[ RadSafe ] More radioactive debris turning up in garbage

[John Jacobus]

My point exactly.  But why do you think no regulatory
actions have been take?  Fear of taking the
initiative?Fear of anti-nuclear protests?  
--- BLHamrick at aol.com wrote:
> I think everyone has gone over the issues related to
> patient waste at  
> landfills, but I wanted to make a few comments on
> this topic as well.  We  need a 
> reasonable solution, because it is an enormous waste
> of resources for the  State 
> agencies to continue to respond to these alarms.
>  
> First of all, there are many handheld spectroscopy
> systems available today  
> that are very easy to use.  They could be loaded
> with a library that only  
> contained the common medical isotopes, so that
> anything "unknown" would require  a 
> professional level response.
>  
> Second, the landfill operators could still call in a
> report, give  
> information to the State program regarding isotope
> identification, dose-rate,  whether 
> the load was commercial or residential, and a
> reasonable decision could  be 
> made over the phone as to whether or not the
> material could be buried, or if  
> there needed to be an additional response.
>  
> Third, this would require cooperation between the
> agencies (often local)  
> responsible for landfill permitting and the State
> agency responsible for the  
> radioactive materials in the public domain (i.e.,
> NRC generally does not respond  
> to these incidents in the states in which they
> maintain jurisdiction, unless 
> and  until there is some demonstration that it is
> "licensed" material).  The  
> cooperation required would be an amendment to
> permits to allow the burial of  
> some of these wastes, based on a reasonable set of
> criteria (i.e., short  
> half-life, common medical isotope, reasonably low
> activity, and from a  
> residential pick-up), and consultation by phone with
> the responsible State  agency.
>  
> I think a simple model program could be worked out
> to everyone's  advantage.  
> In this case, it would not take an act of Congress,
> because  both the AEA and 
> compatible Agreement State statutes and regulations
> permit  exceptions to 
> requirements for disposal of these materials, so
> long as the  disposal 
> alternatives are technically sound, and will not
> result in  significant dose.
>  
> Barbara
> 

+++++++++++++++++++
"Embarrassed, obscure and feeble sentences are generally, if not always, the result of embarrassed, obscure and feeble thought."
Hugh Blair, 1783

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

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