Lastly, mixed wastes are wastes that contain both hazardous as well as radioactive components. Because mixed wastes involve hazardous and radioactive materials, their treatment and disposals vary.
Mixed wastes are identified as one of three types of mixed waste according to the US DOE. They can be low-level mixed waste (LLMW), high-level mixed waste (HLW) and mixed transuranic waste (MTRU).
It’s important to know the proper disposal methods if your company or organization is producing wastes that are deemed hazardous.
Now that you know all of the types of wastes, their categorizations/classifications and examples of each, be sure you’re treating their removal properly.
Mixed waste consists of radioactive waste mixed with chemical waste. Mixed waste is very expensive and often difficult to dispose of. Liquids that exhibit properties such as flammability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity are considered mixed waste. The generation of mixed waste is strongly discouraged. Laboratories planning or fearing the generation of mixed waste should contact Radiation Safety for disposal pricing, policies, and alternative options (e.g. neutralization).
Mixed waste should be stored in a sturdy plastic container. The container should also be placed in secondary containment with absorbent padding. Place waste in a designated and safe area.
The easiest way to manage mixed waste is to eliminate one of the hazards. This could include:
Adding bleach or other EPA-registered disinfectants to destroy a biological hazard, leaving the radioactive or chemical hazard behind.
Care should be taken to ensure that adding bleach to a chemical hazard does not result in an unexpected reaction.
To decay a radioactive isotope so that only the chemical or biological hazard remains.
As used in laws and regulations, “mixed waste” refers to waste that contains both hazardous waste and low-level radioactive waste. The low-level radioactive waste component, consisting of source material, special nuclear material or derived material, is subject to Rules and Regulations made under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.
Neither the Environmental Protection Agency nor the definition of mixed waste includes hazardous waste that contains naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) or accelerator-generated radioactive materials. Such waste, which does not have an official name or definition, would not be classified as mixed waste.
The federal government is the largest producer of mixed waste. The amounts of mixed commercial waste generated are very small, approximately two percent, compared to the total amount generated or stored. energy authority. Commercially generated mixed waste occurs in industrial plants, hospitals and nuclear power plants. Radioactive and hazardous materials are used in a range of processes including medical diagnostic testing and research, pharmaceutical and biotechnology product development, pesticide research and nuclear power plant operations. Mixed waste hazardous waste components include liquid scintillation cocktails and chlorofluorocarbons, corrosive organics, waste oils, toxic metals (such as discarded lead plating), and other materials.
Low-level radioactive waste containing hazardous components need not necessarily be a mixed waste unless the hazardous component is a "listed waste" and/or has the hazardous properties listed above.