INEEL Radioactive Liquid Waste Reduction Program
Reduction of radioactive liquid waste, much of which is Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) listed, is a high priority at the Idaho National Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC). Major strides in the past five years have lead to significant decreases in generation and subsequent reduction in the overall cost of treatment of these wastes. In 1992, the INTEC, which is part of the Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Laboratory (INEEL), began a program to reduce the generation of radioactive liquid waste (both hazardous and non-hazardous). As part of this program, a Waste Minimization Plan was developed that detailed the various contributing waste streams, and identified methods to eliminate or reduce these waste streams. Reduction goals, which will reduce expected waste generation by 43%, were set for five years as part of this plan. The approval of the plan led to a Waste Minimization Incentive being put in place between the Department of Energy–Idaho Office (DOE-ID) and the INEEL operating contractor, Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company (LMITCO). This incentive is worth $5 million dollars from FY-98 through FY-02 if the waste reduction goals are met. In addition, a second plan was prepared to show a path forward to either totally eliminate all radioactive liquid waste generation at INTEC by 2005 or find alternative waste treatment paths. Historically, this waste has been sent to an evaporator system with the bottoms sent to the INTEC Tank Farm. However, this Tank Farm is not RCRA permitted for mixed wastes and a Notice of Non-compliance Consent Order gives dates of 2003 and 2012 for removal of this waste from these tanks. Therefore, alternative treatments are needed for the waste streams. This plan investigated waste elimination opportunities as well as treatment alternatives. The alternatives, and the criteria for ranking these alternatives, were identified through Value Engineering meetings with all of the waste generators. The most promising alternatives were compared by applying weighting factors to each based on how well the alternative met the established criteria. From this information, an overall ranking of the various alternatives was obtained and a path forward recommended.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-99ID-13727
- OSTI ID:
- 911381
- Report Number(s):
- INEEL/CON-99-00030; TRN: US0704545
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Waste Management '99,Tucson, AZ,02/28/1999,03/04/1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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NGLW RCRA Storage Study
HIGH LEVEL WASTE TANK CLOSURE PROJECT AT THE IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING AND ENVIRONMENTAL LABORATORY
Related Subjects
DOLLARS
EVAPORATORS
INEEL
LIQUID WASTES
MINIMIZATION
ORDERS
REMOVAL
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
STORAGE FACILITIES
TANKS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
radioactive liquid waste
reduction goals
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
Waste Minimization Incentive
Waste Minimization Plan
waste streams