Radioactive Waste Q&A.docx

Bucket 1:

Is the Uranyl Nitrate in original bottles, Yes, they are in their original bottles.

Solution or in concrete? Is this considered a waste?

They are in concentrate (crystal or powder)

Does IEMA care where this material is sent?

No, as long as they are disposed according to regulations.

Nitrates are considered to have a RCRA code if designated as waste.

Bucket 2 Same questions Bucket 3 Same questions

See answers to bucket 1 above.

Mixed Waste 1: Are these Scintillation standards?

Yes, these are old unquenched liquid scintillation standards. These are listed twice (again under Mixed Waste 2, Box #5). I was able to add some additional information regarding manufacturer, model #, etc. These details are included in the attachment under ‘Mixed Waste 1’ tab.

Mixed Waste 2: There are some Standards in this lot which are indeed a RCRA waste. The remaining Vials – do they contain Scintillation Cocktail and is the Scintillation Cocktail high flashpoint or low flash point? Isotopes and activity of the isotopes are missing from the spreadsheet, what is that missing information?

These vials all pre-date me... they were “missed” in the last RAD waste solicitation and unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of new information to add. In the attachment, under the ‘Mixed Waste 2’ tab, any additional information that I was able to include is in italicized font.

Drum 11: Are the paint cans that are inside the drum dry, and was this oil based or water based paint

These were empty, paint cans (mostly pint-sized and quart-sized) that were used to homogenize olivine with Sr-90.

Yellow Plastic Drum – My understanding is that the vendor is going to repackage the materials before taking them away, is this correct?

Sealed Sources must be packaged separately from other wastes. Will IEMA removed the Sealed Sources from this drum.

The sealed sources are in a Ziploc bag separate from the content of box, which is a cardboard box with a broken face loaded charcoal cartridge and can be easily separate.

Are the Simulated Gas Chambers under any pressure? This is not actual gas, to achieve accurate measurement of radioactive noble gas and enhance the precision of efficiency calibration, a relatively low-cost and low-density simulated-gas calibration source (SGCS) are produced from polyurethane foam and used as standard. Hence the term, simulated gas (please see certificate of calibration below for more information).

There is an item with Phosphoric Acid in a glass bottle. Is this Acid neutralized?

The bottle is empty of all liquid.

Plastic Pipe N251-What liquid is inside the pipe, can IEMA certify this is not hazardous.

The liquid was absorbed on cotton and seal in a pipe to generate radon gas for experiment. I have added screenshot of the certificate of calibration for the source to provide more information.

CDV Source Characterization and CDV in 5-gallon bucket hat is this material – swipes from surveys, soil, contaminated metal??? Is the Du UDep or DU?

These are cut out check sources from old civil defense GM-Tube created in the 1950s through the 60s. These were collected by the agency part of the orphan source program for disposal. DU stands for Depleted Uranium.

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