Re: Sewer disposal of rad waste

[Chris Alston <alstonc@odrge.odr.georgetown.edu>]

Rich

Firstly, this is a governmentally approved practice, with highly specific
guidelines. Then, you might point out to your committee that (sanitary)
sewer disposal probably has the least impact on the environment, and on
resources in general. Your other options are land disposal, and for a few
things, incineration. I can't think of any other ways of disposing of RAM
(which doesn't mean that none exist). In a number of venues, the regulatory
authorities are encouraging of sewer disposal, primarily for the reason
given above, particularly when the institution is nonprofit. They are also,
I suppose, aware of the quantities reaching the sewers as human excreta. I'm
trying to be positive here, as you requested, but there are obviously caveat
emptors, which I shall leave to others to point out.

chris alston
P.S. These opinions are mine own alone.





At 12:40  12/11/97 -0600, you wrote:
>Radsafers:
>
>I have been asked by our companys' regulatory policy committee, to justify
>the practice of disposing of radioactive material through the sanitary
>sewerage system. We have been successfully using this disposal method for
>many years ,but they now want to review whether this is best for the
>company, looking from a legal perspective.  I am in the process of putting
>together the reasons I can think of, but am asking anyone out there for
>their input also in case I forget about something. Anyone care to post
>their ideas? Nuclides disposed of are your typical research and academic
>institution beta emitters. I'm kind of looking for pro sewer disposal
>ideas.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Rich Sobilo   NRRPT
>RSO
>
>
>