Mixed Waste Rule .... We need your help

[Ted de Castro <tdc@XRAYTED.COM>]

This message is being placed for Phil Williams whose email address is at

the bottom.



Dear Colleague:



I want you to be aware that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) is considering an innovative approach for the

treatment of low-level mixed waste (LLMW).  Although their new proposal

is narrowly targeted to one facility in the

pharmaceutical industry, this proposal has the potential to be

generically applied, and will have a very large impact for research

organizations all across the USA.



The EPA approach is now out for public comment, with responses due by

August 23.  Your letter of support is essential in

facilitating the final rulemaking.



Specifically, the proposal is contained in the Federal Register/Vol. 66,

No. 142/Tuesday, July 24, 2001/pp. 38396-38405

"Project XL Site-specific Rulemaking for the Ortho-McNeil

Pharmaceutical, Inc. Facility in Spring House, Pennsylvania."



In this rulemaking, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is

proposing site-specific regulatory relief from RCRA so

that small volumes of mixed waste (LLMW) may be treated on site using

thermal treatment, and the residues disposed as LLRW.



"In this specific XL pilot project, EPA is testing its belief that, in

certain scenarios (e.g., small volumes of pharmaceutical

R&D-generated LLMW being treated by a bench-scale high temperature

catalytic oxidation unit in an NRC-licensed laboratory),

NRC regulatory oversight provides sufficient safeguards to ensure

protection of human health and the environment without

additional RCRA Subtitle C oversight."



If the project is a success, EPA will move to adopt this site-specific

exclusion as a nationwide generic exclusion. Widespread

support must be demonstrated for this to become a reality.



To facilitate your support, please download a sample letter from the web

address listed below.  You can easily modify it as you

see fit, and mail it to the EPA. Even though this is a relatively narrow

issue, success here will lead to a much broader gain for the

US research community.



http://home.pacbell.net/pgwillia/ortho/index.html



Thanks for your support -- it is vital to the success of this

demonstration project.



Please contact Philip G. Williams at 510-486-7336 (w) or

pgwillia@pacbell.net if you have questions.

[OMP_RadSafe]



--

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*  Dr. Philip G. Williams               *  510/444-1640: Voice         *

*  3708 Lake Shore Avenue               *  510/763-1129: Fax           *

*  Oakland, CA 94610-1727, U.S.A.       *  pgwillia@pacbell.net        *

************************************************************************

*  Chair, Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) Committee                 *

*  International Isotope Society                                       *

*  http://www.intl-isotope-soc.org/index.html                          *

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