Recommended Framework for Risk-Based Waste Classification

4 Recommended Framework for Risk-Based Waste Classification 

1 Exempt Waste. Waste classified as exempt would be regulated as if it were nonhazardous, and would be generally acceptable for disposition as nonhazardous material (e.g., disposal in a municipal/ industrial landfill). As noted in Section 1.4.1, disposal is the only disposition of exempt materials considered in this Report. Limits on concentrations of hazardous substances in exempt waste would be derived based on an assumption that the risk or dose to a hypothetical inadvertent intruder at a disposal site should not exceed negligible levels. The use of a negligible risk or dose to determine exempt waste is based on an assumption that a disposal facility for nonhazardous waste could be released for unrestricted use by the public soon after the facility is closed. 

Negligible risks or doses used to classify exempt waste could be established based on a variety of considerations, consistent with the different approaches to risk management for radionuclides and hazardous chemicals described in Section 1.5.3. For noncarcinogenic hazardous chemicals, NCRP recommends that a negligible dose should be set at a small fraction (e.g., 10 percent) of a nominal threshold for deterministic responses in humans the recommended approach to estimating this threshold is described in Section I.5.5.3. For radionuclides, NCRP has recommended that an annual effective 

Class General Definition Determination of Boundary of Waste Class 1 

Exempt waste Any waste containing hazardous substances that is generally acceptable for disposition as nonhazardous material (e.g., disposal in municipal/industrial landfill) Based on a risk index less than unity for all hazardous substances and assumption that risk or dose to hypothetical inadvertent intruder at disposal site should not exceed negligible levels 

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