Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment hopes to persuade lawmakers to change state law to increase its ability to regulate disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) waste in state landfills.
The state’s 1963 Radiation Control Act prohibits the Colorado government from developing regulations for management of TENORM until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does the same. The EPA, however, has yet to do so.
State law, though, does ban disposal of radioactively contaminated materials in landfills that are not directly classified for that role, as well as holding, ownership, or employment of radioactive materials without a license.
A handful of landfills in the state are already approved for regular or case-by-case disposal of TENORM waste, which primarily has involved sludge from water treatment operations. However, the experience of nearby states suggests some solid waste landfills in Colorado could unintentionally be violating the law through disposal of significant amounts of TENORM waste from oil and gas exploration and production operations, said Joe Schieffelin, manager of the department’s Solid Waste and Materials Management Program.
TENORM, according to the EPA, encompasses naturally occurring radioactive materials “that have been concentrated or exposed to the accessible environment as a result of human activities such as manufacturing, mineral extraction, or water processing.” In the energy production industry, this waste can include tank bottoms, filter socks, filter press sludge, piping, and other equipment.
The number of landfills in Colorado that might be receiving such waste is among the questions to be answered, Schieffelin said. The radionuclide levels in that waste is another.
In May, Schieffelin sent a letter to the operators of Colorado’s 60 solid waste landfills highlighting state law on disposal of radioactively contaminated materials and providing the outline of a program under which the department would work with the facilities to address any illegal storage of TENORM waste. However, Schieffelin rescinded the May letter in a follow-up message to landfill operators in July.
“As we rethought that, and got input from stakeholders, we realized that a better solution would be to try to change one little part in the Radiation Control Act that would allow us to develop regulations under the Radiation Control Act specifically for TENORM,” Schieffelin told RadWaste Monitor.
The Public Health and Environment Department will work with state lawmakers during their 2018 legislative session, which runs from January to May, to amend the Radiation Control Act. If that succeeds, it will work with oil and gas firms, disposal facilities, local governments, and other stakeholders to establish regulations for disposal of TENORM waste.
A letter addressing the new approach could be sent to landfill operators by November, though a specific schedule has not been set, Schieffelin said.
While the specific form of the regulations would be established during the consultation process, they could include landfill design and operating and storage standards. “I have no idea what it might all include. That will all be up to the stakeholder process that wouldn’t happen until the law is changed,” Schieffelin said, acknowledging that changing the law was not a sure bet.
It could take a year to develop the regulations, he added.
The state’s Solid and Hazardous Waste Commission would have final say on the rulemaking.
Colorado is not alone in trying to better regulate its TENORM waste. Montana is current considering its own set of regulations to deal with the influx of waste from oil and gas operations in neighboring North Dakota.
