Process Waste Handling Storage

The handling, storage, and processing of sohd wastes at the source before they are collected is tne second of the six functional elements in the sohd-waste-management system. 

Most processes involve the storage of raw materials, products, and wastes and the transfer of these items from one area of the plant to another. Proper materials handling and storage ensures that raw materials reach the production process without spills, leaks or other types of losses which could result in waste generation. Similarly, proper materials handling ensures that products and wastes which result from the production process are transferred to off-site locations without additional waste generation. 

Production and inventory processes where hazardous and toxic chemicals are used. Special attention to be given on transport, handling, storage, and use of such chemicals, as well as treatment and disposal of the hazardous wastes. 

Transmutation is a treatment that converts molecules with a long half-life into molecules with shorter half-lives (making required storage times shorter). This process could be used with spent nuclear fuel, to permit some re-use of material. However, such recycling produces additional radioactive and chemical wastes, as well as creating short-term handling hazards. Further, it is considerably cheaper to mine and process uranium ore than it is to re-process wastes. 

Chemical control in the Philippines is covered by the 1990 Toxic Substances and Hazardous Wastes Control Act (TSHWCA). The rules and regulations of this Act cover import, manufacture, processing, handling, storage, transport, sale, distribution, use and disposal of chemical substances and mixtures that present an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment. However, chemicals controlled by other Philippine legislation are not covered by TSHWCA. The Act is administered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). 

Acid areas which collect corrosive process wastes are usually provided with an acid-resistant, curbed paving to confine and collect any acid drainage or spillage within these curbed areas. Curbed and paved areas should be provided in locations where pump groups, storage and handling areas are subject to spillage and wash-down water. 

A formal hazard analysis of the anticipated operations was conducted using Preliminary Hazard Assessment (PHA) and Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) techniques to evaluate potential hazards associated with processing operations, waste handling and storage, quality control activities, and maintenance. This process included the identification of various features to control or mitigate the identified hazards. Based on the hazard analysis, a more limited set of accident scenarios was selected for quantitative evaiuation, which bound the risks to the public. These scenarios included radioactive material spills and fires and considered the effects of equipment failure, human error, and the potential effects of natural phenomena and other external events. The hazard analysis process led to the selection of eight design basis accidents (DBA s), which are summarized in Table E.4-1. 

Normally, when 4 barrels have been accumulated in the elevator pit, they are all removed from the pit and placed on a waste cart for movement into Room 109. This operation will require lowering of the east shield door (Door 3A) of Room 109. Five shielded stations (14,15,16,17, and 18) in the east shield wall at the north end of the Zone 2A canyon, and one station (1) in the west shield wall, each with remote manipulators, are provided for handling barrels of process waste. Manipulator and crane operations are used to handle empty barrels, move filled barrels into the elevator pit for temporary storage and to place filled barrels on carts for emplacement in Room 109. An electromagnet is used to lift barrels using the crane. 

Facilities should be provided for the safe storage of the radioactive waste that arises at the plant, with account taken of its form (solid, liquid, gas or a mixture), its radionuclide content and its nature in terms of the extent to which it has been processed. The safe storage of waste will depend in part on the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the facility concerned. The design features of facilities should be such that the radioactive waste can be received, handled, stored and retrieved without causing undue occupational or public exposure or environmental effects. Further recommendations on this subject are provided in Ref. [6]. 

Equipment Costs. Equipment costs include the purchased cost of process and materials handling equipment, storage faciUties, waste treatment equipment, stmctures, and site service faciUties. Installation costs such as insulation, piping, painting and finishing, foundations, process stmctures, instmmentation, and electrical service connections are estimated or factored separately. Actual quoted prices from suppHers are the best data, but these are not usually available when estimates are made. The quick, inexpensive cost estimates are based largely on personal cost files, internal company cost data, or pubUshed cost correlations. 

---