Hazardous Waste Management

Chapter 15

1

Why is it managed?

Silent Spring Love Canal Times Beach and

Seveso, Italy Bhopal, India

Methyl isocyanate Toxins Dioxin Pesticides

2

Federal HWM Laws(Sections 15.1 and 15.2)

3

Household and Other Special Haz Wastes

RCRA Hazard

Ignitable

Corrosive

Toxic

Reactive

None

Material

Bleach

Drain cleaner

Lighter fluid

Antifreeze

Aspirin

4

Who’s involved?

(Not to scale)

5

What can we do with this nasty, nasty stuff?(Sections 15.2, 15.4, and 15.5)

6

In-Class Activity

An industrial plant produces approximately 1000 kg/month of waste pentachlorophenol (C6Cl5OH). The plant decides to install an incinerator to dispose of the waste. Assume complete combustion. Note that this reaction requires water.

• How much oxygen is theoretically required to combust the material?

• How much acid is theoretically produced?

• What theoretical quantity of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is required to neutralize the acid?

• In operation, why would you expect the quantities of air, acid, and caustic to be different from the theoretical amounts?

7

Which activities are the riskiest?

Action 4 tbs peanut butter daily Alcohol, cancer All cancers Background radiation Car accident, death Flesh-eating bacteria Home accident, death Homicide Radon in home, death Ski, death Smoking 1 pack/d, cancer Struck by lightening

8

Risk Assessment

Hazard Identification

Exposure Assessment

Dose-Response Assessment

Risk Characterization

9

Site Remediation(Section 15.2.1)

Levels of response

• Emergency response

• Long-term remediation

10

Soil water (root zone)

Unsaturated or vadose zone

Capillary fringe

Saturated zone (Groundwater)

Confining layer

Where is the contamination?

11

Pollutant Transport

12

Pollutant Transport

13

What can we do?

Remediation strategies

14

Containment: Pumping and/or Injection

15

Containment: Trenching/Slurry Wall Injection

16

Pump-and-Treat

17

AS and/or SVE

18

Excavation and . . .

19

In-situ Bioremediation

Nutrient injection

20

Phytoremediation

21

Natural Attenuation

22

In-Class Activity

Explain why the proposed process would be inappropriate for a site with the given contaminant. Offer a plausible alternative.

Volatile soluble organic – excavation & landfillingSoil in vadose zone contaminated with metals – pump & treatSoil in unsaturated zone contaminated with radioactive waste – in-situ bioremediation

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In-Class Activity

Lake Jasmine is a 20-acre lake with an average depth of 30 ft. Yesterday afternoon four 55-gallon drums of Fuel Oil A and six 55-gallon drums of Solvent C fell off a truck during an accident, rolled into Lake Jasmine, and burst open on the rocky shore. The entire contents of all the drums spilled into the lake. Should local public health officials take measures to keep vacationers near Lake Jasmine out of the water? The allowable quantity in recreational waters of Fuel Oil A is 2.2 ppm, and the allowable quantity of Solvent C is 1.3 ppm.

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Radioactive Materials and Waste

Sections 5.4 and 15.3

25

Choose the best answer.

A. Radiation is scary. Radioactivity is even scarier.

B. Radiation is a method of surveying in which points are located by knowledge of their distances and directions from a central point. Radioactivity is the intensity of a radioactive source.

C. Radiation is emitted energy without the absorption of any energy. Radioactivity is a characteristic natural, spontaneous process in which unstable atoms emit mass or energy.

26

Isotopes

Element with same atomic number but different mass number, e.g., H-1, H-2, H-3

27

Uses of Radiation

Historical/Discontinued

X-rays: Hair removal, Shoe sizing

226Ra: Hair tonic, Skin cream, Clock dials, Toothpaste, Chocolate bars

210Po: Spark plugs 232Th: Toothpaste, Dentures Uranium: Pigments,

Photographic toner, Adhesive tape dispenser

Current

235U, 239Pu: Reactor fuel 241Am: Smoke detectors 60Co, x-rays: Food sterilization x-rays, -rays: Medical instrument

sterilization 60Co, 131I, etc.: Radiation treatment Neutrons: Bomb detection, Illegal

drug shipment detection

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There are lots of units Curie (Ci): decay rate Becquerel (Bq): decay rate, 1 per second Roentgen (R): rate of ionizations produced Rad (radiation absorbed dose): energy absorbed

from radiation Rem (roentgen equivalent man): energy

absorbed by tissue Gray (Gy): absorption of 1 J of energy per kg of

absorbing material Sievert (Sv)): dose equivalent to tissue damage

from 1 Gy of gamma radiation or X-ray = 100 rem29

Annual Radiation DoseLocation or Situation Dose

(mrem) Ramsari, Iran 48,000 Guarapari, Brazil 17,500 Radiation worker 5,000 St. Peter’s Square 800 NYC Grand Central Station 525 Background 300 – 400 Decommissioning 15

Internal

11%

Cosmic8%

Terrestial8%

Consumer Products

3%Nuclear Medicine

4%

Other<1%

Radon54%

Medical X-rays11%

30

Ionizing Radiation

31

Effects of Level of Ionizing Radiation

Dose (rem) Effects0 - 25 May reduce white

blood cell count25 - 100 Nausea, fatigue,

blood changes100 - 200 Nausea, fatigue, low

white blood cellcount, deathpossible

200 - 400 LD50, bone marrow &spleen damage

> 600 Fatal

32

Storage

33

Yucca Mountain

34

Vitrification

35

Radon

36

Half Life

Time required for half of original material to decay

Characteristic of an isotope

A = Aoe-t

t1/2 = ln 2

37

In-Class Activity

What would be the activity after 5 days of 1.0 Ci of radon-220?

On April 1, 2001 a waste containing Po-210 was found at an abandoned site. Its activity was 3.2 Ci. From site records, you estimated that the waste dated from 1952. What was the original activity?

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