Re: Radioactive Waste Disposal; direct charge

[Sue Dupre <DUPRE%PUCC.bitnet@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu>]

Jerry, I don't know whether our researchers are able to get help from grant
agencies with rad waste costs - it's not something I've had reason to discuss
with them.  But, regarding your second question:  we do charge our researchers
for the cost of waste disposal, and the costs are based on volume.  The speci-
fics of how it's done varies from department to department, but at some level
within each department it's known how many bags of waste, bottles of liquid,
etc. were placed into each waste drum by which researcher.  So we bill the de-
partments who then divide the costs among their labs; we bill only for the dir-
ect cost of disposal at whatever disposal facility was used (Barnwell, etc.)
Of course things are about to change with the advent of interim storage and the
details haven't been worked out.  We do expect to charge labs who use interim
storage, based on volume again probably, and to put that money into some sort
of escrow account.

The decay-in-storage operation, not quite fully operational yet, is run by the
Molecular Biology Dept who intends to pick up the costs of operation for its
own researchers.  They will charge researchers from other departments a nominal
fee to use it (charge will be based on volume again).

Sue Dupre/Health Physicist/Princeton University