The state of Montana is considering a new set of regulations for management of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM) waste.
The state has one operational landfill that accepts TENORM waste, Buckhorn Energy’s Oaks Disposal Services site in eastern Montana. The facility in the last four years has received over 250,000 tons of radioactive waste, primarily from oil and gas extraction operations in neighboring North Dakota, the Public News Service reported Friday.
Another two sites are licensed but not yet built, while the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is conducting an environmental assessment on another proposed facility, Ed Thamke, DEQ waste and underground tank management bureau chief, told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing on Monday.
The Environmental Protection Agency defines TENORM as “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.”
While Montana already has rules for management of solid waste, and has included measures laid out in its draft rules in the licenses for TENORM disposal sites, “we wanted to have a transparent set of rules that were specific for TENORM,” Thamke said.
Among the proposed regulations: a TENORM waste management system could not be built, expanded, or operated without a DEQ solid waste management system license; annual average TENORM concentration in a disposal unit could not exceed 50 picocuries per gram of radium-226 plus radium-228; any waste surpassing that level could not be accepted at a landfill; and any TENORM waste management plan must feature specific criteria on which wastes would be housed at a landfill, the on-site sampling and testing to be employed, and procedures for waste rejection, among other measures.
The state has scheduled public meetings on the rules for Sept. 7 in Helena and Sept. 20 in Sidney. It expects to complete the new rules in November.
