Mixed waste characterization reference document

Waste characterization and monitoring are major activities in the management of waste from generation through storage and treatment to disposal. Adequate waste characterization is necessary to ensure safe storage, selection of appropriate and effective treatment, and adherence to disposal standards. For some wastes characterization objectives can be difficult and costly to achieve. The purpose of this document is to evaluate costs of characterizing one such waste type, mixed (hazardous and radioactive) waste. For the purpose of this document, waste characterization includes treatment system monitoring, where monitoring is a supplement or substitute for waste characterization. This document establishes a cost baseline for mixed waste characterization and treatment system monitoring requirements from which to evaluate alternatives. The cost baseline established as part of this work includes costs for a thermal treatment technology (i.e., a rotary kiln incinerator), a nonthermal treatment process (i.e., waste sorting, macronencapsulation, and catalytic wet oxidation), and no treatment (i.e., disposal of waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)). The analysis of improvement over the baseline includes assessment of promising areas for technology development in front-end waste characterization, process equipment, off gas controls, and monitoring. Based on this assessment, an ideal characterization and monitoring configuration is described that minimizes costs and optimizes resources required for waste characterization