes, (4) flammable wastes, and (5) explosives. The chemical cate-goiy included wastes that were corrosive, reactive, and toxic. The principal sources of hazardous biological wastes are hospitals and biological-research facilities. 

The final concentrate, which includes UF and RO concentrates, should be disposed of by an authorized company, considering not only waste radioactivity levels but also chemical and biological contaminations, specially in the ultrafiltration concentrate since it contains most of the pathogens of the original waste. 

Radioactive Wastes. With the exception that radioactive wastes cannot be destroyed chemically, the problem of radioactive waste disposal is similar in nature to the problem of chemical or sanitary waste disposal. Thus, discharged radioactive wastes can contaminate air or drinking water and, if absorbed by an organism, can cause biological damage. Health physicists and biologists have established the maximum concentra-... 

Do not generate multihazardous waste (combinations of radioactive, biological, and chemical waste) without first consulting with the designated radiation and chemical safety officers. 

Multihazardous waste is waste that contains any combination of chemical, radioactive, or biological hazards. The combinations of these hazards are illustrated in Figure 7.2. Although many of the principles discussed for chemically hazardous waste earlier in this... 

Minimize the waste s hazards. Waste minimization methods specific to chemical, radioactive, or biological waste can be applied to multihazardous waste to mitigate or eliminate one hazard, which wOl then allow it to be managed as a single-hazard waste. For example, the substitution of nonignitable liquid scintillation fluid (LSF) for toluene-based LSF reduces a chemical-radioactive waste to a radioactive waste. 

Multihazardous waste is a by-product of various kinds of critically important work in, for example, clinical and environmental laboratories. With the help of several experts as part of a special subcommittee, the committee studied the disposal of various combinations of chemical, radioactive, and biological waste. Few disposal facilities exist for multihazardous waste, and some waste materials are so unique and occur in such small quantities that there is no commercial incentive for developing special legal means for handling them. 

This act bans dumping of radioactive, biological, and chemical warfare wastes in the ocean. It requires permits for dumping of sewage sludge and dredged materials. 

Co-disposal of radioactive and non-radioactive waste among other chemical, industrial, toxic and biological wastes should be carefully analysed as long as the volume of non-radioactive wastes to be disposed in a deep geological repository could be large enough to justify the construction of such a facility in each country. 

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