Transcript Document

• Hazardous Waste means wastes {solid,
liquid or containerized gas}which because
of its quantity, concentration, or physical,
chemical or infectious characteristics may
– cause or significantly contribute to an
increase in mortality or an increase in
serious irreversible or incapacitating
reversible illness
Or
– pose a substantial present or potential
hazard to human health or the
environment when improperly treated,
stored, transported, disposed of or
otherwise managed.
Considered “hazardous” if
1. waste is specifically listed by the EPA (includes
those “known to be fatal”)
2. waste is toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic,
teratogenic to any life forms
3. waste is tested and meets one of four
characteristics established by the EPA: ignitable,
corrosive, reactive, toxic
4. waste is declared hazardous by its generator
based on their knowledge of it
Federal Regulations
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA)
• Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments
(HSWA)
• Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)
• Superfund Amendments and
Reauthorization Act (SARA)
Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA)
• established 1976
• federal management of hazardous waste
• set up as a separate office within the EPA
that was charged with identifying which
wastes are hazardous and establishing a
system for tracking waste
Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA)
• Held generators responsible for the wastes
they produced from the “cradle to the
grave”
– even if third party disposal was utilized the
generator was still liable
• Provided for “citizen suits” allowing the
government to be sued for failure to comply
with this act.
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Hazardous waste management
Figure 13.14
13-9
Hazardous and Solid Waste
Amendments (HSWA)
• Congress perceived a lack of action by the EPA so
they passed these amendments in 1984
• far more detailed than most pieces of
environmental legislation
• specified several minimum technical requirements
for landfills, disposal facilities, standards for
permits …
• Allowed EPA to require corrective action outside
the boundaries of the plant or facility
HSWA
• Prohibited the disposal of bulk noncontainerized liquid hazardous waste in
landfills or surface impoundments
• Only allowed disposal of containerized
liquid hazardous waste if
– no reasonable alternative is available
– it is environmentally acceptable
HSWA
• Minimum technical requirements for
landfills
–
–
–
–
double-liners
leachate collection systems
groundwater monitoring
leak detection systems
Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation and
Liability Act (CERCLA)
• Passed in 1980 to deal with sites that were
already contaminated
• established a $1.6 billion dollar fund to
implement a massive cleanup program over
a five-year period
• intent to identify hazardous waste sites and
clean them, then establish liability and
recover costs
Superfund Amendments and
Reauthorization Act (SARA)
• CERCLA amended with SARA in 1986
• “Superfund” refers to both laws and the
clean-up program thus mandated
• Complete rewrite of CERCLA
• $8.5 billion dollars for cleanup of
abandoned sites
• $500 million for leaking petroleum tanks
Right-to-Know
• provisions of SARA require industries to
plan for emergencies and inform the public
of hazardous substances being used.
Superfund Sites
• there are over 36,000 “Superfund” sites in
the United States
• Not all sites have yet been identified
Liability
Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs)
• Present and past owners of the site
• Operators of the facility at the time of
disposal
• Generators
• Transporters
• usually a joint responsibility - can take
years to sort out
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
U.S. hazardous
waste producers
Figure 13.13
13-8
Hazardous Waste Management
•
•
•
•
Source Reduction
Recycling
Treatment
Disposal
Source Reduction
• reduce, avoid, or eliminate the generation of
hazardous waste
• action that merely concentrates the content
to reduce volume or dilutes it to disperse the
hazard is not considered waste reduction
• Product design - chemical use, ease of
recycling, size, modularity
• Raw materials - use of renewable resources
• Manufacture/sale/distribution - pollution
prevention and hazard management
• Packaging - reduced packaging, vegetable
dyes, concentration of material
• Use - lower doseage, aerosol free, long life
• Final disposal - recycling, treatable material
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Secure landfill
Figure 13.18
13-11
Radioactive Waste
A Brief History About WIPP
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, is
the world's first underground repository
licensed to safely and permanently dispose
of transuranic radioactive waste left from
the research and production of nuclear
weapons. After more than 20 years of
scientific study, public input, and regulatory
struggles, WIPP began operations on March
26, 1999.
• Located in the remote Chihuahuan Desert of
Southeastern New Mexico, project facilities
include disposal rooms mined 2,150 feet
underground in a 2,000-foot thick salt
formation that has been stable for more than
200 million years. Transuranic waste is
currently stored at 23 locations nationwide.
Over a 35 year period, WIPP is expected to
receive about 37,000 shipments.
Yucca Mountain
• repository for high-level radioactive waste
(spent fuel rods, and waste from the various
bomb programs)
• nuclear fuel consists of small, ceramic-like pellets
of enriched uranium, slightly larger than pencil
erasers. One pellet contains the energy equivalent
to almost one ton of coal. The pellets are stacked
end-to-end and sealed in strong metal tubes 3.54.5 meters (12-15 feet) long.
• The tubes containing the uranium pellets are
bundled together in groups of about 200 to form
nuclear fuel assemblies. These fuel assemblies are
placed inside a nuclear reactor where the nuclear
fission process takes place.
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Waste disposal guide
Figure 13.16
13-10