The Radiation Safety Office Newsletter

Volume I Number 5 For the University of Maryland Campus April 10, 1998

The Radiation Safety Office at the University of Maryland shall publish on the first of each month a Newsletter on topics concerning Radiation Protection and Use of Radioisotopes and Radiation Producing Devices. This month's topic is radioactive waste.

The University of Maryland, College Park Hazardous Waste Section handles the duties associated with picking up, processing, storing, and shipping of radioactive waste. Radioactive Waste is regulated on campus by the procedures in the Radiation Safety Manual. In addition, the Department of Environmental Safety (DES) has published and posted in each laboratory the UM Guidelines for handling hazardous waste. The Guidelines contain a matrix or table which specifically outlines in detail how the waste must be segregated for disposal. This segregation must take place in the laboratory with the user following the guidelines and placing the waste in the appropriate containers.

Despite the posted Guidelines and the Radiation Safety Manual Regulations on waste disposal there is a recurring problem with disposal of radioactive waste on the College Park Campus. Items such as needles, syringes, razor blades and other sharp objects are found in solid waste containers that are examined at the DES waste facility. Source vials, labeled vials and other non-solid waste are also present in the drums. These items are specifically forbidden in the containers; they pose a substantial hazard to personnel handling the waste and increase the processing time and cost of the drum. "Sharps" must be placed in a suitable container. These are available commercially or readily available in the lab in the form of cardboard boxes that can be sealed with tape when full. The sharps container is then placed on top of the drum rather than inside the drum. When personnel come to pick up the waste they handle the placement of the sharps container in the drum before sealing the container for removal.

Mixed waste is another category that is both time consuming and costly for disposal. Mixed waste consists of a listed hazardous waste or one that meets the criteria for a hazardous waste, these are parameters for categories of toxicity, reactivity, corrosivity, and ignitability, that contain radioactive waste. These must be separated to avoid an adverse reaction and by the half life of the isotope. Those with short half lives can be held for decay by our department, at which time they may then be treated as hazardous waste for only their chemical content. It is rare that the user in the lab will generate a solid mixed waste, but sometimes by using a red bag that designates a biohazard, the waste is marked as a mixed waste. Again it is rare that this is the case and the user and DES working together determine that the wrong type of solid container or plastic bag was used to temporarily store radioactive waste.

These are just two examples of the problems associated with handling radioactive waste once it has been disposed of by lab personnel and is transported to the DES waste facility. As a user you must be diligent in your effort to dispose of waste properly. Use the Guidelines and when questions arise call either the Radiation Safety Office ((301) 314-8336) or the Hazardous Waste Section ((301)-405-3990). Through your efforts in the lab radioactive waste can be disposed of properly, cost effectively and safely for all personnel involved.

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