Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Radioactive waste characterization

Conference ·
OSTI ID:7092894

Westinghouse Hanford Company manages certain solid waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities on the Hanford Site for the US Department of Energy, Richland Field Office. These facilities include radioactive solid waste disposal sites, radioactive solid waste storage areas, and hazardous waste treatment, storage, and/or disposal facilities. The Hanford Solid Waste Acceptance Criteria, WHC-EP-0063-3, (WHC 1991) defines the criteria that must be met by waste generators for solid waste to be accepted by Westinghouse Hanford Company for treatment, storage, and/or disposal. One of the acceptance criteria deals with the inventory of radionuclides in the waste. Solid radioactive waste generators are required to characterize waste streams with sufficient accuracy to properly document the types and quantities of radionuclides. This paper will deal with these requirements and their technical and regulatory basis. This paper will consider the published data on radionuclides, the detection methods for radioactive isotopes, and the cost of radioanalytical services to quantify specific radionuclides. Low-level waste generators and site operators may find information in this paper to be helpful in characterizing waste for safe disposal in accordance with environmental regulations.

Research Organization:
Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-87RL10930
OSTI ID:
7092894
Report Number(s):
WHC-SA-1756; CONF-921137--8; ON: DE93004518
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English