Perma-Fix Northwest on Monday applied for a license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to export up to 10,000 kilograms of radioactive waste back to Italy after it has been treated in the United States.
The incoming waste would be comprised of personal protective gear, plastic, paper, and a small amount of glass contaminated by tritium, carbon-14, and minute amounts of cesium-137 and other materials, according to the application. It would encompass no more than 50,000 kilograms of material and a total radioactivity level of .64 terabecquerel.
“The waste was generated by hospital and pharmaceutical research projects. The waste will be treated by thermal processing, stabilization/solidification,” the application says.
Perma-Fix Northwest said the waste could be processed at its facility in Richland, Wash., along with other treatment plants operated by parent company Perma-Fix Environmental Services in Kingston, Tenn., and Gainesville, Fla.
The outgoing waste would weigh no more than 10,000 kilograms and possess a radioactivity level of up to 0.10 terabecquerel, according to Perma-Fix. The export would not involve any special nuclear material. It would be in a solid form: residual ash and metal or material that could not be combusted or recycled.
The export recipient would be Milan-based waste management and environmental services company Campoverde.
The NRC on Monday said it was too early to say how long the staff export review might take.
“The NRC is required to request the views of the Executive Branch as to whether approving the proposed export would be inimical to the common defense and security of the United States,” the agency said in a statement. “The Executive Branch must consult with Italian Government and consider the extent to which the relevant export licensing criteria are met. The NRC’s export licensing review process can be a multi-month process, depending on the application.”
This is Perma-Fix’s second export application on the books with the regulator. In August 2018, the Atlanta-based nuclear services firm requested an NRC license to send up to 650,000 kilograms of similarly processed low-level waste to Mexico. In its original state, the waste would encompass radioactively contaminated metals, wood, paper, and other materials from the Laguna Verde nuclear power plant near Veracruz.
In both cases, the NRC has determined Perma-Fix does not need an import license to receive the waste for processing.
There is also no timeline for a decision on the earlier license application, and no other export requests are pending before the NRC.
Perma-Fix declined to comment this week.
The company said it expects the first shipment to Italy on Jan. 6, 2020, and to complete shipments by Nov. 22, 2024. The license would expire on Jan. 6, 2025. The dates are not likely set in stone – in its application to send waste to Mexico, Perma-Fix estimated the first shipment would take place on Dec. 1, 2018.
The processed Italian waste would be trucked from the three facilities to the port at Philadelphia, from where it would be shipped to Antwerp, Belgium, and then driven through Friday to Milan for long-term storage.
