Mixed waste treatment standards

Technical requirements on treatment and disposal of spent fuel, high-level waste, and transuranic waste established under AEA should be largely unaffected by the presence of waste classified as hazardous under RCRA Some of these wastes meet technology-based treatment standards for hazardous chemical waste established by EPA (e.gvitrified high-level waste is an acceptable waste form under RCRA). Alternatively, a finding that disposal of the radioactive component of the waste complies with applicable environmental standards established by EPA under AEA can serve to exempt the disposal facility from prohibitions on disposal of restricted hazardous chemical wastes under RCRA [e.g., disposal of mixed transuranic waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)]. 

In addition to promulgating the treatment standards for most mixed waste in 1990, EPA established a 2 y National Capacity Variance for mixed waste for which there was no available treatment or... 

US Environmental Protection Agency, Treatment standards for hazardous debris, 40CFR Part 268.45,1994. American Society for Testing of Materials, Standard test methods for determining chemical durability of nuclear, hazardous, and mixed waste glasses the product consistency test, ASTM C 1285-97, 1997. American Nuclear Society, American National Standard Measurement of the leachabiUty in solidified low-level radioactive wastes by a short term test procedure, Method ANSl/ANS 16.1-1986, 1986. 

Benthic-Pelagic Microcosm Compartmentalized Lake Mixed Flask Culture Microcosm Pond Microcosm Sediment Core Microcosm Ecocore Microcosm Ecocore II Microcosm Standard Aquatic Microcosm Stream Microcosm Waste Treatment Microcosm... 

Nevertheless, there are still justifiable and legal reasons to carry out such opaations in the laboratory when hazards can be reduced safely. Neutralizatiorr, oxidation, reductiorr, and various otho" chemical conversions as well as physical methods of separation and concentration can be applied prudently to many laboratory-scale mixed wastes. However, the dual character of the hazard, chemical and radioactive, requires that additional precautions be exercised. Treatment for the chemical hazard must not create a radioactivity risk for personnel or the environment. For example, vapors or aerosols from a reaction, distillation, or evaporation must not lead to escape of unsafe levels of radioactive materials into the atmosphere. Fume hoods appropriate for such operations should be designed to trap any radioactive effluent. When mixed waste is made chemically safe for disposal into the sanitary sewer, the laboratory must ensure that the radioactivity hazard is below the standards set by the publicly owned treatment works (POTW). Several examples for reducing the hazard of mixed waste are described below ... 

Shake flasks were inoculated with mixed liquor suspended solids from activated sludge units in a Houston area domestic waste sewage treatment plant. Initial surfactant concentrations were 20 mg/ . CO2 formed from biodegradation was trapped in aqueous Ba(OH)2. The amount of CO2 formed was determined by back-titrating residual Ba(OH)2 with HCl at the end of each test period. Glucose was included as a positive biodegradation standard. 

The standards applied to lead in industrial effluent depend upon whether the effluent is discharged directly to a surface water or indirectly via a sewage treatment works (Table 6.2). The use of municipal treatment plants to treat industrial effluent is favoured in Britain and elsewhere. Treatment of the mixed and diluted wastes that result can prove highly effective (Section 6.4.2). Furthermore, it is administratively easier to maintain control of polluting discharges if they are routed via one control plant. 

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