The industrial ecology of asset management: A case study
Closure of materials cycles (one key goal in industrial ecology) to produces environmental and economic benefits. An interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers at ORNL developed a life-cycle approach to examine the environmental and economic aspects of using purchased metal boxes for disposal of low-level radioactive waste vs a proposed process of fabricating boxes from metal already contaminated and destined for disposal as LLRW. This proposal would plug a leak in the steel materials cycle in which steel is removed from the commercial cycle for permanent disposal with LLRW. It was found that fabricating boxes out of the contaminated metal could (1)result in a direct savings of $80 million over prompt total disposal of the metal; (2)add an additional 100 jobs and about $10M/year to the regional economy compared to direct disposal; (3) result in lower particulate matter and SO{sub 2} emissions; (4) face reduced regulatory barriers; and (5)face public acceptance issues in local communities due to perceptions of risk from private sector metal recycling operations.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-96OR22464
- OSTI ID:
- 378668
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9607140-2; ON: DE96013798
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 4. international congress on environmentally conscious design and manufacturing, Cleveland, OH (United States), 23-25 Jul 1996; Other Information: PBD: [1996]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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