Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
3.1
BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW
The improper management of hazardous, radioactive, and mixed wastes poses a
serious threat to the health of humans and other living organisms and their environ-
ment. Even when the above wastes are managed or disposed of in an abortive manner,
serious harm is possible, including endangering human health. For instance, toxic
leachates that include hazardous wastes from a poorly constructed or improperly
maintained hazardous waste landfill could severely contaminate the groundwater
and surface waters; incidents of nuclear power plant explosion or leakage can
seriously injure or kill surrounding workers or residents. It has become obvious that
these waste management projects must be regulated with sufficiently knowledgeable,
capable, and unfailingly trustworthy legislations and regulations. Clearly, if a regu-
latory agency is to regulate something, there should be an unambiguous means of
identifying and describing what is to be regulated. Therefore, fundamentals of the
management of hazardous, radioactive, and mixed wastes are needed for adequate
definition, designation, classification, and characterization to provide bounds to the
problem.
The definition, classification, and management of hazardous, radioactive, and
mixed wastes vary from one country to another. In the U.S., the above wastes are
covered under different agencies and regulations. The regulations contain important
guidelines for determining what exactly is the type of waste, how to identify a
specific substance to be the regulated waste and provide objective criteria for includ-
ing other materials in the universe, and what the exclusions and exemptions from
the regulations are.
As for hazardous waste, since 1980, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has developed a comprehensive program to ensure that hazardous waste is
managed safely. A “cradle-to-grave” strategy for hazardous wastes from the point
of generation to ultimate disposal is established for hazardous waste identification,
recycling, storage, and disposal. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA), enacted in 1976, was motivated by concern over improper disposal of solid
and hazardous wastes and contains a great deal of prescriptive detail. RCRA was
an amendment to the Solid Waste Disposal Act to address the huge volumes of
municipal and industrial solid wastes generated nationwide. RCRA Subtitle C gives
a comprehensive program regarding identification, generation, transportation, treat-
ment, storage, and disposal relevant to hazardous waste.
Radioactive waste arises from commercial nuclear power generation as well as
from other industrial activities and from the use of radioactive materials in several
human activities such as medical uses of radioactive materials. The Atomic Energy
Act (AEA) of 1954 is the basic law governing production, use, ownership, liability,
and disposal of radioactive materials in the United States.
1
A number of laws also
specify radioactive waste management procedures and authorities such as the Low-
Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act (LLWPA, amended in 1985, LLWPAA) and the
Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA, amended in 1987 NWPAA). Radioactive waste
is regulated by either the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) or the U.S. Depart-
ment of Energy (DOE) under the AEA. The classification and characterization of
such wastes are normally specified by relevant laws and regulations.
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