Exiting Gov. Rick Snyder last month signed two bills on disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) in Michigan landfills.
Snyder (R) approved the bills on Dec. 28, four days before the end of his second and final term in office. He was succeeded by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D).
Sen. Tom Casperson’s (R) SB 1196 establishes direct caps for landfill disposal of TENORM: a radium-226 concentration exceeding 50 picocuries per gram; a radium-228 concentration exceeding 50 picocuries per gram; or a lead-210 concentration exceeding 260 picocuries per gram. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is authorized to amend a landfill operating license to increase the limit to 500 picocuries per gram of each radionuclide, but that requires the site to establish a radiation safety program and make other concessions.
Accompanying legislation from Sen. Rebekah Warren (D) establishes a $5 per ton fee for TENORM accepted by landfills. The money will pay for state regulation and oversight of TENORM disposal, monitoring gear for local municipalities and landfills, and refunds to generators.
TENORM is naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) with a higher radionuclide concentration due to human activity. It encompasses mineral scales, sludges and sediments, and other wastes that can be generate via hydraulic fracturing for extraction of oil and gas.
At least three sites in Michigan accept TENORM for disposal: two landfills and a disposal site operated by US Ecology. As of November, they together had received over 50,000 cubic yards of TENORM in 2018.
