Audeen W. Fentiman
P. Andrew Karam
Ronald B. Meyers
Ohio's low-level radioactive waste disposal facility will be accepting waste from a variety of commercial generators, including nuclear power plants, industry, hospitals, and universities. Regardless of its origin, the waste must meet specific requirements, called waste acceptance criteria. Waste acceptance criteria control such things as the type of waste accepted, the type of container used, the amount of radioactive material in a container, the way a container is packaged and labeled, the contamination levels on the outside of a container, and the physical and chemical form of the waste.
According to Ohio Revised Code, waste acceptance criteria set by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), are the minimum criteria for the acceptance of low-level radioactive waste to be disposed of in the Midwest Compact facility in Ohio. The NRC's waste acceptance criteria can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 10, Part 61 (10CFR61). The State can establish additional, or more stringent, criteria. This fact sheet outlines the process for establishing and enforcing waste acceptance criteria in Ohio and summarizes preliminary waste acceptance criteria for the Midwest Compact's low-level radioactive waste disposal facility.
State law requires that the Board of Directors of the Ohio Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facility Development Authority establish waste acceptance criteria. The Board of Directors is not expected to set those criteria until the facility is nearer to completion. In 1994, a Midwest Compact Advisory Committee on Waste Acceptance Criteria developed some preliminary criteria that were accepted by the Midwest Compact Commission. The Advisory Committee consisted of one technical person from each state in the Midwest Compact and additional people representing waste generators and environmental interests. The criteria they wrote included the Federal waste acceptance criteria. It is expected that the Board of Directors will use the Advisory Committee's preliminary criteria as a starting point when they set waste acceptance criteria for the disposal facility in Ohio.
Federal regulations require that an accurate inventory be kept of all radioactive material in each container to be shipped anywhere, including to a disposal facility. The complete radionuclide inventory for each container must be recorded on a shipping manifest, which is an itemized list of containers being shipped. Each container must be properly labeled. In addition, each container must be checked to determine how much radiation is being emitted and whether there is radioactive contamination on its surface. The labeling requirements and limits on radioactive contents, radiation levels, and surface contamination are specified in 10 CFR 71 and in 49 CFR 172 and 173.
The person receiving a package containing radioactive waste is required by Federal regulations to inspect it immediately for physical integrity. He or she must also measure contamination levels on the container's surface and radiation being emitted by material inside the container. If there is a significant difference between radiation levels recorded on the shipping manifest and those measured when the container reaches the disposal facility, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission or Agreement State regulatory agency must be notified.
If waste shipped to Ohio's low-level waste disposal facility does not meet all waste acceptance criteria, it will probably be returned to the generator. In addition, failure to conform to regulations on waste acceptance can result in fines or other penalties as outlined in Ohio Revised Code, Section 3748.99, or related rules.
The preliminary waste acceptance criteria are organized into four groups. The first group identifies the wastes which cannot be accepted at the Midwest Compact's disposal facility. The next three groups contain the criteria that will be applied to the wastes that are accepted. Those three groups are: (1) waste form requirements (i.e., what can be in the waste package), (2) packaging requirements, and (3) facility waste acceptance requirements. The complete list of waste acceptance criteria is too long to include in this fact sheet. Representative criteria from each of the groups are summarized in the shaded boxes.
Low-level radioactive waste which contains large volumes of soil, building debris, and rubble from the cleanup of contaminated sites or decontamination of facilities where radioactive materials were used is referred to as high-volume waste. High-volume waste is currently accepted at a disposal facility operated in Utah by a company named EnviroCare. However, it is possible for such waste generated within Midwest Compact states to be sent to Ohio's low-level waste disposal facility. Preliminary waste acceptance criteria require that before any such waste may be accepted, the generator must show the following:
Three facilities in the United States currently accept all or some types of low-level radioactive waste. One, operated by EnviroCare in Clive, Utah, accepts only high-volume, low-activity waste. Another, in Richland, Washington, accepts low-level waste only from the Northwest and Rocky Mountain Compacts. The third, in Barnwell, South Carolina, currently accepts low-level waste from the Midwest Compact and many other states. All of these facilities have their own waste acceptance criteria which must comply with Federal regulations and the laws of the states in which they operate. The Midwest Compact's preliminary waste acceptance criteria are similar to the acceptance criteria for the Richland, Washington, and Barnwell, South Carolina, facilities.
If you would like to read more about waste acceptance criteria for low-level radioactive waste, the following documents may be helpful.
Midwest Compact Advisory Committee on Waste Acceptance Criteria, "Preliminary Waste Acceptance Criteria," January 27, 1995, available from the Midwest Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact Commission, 336 North Robert Street, Room 1303, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55101.
Ohio Revised Code Section 3748.99
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Code of Federal Regulations, Title 10, Part 61, "Licensing Requirements for Land Disposal of Radioactive Waste." (Especially note Section 61.56, "Waste Characteristics.")
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Code of Federal Regulations, Title 10, Part 71, "Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials"
Dr. Audeen W. Fentiman is an Associate Professor in Nuclear Engineering at The Ohio State University. P. Andrew Karam is a Certified Health Physicist and a Graduate Research Associate in Geology. Ronald B. Meyers is a Graduate Research Associate, Ohio State University Extension.
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