PNNL

Abstract

The treatment, shipping, and disposal of a highly radioactive radium/barium waste stream have presented a complex set of challenges requiring several years of effort. The project illustrates the difficulty and high cost of managing even small quantities of highly radioactive Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)-regulated waste. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) research activities produced a Type B quantity of radium chloride low-level mixed waste (LLMW) in a number of small vials in a facility hot cell. The resulting waste management project involved a mock-up RCRA stabilization treatment, a failed in-cell treatment, a second, alternative RCRA treatment approach, coordinated regulatory variances and authorizations, alternative transportation authorizations, additional disposal facility approvals, and a final radiological stabilization process.