17. Y. YAMAMOTO, Treatment of Radioactive Waste at Japan's Atomic Energy Research Institute, in Disposal of Radioactive Wastes, Proceedings Conference, Monaco, 1959, Vol. 1, p. 526, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria, 1960; N. MITSUISHI, S. SAKATA, Y. MATSUDA, and Y. YAMAMOTO, The Liquid Entrainment and Its Removal for a Large Scale Evaporation Unit. Evaporation of Radioactive Liquid Waste, Nippon Genshiryoku Gakkaishi, 1: 363 (1959) (in Japanese), abstracted in Nucl. Sci. Abstr., 14: 8319 (1960).

18. W. L. WILSON, P. A. F. WHITE, and J. G. MILTON, The Control, Conveyance, Treatment, and Disposal of Radioactive Effluents from the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Aldermaston, Proc. Inst. Civil Engrs. (London) Part III, 5: 625 (1956).

19. P. RICHARDS, Brookhaven National Laboratory, personal communication,

1961.

20. B. MANOWITZ, Economics of Waste Evaporation, in Conference on Waste Processing, March 27-28, 1950, USAEC Report BNL-59, p. 29, June 1950. 21. K. WAY and E. P. WIGNER, in Radiochemical Studies: The Fission Products, C. D. Coryell and N. Sugarman (Eds.), National Nuclear Energy Series, Division IV, Volume 9, pp. 436-458, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1951.

22. F. L. CULLER, JR., Nature of Radioactive Wastes, in Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Radiation at the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Congress of the United States, 86th Congress, First Session on Industrial Radioactive Waste Disposal, January 28, 29, and 30; February 2 and 3, 1959, Vol. 1, p. 22, Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1959.

23. GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY STAFF, Radioactive Waste Management Operations at the Hanford Works, in Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Congress of the United States, 86th Congress, First Session on Industrial Radioactive Waste Disposal, January 28, 29, and 30; February 2 and 3, 1959, Vol. 1, p. 199, Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1959.

24. F. N. BROWDER, Radioactive Waste Management at ORNL, in Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Congress of the United States, 86th Congress, First Session on Industrial Radioactive Waste Disposal, January 28, 29, and 30; February 2 and 3, 1959, Vol. 1, p. 461, Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1959.

25. C. P. STRAUB, Atomic Energy Program for Waste Disposal, Ind. Wastes,

3(4): 91 (1958).

HANDLING AND TREATMENT OF SOLID WASTES

Solid wastes originate in all operations of the nuclear energy industry. Specific sources have been identified in Chap. 2. They may occur from direct operations, for example, as contaminated paper, laboratory glassware, and equipment, or they may be the end products of other operations, as for example, chemical slurries and sludges, evaporation solids, and ion-exchange resins.

This chapter describes the techniques used in handling and disposing of solid wastes, including baling, incineration, land burial, and ocean disposal of packaged materials.

14-1 SOLID WASTES

Solid wastes are separated at their source of generation into combustible wastes and noncombustible wastes. Such separation simplifies subsequent handling and minimizes radiation exposure to personnel. Combustible wastes can be reduced in volume by baling, by incineration in special equipment, or by burning in the open. combustible wastes generally cannot be reduced in volume.

14-1.1 Combustible Wastes

Non

Combustible wastes include air filters, Kleenex, paper (absorbent, note, news, filter); wood (laboratory benches, flooring, tables, desks, chairs, buildings); clothing (coveralls, cloth or rubber gloves, shoes, boots); biological materials (human and animal excreta, autopsy specimens, laboratory animals, animal-bedding material, plant tissues, vegetation); and any other combustible material encountered in laboratory operations.

14-1.2 Noncombustible Wastes

Contaminated laboratory and process equipment that cannot be decontaminated satisfactorily, such as glassware, pipes, pumps, concrete, sludges from chemical precipitation plants, evaporator bottoms, incinerator ash, and ion-exchange resins, are included in the category of noncombustible wastes. If the objects are small, they may be packaged before disposal; if large, they may be disposed of without packaging.

313

14-2 QUANTITIES OF WASTE PRODUCED

The volumes of low-level solid wastes produced vary greatly. The small isotope user or hospital, for example, may produce a few cubic feet of waste, whereas a laboratory of the size of one of the national laboratories may generate hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of solid wastes annually. Waste-production figures,' both on- and off-site, are summarized in Table 14.1. Data from British sources are found in Table 14.2. Additional data Additional data 3 on low-level-waste handling and disposal practices are found in Table 14.3.

2

14-3 COLLECTION, SAMPLING, AND MEASUREMENT General information on the collection, sampling, and measurement of solid wastes was mentioned in Chap. 3. Additional details, TABLE 14.1-VOLUME OF LOW-LEVEL SOLID WASTES PRODUCED

TABLE 14.2-TYPICAL QUANTITIES OF LOW-LEVEL SOLID WASTES PRODUCED,2 UNITED KINGDOM, 1958