The state of Montana has delayed until May final publication of new rules on landfill disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) waste in landfills.
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality had planned to issue its notice of adoption this month, but has pushed that back to May 29 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to agency spokesman Paul Driscoll.
“Like many govt entities, MT DEQ is extending a lot of deadlines simply out of considerations surrounding COVID rather than anything directly associated with the emergency,” Driscoll said by email on Tuesday. “A great many people are prioritizing more important factors in their lives and so we have extended all of our public comment periods, many of them indefinitely. This includes anything associated with physical public meetings.”
The draft final rules issued on Jan. 31 made a number of changes to the package issued in August 2019. The revisions include reducing the radionuclide concentration limit from 200 picocuries per gram to 50 pCi/g for intake into a TENORM waste management system. The gate screening exposure level would also be cut from 200 to 100 microroentgen per hour for incoming waste into the disposal system.
TENORM is naturally radioactive material that has come into contact with the environment or has been concentrated by human activities such as oil and natural gas production. One landfill in the state is licensed and operational for TENORM disposal, while two others have received licenses but not built their waste management systems.
For the last five years Montana on average has disposed of 58,600 tons of TENORM waste each year. Montana is an energy producer, but a significant amount of the material originates in neighboring North Dakota.
