Institutional radioactive wastes with restrictions for land burial and environmental methods to manage such wastes. National Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Program

This document has been developed by state government radiation control personnel with the objectives to: (1) identify specific types of low-level radioactive institutional wasites that currently are restricted from disposal at commercial land burial sites; (2) identify environmentally acceptable disposal methods with special attention to incineration, and to develop suggested regulatory criteria for licensing the most environmentally acceptable method for disposing of these materials. Six alternatives that the committee considers environmentally acceptable for the management of institutional radioactive wastes are: (1) incineration; (2) storage for decay; (3) dilution and dispersion; (4) segregation of waste; (5) reduction in generation; (6) establishment of de minimus levels. The committee emphasized that, of the identified alternatives, at least three are of such economic, health, and safety significance, that they should be used for all types of waste by all generators; (2) segregation of waste to reduce volume; and (3) storage for decay. Incineration has been suggested by many as the most promising alternative for the reduction of certain institutional wastes