Radioactive-hazardous mixed waste

Regulation of Radioactive and Radioactive/Hazardous Mixed Waste. 

Provide the means to aceumulate radioactive hazardous (mixed) wastes ... 

Molten salt oxidation (MSO) is an ex situ noncombustion thermal treatment technology. MSO technology is under development for hazardous, radioactive, and mixed wastes (wastes with... 

Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (Perma-Fix), has developed the Perma-Fix Process for the neutralization and stabilization of hazardons, radioactive, and mixed wastes. The Perma-Fix Process is a two-step treatment involving proprietary chemical treatment of wastes followed by the addition of stabilization chemicals to create a final waste form with the hazardous component of the wastes neutrahzed. The technology has been used commercially for several years. 

Trussed, S. Batchelor, B. 1996. Chemical characterization of pore water of a solidified hazardous waste. In Gilliam, T. M. Wiles, C, C. (eds) Stabilization/Solidification of Hazardous, Radioactive and Mixed Wastes. ASTM,... 

NRC (1994a). U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Guidance to hazardous, radioactive and mixed waste generators on the elements of a waste minimization program, Information Notice No. 94-23 (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rockville, Maryland). 

Isenburg J, Moore M (1992) Generalized acid neutralization capacity test. In Gilliam TM, Wiles CC (eds) Stabilization and solidification of hazardous, radioactive, and mixed wastes, vol 2. ASTM STP 1123, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, pp 361-377... 

The waste streams may be disposed safely if they do not contain contaminants that are harmful to living beings. Several waste streams, however, contain harmful chemicals that enter the human body through the food chain via soil or water or the air that we breathe. These contaminants may be toxic chemicals or radioactive. The former is referred to as hazardous , and the latter as radioactive . Both need treatment to isolate the contaminants from the groundwater, air, and soil prior to disposal. Treatment of hazardous waste streams is the subject of this chapter, while treatment of radioactive wastes, or those containing both hazardous and radioactive contaminants ( mixed wastes), is discussed in Chapter 17. 

Regulatory Definition of Hazardous, Radioactive, and Mixed Waste. Existing federal regulations give specific regulatory definitions for all waste types. Wastes that are of most Interest to environmental restoration and waste management are hazardous waste, radioactive waste, and mixed waste. 

MEPAS allows the user to prioritize hazardous, radioactive, and mixed-waste sites, based on their potential hazard to public health. MEPAS is applicable to a wide range of environmental management and regulatory conditions including inactive sites under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and active sites releasing air and water contaminants regulated under other statutory acts. 

The salt-supemate solution is decontaminated for disposal as low-level waste by removing the radionuclides by precipitation and sorption. A solution of sodium tetraphenylborate is added to precipitate K, Cs, and NH4 as insoluble tetraphenylborate salts. These salts are further processed to remove most of the organic carbon. About 90% of the phenyl groups on the salt are converted to an immiscible BZ phase by formic acid hydrolysis. Currently, the BZ is steam distilled, further decontaminated if necessary, and incinerated as a low-level radioactive and hazardous (mixed) waste. Since there is tremendous public concern about incineration of mixed waste, alternative technologies are of particular interest. 

First workers used strong acid to dissolve the fuel rods. Then they treated the mixture with chemicals to precipitate the plutonium so that it would settle out. The process was very expensive and at the time made plutonium about the most expensive material on earth. This processing also left behind over 100 million gallons of exceedingly hazardous mixed wastes of acids and radioactive fission products. Part of our legacy of nuclear weapons production is dealing with these high-level wastes. 

Caldwell RJ,Stegmann JA,Chao CC (1994) Ultrasonic agitation method for accelerated batch leaching tests. In Proc 3rd Int Symp on Stabilization/Solidification of Hazardous, Radioactive and Mixed Wastes, Williamsburg, VA,ASTM, Philadelphia, PA, p 423... 

Mixed wastes that may be generated as a result of HCF operations include hazardous wastes such as absorbent wipes, spent solvents, solvent rags, vacuum pumps, lubricants, etc. that become contaminated with radioactive materials. Mixed wastes will be disposed of in accordance with SNL processes that ensure compliance with the Resource Consenration and Recovery Act (RCRA). 

M. Buil, E. Revertegat and J. Oliver, in A Model to the Attack of Pure Water or Undersaturated Lime Solutions on Cement , Stabilization and Solidification of Hazardous, Radioactive, and Mixed Wastes, Vol. 2, STP 1123 (TM. GiUiam and C.C. Wiles, eds.), ASTM, Philadelphia, (1992) 227. 

These units include various types of liquid waste disposal sites, underground tanks, and unplanned release sites. The wastes disposed of in these units include nonhazardous solid, hazardous radioactive, and mixed waste. Section 7.0 describes these waste units in more detail. To comply with CERCLA regulations, the four aggregate areas (100, 200, 300, and 1100) were divided into 78 operable units. Two of these units are located at N Reactor (Figure 6-2). 

Ion exchange is used in the metal plating industry to purify rinse water and spent plating bath solutions. Cation exchangers ranove cationic metal species, such as Cu, from such solutions. Anion exchangers remove anionic cyanide metal complexes, such as Ni(CN), and chromium(VI) species, such as CrOI. Radionuclides can be ranoved from radioactive and mixed radioactive/ hazardous chemical waste by ion exchange resins. 

Will any waste (radioactive, hazardous, mixed, sanitary, etc.) be produced in a radiological controlled area as resnlt of this operation ... 

On July 18, 2000, the Agency released HWIR-waste exemption levels for 36 chemicals that were developed using a risk model known as the Multimedia, Multi-pathway and Multi-receptor Risk Assessment (3MRA) Model.17 The May 16, 2001, HWIR-waste rule revised and retained the hazardous waste mixture and derived-from rules as previously discussed in this module. In addition, the rule finalized provisions that conditionally exempt mixed waste (waste that is both radioactive and hazardous), if the mixed waste meets certain conditions in the rule.5... 

Envirocare of Utah, Inc. (Envirocare) has commercialized the polyethylene encapsulation process developed by Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) as an ex situ stabilization technology for hazardous and mixed wastes (wastes with both hazardous and radioactive components). 

OTD estimated that cement stabilization would produce 2,080,600 yd of stabilized wastes that could not be delisted and would have to be stored as mixed waste. The Duratek vitrification system would generate 417,000 yd of waste that may meet criteria for delisting as hazardous wastes and could be stored as only radioactive wastes (D114432, Appendix A). 

The ChemChar process is a patented, ex situ method for the treatment of hazardous and mixed wastes using reverse-burn gasification. Organic components of the treated waste are converted to a combustible gas and a dry, inert solid. The solid can be mixed with cement to prevent leaching of radioactive or heavy-metal constituents retained in the char residue after gasification, or the solid can be further reduced by forward-bum gasification. 

The vendor also claims that RadAway can effectively separate mixed waste—waste containing radioactive materials and hazardous solvents. This separation allows the solvent to be disposed of separately from the radioactive component, greatly reducing disposal costs. However, RadAway does not have regulatory approval for mixed waste. 

The hazardous component of the treated wastes is eliminated treated wastes contaminated with metals may be disposed of as nonhazardous wastes, and mixed wastes may be disposed of as radioactive wastes, reducing disposal costs and liability concerns. 

Mixed waste that contains both hazardous and radioactive materials... 

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