![]() ![]() ![]() This webpage provides information on the Clean Air Act of 1970. This webpage provides information on the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. This webpage provides information about the EPA’s role at the WIPP. OSHA regulations require safety training for workers who can be exposed to hazardous substances or radioactive waste. Workers and managers in any of the industries that produce radioactive waste can take this training to learn more about recognizing and properly disposing of radioactive wastes.ĮPA’s Role at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) These include the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Land Withdrawal Act and the Energy Policy Act of 1992, that affect development and implementation standards for the management and disposal of waste at certain disposal facilities the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) that enables the EPA to set limits on radiation from mill tailings and the Clean Air Act that limits radon emissions from mill tailing impoundments. Other statutes provide the EPA with authority to establish standards for specific wastes or facilities. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-licensed facilities that use radioactive material. The EPA is responsible under the Atomic Energy Act for developing general environmental standards that apply to both the Department of Energy (DOE)-operated and the U.S. Radioactive materials and other contaminants from waste can be very dangerous inside the body. Never touch, inhale or ingest radioactive waste. Keeping distance between you and radioactive waste will help keep you from being exposed. However, if you are near a facility that manages radioactive waste, follow safety instructions. It is highly unlikely that you would unknowingly encounter radioactive waste. Some radioactive elements, such as plutonium, are highly radioactive and remain so for thousands of years. However, the time it will take for the radioactive material to decay will range from a few hours to hundreds of millions of years. Once the radioactive material has decayed sufficiently, the waste is no longer hazardous. Like all radioactive material, radioactive wastes will naturally decay over time. There are disposal facilities that specialize in the near-surface disposal of low-level waste. Low-level waste can be generated by any industry using radioactive material, including government, utility, manufacture, medical and research facilities. These items are considered waste once they come into contact with radioactive materials. Much of this waste looks like common items such as paper, rags, plastic bags, protective clothing, cardboard, and packaging material. Low-level waste: Low-level waste is radioactively contaminated industrial or research waste that is not high-level waste, transuranic waste, or uranium or thorium mill tailings.Mill tailings are stored at the production-sites in specially designed ponds called impoundments. ![]() Uranium or thorium mill tailings: Mill tailings are radioactive wastes that remain after the mining and milling of uranium or thorium ore. ![]() Transuranic waste created as part of a defense program will ultimately be disposed of at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, which began accepting waste in 1999. Transuranic waste is currently being stored at several federal facilities across the country. This waste includes common items such as rags, tools, and laboratory equipment contaminated during the early age of nuclear weapons research and development. Most of the transuranic waste in the United States is from nuclear weapons production facilities.
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