Re: Waste Disposal at Universities

[jdelahunt@cc.colorado.edu (John DeLaHunt)]

>I am very interested in this information as well.  Can you post on 
>radsafe rather than to Kent personally?  Thanks!

Sure:

>I was wondering how other radiation safety offices at universities handle 
>the cost of radioactive waste disposal.  Here are the questions:
>
>1.  At your facility, does the RSO pay for disposal and charge the 
>researcher prorata based on volume generated?

No.  The RSO pays and doesn't recharge.

>2.  At your facility, does the researcher pay for the cost and the RSO only 
>    act as the facilitator by negotiating the contract with the broker, 
>    arranging for pick-ups, etc.

Nope.

>3.  At your facility, is waste disposal a part of the RSO budget?

Yes.

>    a.  How does one encourage waste minimization?

I stress it in the training classes, and we cheerfully (now) use isotopes
with short enough half-lives that we can DIS most materials -- I125, P32 and
S35, e.g.  Mostly, though, I tell the users, as part of their training, that
they will be required to minimize waste when they get on in their careers,
so they may as well start now.

>    b.  Does this encourage researchers to put expensive waste stream materials
>        (e.g., chemical waste) that they are charged for into radioactive waste
>        resulting in mixed waste?

We don't charge for chem waste mgt, either, so there's no incentive to do
any thing any way except the way I say is best, and I try to remain
sensitive to the mission of the educational/research programs.

>4.  At your facility, does the RSO collect a surcharge for the purchase of 
>    long lived radioactive wastes as a mechanism to collect waste disposal 
>    costs? 

No, but we don't do a lot of buying of these materials, either (we have a
healthy inventory left over from the way we used to do things, which
included a 40g PuBe howitzer).  Rads are part of the education and general
budget, and for us, that works quite well.

Hope this helps.

John

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