Wastes Expected to be Classified as Low-Hazard

By defining low-hazard waste as any radioactive or hazardous chemical waste that is generally acceptable for disposal in a dedicated near-surface facility for hazardous waste, NCRP expects that this class would include most radioactive waste presently classified in the United States as low-level waste. Because low-hazard waste would include radioactive waste from any source, this class also should include most NARM waste. 

Most uranium or thorium mill tailings presumably could be classified as low-hazard waste, but only under conditions of perpetual institutional control over near-surface disposal sites. In the absence 

NCRP also expects that many hazardous chemical wastes presently generated in the United States would be classified as low-hazard waste. Indeed, for hazardous chemical waste, low-hazard waste essentially would correspond to the one waste class presently defined in the United States—namely, solid hazardous waste (see Section 4.2.1). 

Perpetual institutional control over near-surface disposal sites also is envisioned for uranium mill tailings, on account of the unacceptably high risks that could result if tailings piles were released from control and the view that disposal of the very large volumes of these wastes in underground facilities is not feasible (EPA, 1982  

A number of dispositions could be acceptable for high-hazard chemical waste, including destruction (e.g., incineration), treatment to reduce the hazard to levels that would be acceptable for near-surface disposal, or disposal using a technology considerably more isolating than a near-surface facility. At the present time, there are no planned alternatives to near-surface facilities for disposal of high-hazard chemical wastes in the United States.16 However, there do not appear 

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