The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission has proposed a new rule intended to give it more information about imports of such waste into the state.
The update to the Texas Administrative Code would cover most all low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) imported into the state that is not destined for disposal at the “Compact Facility” – the state-owned site operated by Waste Control Specialists on its West Texas property for disposal of Class A, B, and C low-level radioactive waste. However, it allows an exemption for waste from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The “Commission has determined that it is in the public interest that it gather information regarding low-level radioactive waste that enters the host state irrespective of whether it requires an agreement for importation for disposal at the Compact Facility,” according to a Nov. 3 notice in the Texas Register. The proposed new rule “seeks to facilitate the gathering of information by the way of reporting requirements after the entry of the low-level waste into the state rather than requiring approval for the importation of certain categories or low-level radioactive waste into the host state.”
The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact allows its members — currently just Texas and Vermont — to dispose of their LLRW at a designated facility in any participating state. Texas hosts the only such disposal facility, at WCS, which can accept waste from non-compact states following approval from the commission.
Waste Control Specialists operates a separate facility at its Andrews County complex for disposal of federal low-level radioactive waste, which would effectively be covered by the data-submission exemption for DOE material. However, information could be required on LLRW shipped to the company’s Hazardous Waste Facility, commission Executive Director Leigh Ing told RadWaste Monitor.
Waste Control Specialists did not respond to a query regarding the proposed rule.
The only other business licensed for LLRW disposal by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is Ascend Performance Metals of Houston, which is authorized just to manage its own waste, said TCEQ spokesman Brian McGovern.
If the rule is approved, LLRW importers would be required to establish an agreement with the commission under which they would submit quarterly reports with data on each shipment including the identity of the waste generator, the waste activity in curies, the volume or weight of the material, and the date and location of disposal.
“The reason we’re doing this is because my answers to those questions is we don’t know,” Ing said.
Comments on the proposed rule are being accepted until Dec. 8 at [email protected], or by mailing Ing at 505 W. 15th St., Austin, TX 78701. The eight-person commission would then consider the input and update the rule, with approval expected well ahead of the six-month deadline in May, Ing said.
