INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT, INCINERATION AND DISPOSAL OF LOW LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE AT A RESEARCH BASED PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY

摘要

Current low level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal costs provide the impetus for organizations to aggressively pursue strategies to manage this type of waste on site and achieve large volume and weight reduction. Three options utilized at this pharmaceutical research and production site are decay-in-storage, incineration and shipment off site. By using a state of the art waste tracking system, maintaining accountability for over 4000 containers of LLRW is successfully achieved. The primary means of disposal, on site incineration, is carefully controlled and monitored for water, air and ash emissions in order to maintain compliance with all applicable federal and state regulations. This paper explores tracking, storage issues and incineration procedures that form an integrated system of handling LLRW.