Washington Administrative Code
Title 246 - Health, Department of
RADIATION
Chapter 246-249 - Radioactive waste - Use of the commercial disposal site
Section 246-249-040 - Classification of radioactive waste for near-surface disposal

(1) Considerations. Determination of the classification of waste involves two considerations. First, consideration must be given to the concentration of long-lived radionuclides (and their shorter-lived precursors) whose potential hazard will persist long after such precautions as institutional controls, improved waste form, and deeper disposal have ceased to be effective. These precautions delay the time when long-lived radionuclides could cause exposures. In addition, the magnitude of the potential dose is limited by the concentration and availability of the radionuclide at the time of exposure. Second, consideration must be given to the concentration of shorter-lived radionuclides for which requirements on institutional controls, waste form, and disposal methods are effective.

(2) Classes of waste.

(3) Classification determined by long-lived radionuclides. If the waste contains only radionuclides listed in Table 1, classification shall be determined as follows:

(4) Classification determined by short-lived radionuclides. If the waste does not contain any of the radionuclides listed in Table 1, classification shall be determined based on the concentrations shown in Table 2. If the radioactive waste does not contain any radionuclides listed in either Table 1 or 2, it is Class A.

(5) Classification determined by both long-lived and short-lived radionuclides. If the waste contains a mixture of radionuclides, some of which are listed in Table 1, and some of which are listed in Table 2, classification shall be determined as follows:

(6) Classification of waste with radionuclides other than those listed in Tables 1 and 2. If the waste does not contain any radionuclides listed in either Table 1 or 2, it is Class A.

(7) The sum of fractions rule for mixtures of radionuclides. For determining classification for waste that contains a mixture of radionuclides, it is necessary to determine the sum of fractions by dividing each radionuclide's concentration by the appropriate limit and adding the resulting values. The appropriate limits must all be taken from the same column of the same table. The sum of the fractions for the column must be less than or equal to 1.0 if the waste class is to be determined by that column. Example: A waste contains Sr-90 in a concentration of 50 Ci/m3 and Cs-137 in a concentration of 22 Ci/m3. Since the concentrations both exceed the values in Column 1, Table 2, they must be compared to Column 2 values. For Sr-90 fraction, 50/150 = 0.33; for Cs-137 fraction, 22/44 = 0.5; the sum of the fractions = 0.83. Since the sum is less than 1.0, the waste is Class B.

(8) Determination of concentration in wastes. The concentration of a radionuclide may be determined by indirect methods such as use of scaling factors which relate to the inferred concentration of one radionuclide to another that is measured, or radionuclide material accountability, if there is reasonable assurance that the indirect methods can be correlated with actual measurement. The concentration of a radionuclide may be averaged over the volume of the waste, or weight of the waste if the units are expressed as nanocuries per gram.