AW: Natural radioactivty waste in ground water treatment plants

["Franz Schoenhofer" <franz.schoenhofer@CHELLO.AT>]

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----

Von: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]Im Auftrag von Dr. Khalid

Aleissa

Gesendet: Sonntag, 15. Februar 2004 21:57

An: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Betreff: Natural radioactivty waste in ground water treatment plants





Hello all Radsafers

I need to know if there are any national guideline limits for natural

radionuclides in the waste from ground water treatment plants. That is,

when a certain specific radioactivity in these wastes exceeds it the

waste is considered radioactive. And if some what are the method of

disposals? WHy Po-210 or Pb-210 is not a concern in drinking water?



-------------------------------------



Dear Khalid,



Unfortunately I have not been able yet to answer your e-mail to me. But I

want to give you a quick and short answer to you questions:



Of course most countries have legislation governing the treatment and the

conditions for disposal of radioactive waste and they give the definition of

"radioactive waste". The source of the waste does usually not play any role.

The waste from ground water treatment plants contain practically always

Ra-226 (and Ra-228), which are considered to be two of the most radio toxic

radionuclides.



I had a few years ago such a case: According to the applicable European

Union Directive the waste (iron and manganese hydroxide) from drinking water

treatment of a well was clearly "radioactive waste" and the plant had to

follow special prescriptions for treating the waste.



According to the European Directive for drinking water quality, Rn-222 and

its daughter products (including Pb-210 and Po-210) are explicitely excluded

from considerations regarding potential doses. There is a recommendation

from the "Article 31 group", that all of them should be considered, but to

my knowledge no memberstate has implemented this in national law.



Best regards,



Franz



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

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To

unsubscribe, send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the

text "unsubscribe radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail,

with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/