Hazardous Waste means wastes solid liquid or containerized

• Hazardous Waste means wastes {solid, liquid or containerized gas}which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may – cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness

Or – pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of or otherwise managed.

Considered “hazardous” if 1. waste is specifically listed by the EPA (includes those “known to be fatal”) 2. waste is toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic to any life forms 3. waste is tested and meets one of four characteristics established by the EPA: ignitable, corrosive, reactive, toxic 4. waste is declared hazardous by its generator based on their knowledge of it

Federal Regulations • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) • Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) • Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA)

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) • established 1976 • federal management of hazardous waste • set up as a separate office within the EPA that was charged with identifying which wastes are hazardous and establishing a system for tracking waste

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) • Held generators responsible for the wastes they produced from the “cradle to the grave” – even if third party disposal was utilized the generator was still liable • Provided for “citizen suits” allowing the government to be sued for failure to comply with this act.

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Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) • Congress perceived a lack of action by the EPA so they passed these amendments in 1984 • far more detailed than most pieces of environmental legislation • specified several minimum technical requirements for landfills, disposal facilities, standards for permits … • Allowed EPA to require corrective action outside the boundaries of the plant or facility

HSWA • Prohibited the disposal of bulk noncontainerized liquid hazardous waste in landfills or surface impoundments • Only allowed disposal of containerized liquid hazardous waste if – no reasonable alternative is available – it is environmentally acceptable

HSWA • Minimum technical requirements for landfills – double-liners – leachate collection systems – groundwater monitoring – leak detection systems

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) • Passed in 1980 to deal with sites that were already contaminated • established a $1. 6 billion dollar fund to implement a massive cleanup program over a five-year period • intent to identify hazardous waste sites and clean them, then establish liability and recover costs

Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) • CERCLA amended with SARA in 1986 • “Superfund” refers to both laws and the clean-up program thus mandated • Complete rewrite of CERCLA • $8. 5 billion dollars for cleanup of abandoned sites • $500 million for leaking petroleum tanks

Right-to-Know • provisions of SARA require industries to plan for emergencies and inform the public of hazardous substances being used.

Superfund Sites • there are over 36, 000 “Superfund” sites in the United States • Not all sites have yet been identified

Liability Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) • Present and past owners of the site • Operators of the facility at the time of disposal • Generators • Transporters • usually a joint responsibility - can take years to sort out

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Hazardous Waste Management • • Source Reduction Recycling Treatment Disposal

Source Reduction • reduce, avoid, or eliminate the generation of hazardous waste • action that merely concentrates the content to reduce volume or dilutes it to disperse the hazard is not considered waste reduction

• Product design - chemical use, ease of recycling, size, modularity • Raw materials - use of renewable resources • Manufacture/sale/distribution - pollution prevention and hazard management • Packaging - reduced packaging, vegetable dyes, concentration of material • Use - lower doseage, aerosol free, long life • Final disposal - recycling, treatable material

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Radioactive Waste

A Brief History About WIPP The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, is the world's first underground repository licensed to safely and permanently dispose of transuranic radioactive waste left from the research and production of nuclear weapons. After more than 20 years of scientific study, public input, and regulatory struggles, WIPP began operations on March 26, 1999.

• Located in the remote Chihuahuan Desert of Southeastern New Mexico, project facilities include disposal rooms mined 2, 150 feet underground in a 2, 000 -foot thick salt formation that has been stable for more than 200 million years. Transuranic waste is currently stored at 23 locations nationwide. Over a 35 year period, WIPP is expected to receive about 37, 000 shipments.

Yucca Mountain • repository for high-level radioactive waste (spent fuel rods, and waste from the various bomb programs)

• nuclear fuel consists of small, ceramic-like pellets of enriched uranium, slightly larger than pencil erasers. One pellet contains the energy equivalent to almost one ton of coal. The pellets are stacked end-to-end and sealed in strong metal tubes 3. 54. 5 meters (12 -15 feet) long. • The tubes containing the uranium pellets are bundled together in groups of about 200 to form nuclear fuel assemblies. These fuel assemblies are placed inside a nuclear reactor where the nuclear fission process takes place.

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