Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
2/2/2015
A Kansas state Senate bill would amend the state’s low-level radioactive waste rules by allowing disposal in state landfills of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) and Technologically-Enhanced, Naturally-Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM), a state official said last week at a hearing. The change in law aims to allow disposal practices the oil and gas industry has been using for many decades, Kansas Department of Health Director of the Bureau of Waste Management Bill Burr said at a Kansas Senate Natural Resources Committee hearing on the proposed legislation. “It is clear that the definition of low-level radioactive waste needs to be revised to omit NORM and ‘technically enhanced NORM,’ commonly called TENORM, to conform to actual disposal practices that have been occurring in Kansas for many decades,” Burr said at the Feb. 12 hearing.
Following a review by KDHE that revealed that NORM waste could be classified as low-level waste, the Department wanted to revise the low-level waste law that forbids burying low-level waste as a disposal method. “The passage of this bill would allow the most common disposal method for drilling waste in pits permitted by [Kansas Corporation Commission] to continue and it would allow KDHE to develop regulations to allow both NORM and TENORM to be disposed of in certain permitted landfills that satisfy the highest design and operating requirements,” Burr said.
The bill would also require new rules that would regulate how much waste landfills could accept annually, Burr said. “However, it is necessary to limit the concentration of NORM and TENORM to safe levels. KDHE is proposing to establish those levels in regulations that would follow the passage of this bill that also directs KDHE to adopt such rules,” Burr said. “Many other states around the country are also presently addressing this same issue, most notably North Dakota, which is generating ten times more drilling waste than Kansas.”
Like Kansas, North Dakota and Pennsylvania have also taken a long look at NORM/TENORM disposal practices in their state landfills to ensure public safety and environment protection. Late last year, North Dakota proposed raising its radiation limit for disposal to 50 picocurie per gram, almost ten times higher than the existing regulation. With the increased activity in oil and gas exploration from fracking in last decade, especially in the Marcellus Shale and Bakkan Shale formations, volumes of TENORM in states where that type of waste did not regularly occur have increased.
Kansas Oil/Gas Regulator and Landfill Operator Support Bill
The Kansas Corporation Commission, the state’s oil and gas industry regulator, also voiced its support of the bill. According to the KCC, oil/gas companies have been disposing of NORM waste on-site for decades by putting it in an earthen pit constructed on the drill site, which is then covered with excess dirt. “Based on the data collected during the NORM study associated with land spreading, staff does not believe the concentrations of NORM to be at a level requiring a deviation from current practices,” KCC’s Director of the Conservation Division Ryan Hoffman said at the hearing. “Staff views this bill as necessary to correct a technicality regarding the burial of exploration and production waste on site.”
Meanwhile, Waste Management, the disposal company that operates several landfills in the state, also voiced its support of the bill. The company feels that the waste can safely be disposed of in Subtitle D facilities. “Our experience indicates that these materials can safely and effectively be managed at Subtitle D facilities without posing risks to human health or the environment,” WM Senior Manager of Public Affairs Lisa Disbrow’s written testimony said. “As a member of the regulated community, WM supports establishing a clear legislative and regulatory framework that addresses the level of these materials and specify sampling and analytical requirements, as well as appropriate disposal limitations at solid waste facilities.”
