North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is reviewing initial applications for disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM) waste at existing landfills near the city of Williston.
WISCO Inc. and Secure Energy Services are both going through the regulatory process, while IHD Solids Management has already withdrawn its radioactive material license application.
The state agency is currently accepting public comments on the application from Calgary, Alberta-based Secure Energy Services and does not have a schedule for a decision, according to David Stradinger, an environmental scientist with DEQ’s Radiation Control Program.
“Preliminary evaluations made by NDDEQ staff indicate that the facility will comply with all applicable North Dakota Radiological Health Rules and there will be no significant detrimental effects to members of the public or the environment,” the state agency said in a July 31 public notice on the public comment period.
North Dakota formally instituted its TENORM solid waste rules on Jan. 1, 2016, with the aim of ensuring proper management of the material, Stradinger said. That includes registering waste generators and transporters, along with tracking the material and regulating disposal.
Under the regulations, licensed landfills can accept no more than 25,000 tons of TENORM waste per year. The waste would not be allowed to exceed 50 picocuries per gram of radium-226 plus radium-228, according to the state rules.
Secure Energy Services applied in April 2018 for a radioactive material license for its 13-Mile Special Waste Landfill in Williston, followed the next month by a modification request for its solid waste permit. Stradinger said he did not know how much TENORM waste the company expects to receive for disposal at its landfill, and the company did not respond to queries by deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor.
The Canadian company provides a range of services for the oil and natural gas exploration and production industries, including waste processing and disposal. One of its terminals is adjacent to the 13-Mile Landfill in Williams County.
“Both the solid waste management permit and radioactive material license application were resubmitted several times,” Stradinger noted. “This is common with permit and license applications. The Department needs to verify the site is adequate to safely store/manage TENORM waste and that policies and procedures are in place to adequately protect the workers, members of the public and the environment.”
TENORM is naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) with radionuclide concentrations boosted through current or prior human activity – including energy production. North Dakota, rich in oil and natural gas deposits, currently must send its TENORM waste to other states for disposal. Two leading disposal sites are Oaks Disposal Services in Montana and US Ecology in Idaho, Stradinger said. Figures on shipment amounts were not immediately available.
Waste deposited at the 13-Mile Landfill, assuming it is licensed, could include: filter cake from Secure Energy processing terminals; filter socks from saltwater disposals; contaminated soil, frack sand, and other materials; and contaminated pipes, tanks, and other equipment. Specific elements for disposal would encompass radium-226, radium-228, and Pb-210. Stradinger said he believes the company would begin with material from its waste processing sites.
The waste would be placed in an open cell at the 13-Mile Landfill alongside other waste from oil and gas exploration and production operations. It would then be covered each day with 12 inches of nonradioactive waste, as required by North Dakota, or “other suitable cover material,” according to the company. Air and groundwater sampling would also be required, among other safety measures.
WISCO filed its radioactive material license application in May 2016 for its landfill west of Williston. The Department of Environmental Quality is now evaluating the company’s newly updated radiation protection plan, Stradinger said.
“This has been a long process already to this point,” but that is part of the effort to ensure that TENORM disposal poses no threat to workers, the public, or the environment, Stradinger said.
Public comments on the Secure Energy Services application are being accepted through Sept. 9 via email at [email protected], or by mail at Radioactive Materials License Comments, North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Waste Management, 918 East Divide Ave., Third Floor, Bismarck, ND 58501-1947. The comments will be considered in determining whether to approve the license and permit modification. A hearing is also scheduled for Aug. 27 in Williston.
