Re: H3 liquid waste question

["Scott D. Kniffin" <Scott.D.Kniffin.1@gsfc.nasa.gov>]

Shirley, 
Depending on the hazardous component, there is a really neat method of
killing a chem component with peroxide, acid and strong UV light source.
If I remember correctly, the company that made these (whose name escapes me
and I don't have the system safety analysis I did on it with me) did ones
as small as bench top for a gallon or so up to industrial sized ones (500+
gallons total volume) like I worked on.  Very effective, moderately
expensive, but depending on your volume, it may be cost effective and
reasonable.  The biggest hazards were obviously the concentrated sulfuric
acid, 30% hydrogen peroxide, and the high voltage for the super intense UV
lights.  We also used a little Ferrous (II) Sulfate as an additional
catalyst.  This little toy saves the Feds several $k per year in disposalal
costs.  A web search turns up lots of info on the subject and I have an
article from The National Environmental Journal July/August 1992 if you're
interested.  

Scott Kniffin

mailto:Scott.D.Kniffin.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
RSO, Unisys Corp. @ Lanham, MD
CHO, Radiation Effects Facility, GSFC, NASA, Greenbelt, MD

The opinions expressed here are my own.  They do not necessarily represent
the views of Unisys Corporation or NASA.  This information has not been
reviewed by my employer or supervisor.  

At 09:04 08/19/98 -0500, you wrote:
>We have some liquid waste with H3 lever around 200 dpm/ml, also the waste
>has hazardous chemical component.
>If we depose this as mixed waste (hazardous plus radioactive), the cost is
>very high. Are there any other means to deal with this kind of waste? For
>example, send out as hazardous waste only based on the low activity?
>Shirley
>sxx@po.cwru.edu

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