Re: Waste Disposal at Universities

[partye@rockvax.rockefeller.edu (Esmeralda Party)]

Kent:

At Rockefeller University we were forced to pass cost to the users but I did 
not want to charge directly for waste disposed fearing that some of the 
waste would find other routes of disposal.  We charge a basic monthly fee 
for using radioactive materials, then we have a charge per mCi purchased 
with a cheaper price for short-lived materials that are decayed in-house and 
another about five times higher for long-lived materials.  This has forced 
investigators to purchase only what they need, particularly in terms of 
long-lived materials.

We don't find chemical waste coming into the radioactive stream and I find 
the investigators fairly responsive in minimizing the volume of waste 
produced.  We talk about waste minimization whenever we have an occasion.

  Esmeralda Party                                                     
  Assistant Director,                                                 
  Laboratory Safety & Environmental Health                     
  The Rockefeller University                                      
  1230 York Ave                                                     
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