{"id":72,"date":"2016-01-29T14:29:31","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T14:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/?page_id=72"},"modified":"2025-09-05T17:34:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:34:49","slug":"radioactive-waste","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/radiological-health\/radioactive-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"Radioactive Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"

Discharge to Sewer\/ Airborne Release <\/strong><\/h2>\n

State and Federal regulations allow radioactive materials licensees to discharge radioactive materials to sanitary sewer and to the atmosphere by incineration for certain radioisotopes in specific quantities, and concentrations.<\/p>\n

Decay in Storage<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Radioisotopes having short half-lives may be stored at the licensee’s facility until the material is no longer detectable.\u00a0 The material may then be disposed as non radioactive waste as long as all radioactive labels have been removed or made illegible.\u00a0 This method of disposal is called “Decay in storage”.<\/p>\n

Ocean Burial <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Many decades ago, radioactive materials were disposed at sea.\u00a0 However, the United States became a Contracting Party to the London Convention (ratified April 29, 1974) , which bans the disposing of radioactive materials at sea.\u00a0 The London Convention, entered into force on August 30, 1975, applies to the deliberate disposal at sea of wastes or other matter from vessels, aircraft, platforms and other man-made structures at sea, as well as to the deliberate disposal at sea of vessels, aircraft, platforms or other man-made structures themselves.\u00a0 Contracting Parties to the London Convention agreed to control dumping by implementing regulatory programs to assess the need for, and the potential impact of, dumping.\u00a0 The London Convention requires that Contracting Parties issue a permit for the dumping of wastes and other matter at sea, and generally prohibits the dumping of certain hazardous materials.<\/p>\n

Land Burial <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Land burial of radioactive materials is authorized only in a licensed low level radioactive waste facility. Although the Code of Virginia authorizes the sitting and licensure of such a facility, there are none in Virginia.<\/p>\n

Low Level Radioactive Waste<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Since a few low level radioactive waste facilities can handle the nation’s disposal needs, Congress has authorized the creation of regional low level radioactive compacts for states to join, rather than each state build its own facility.\u00a0 Until July 1, 2008, the low-level waste facility for the eastern U.S. was located in Barnwell, SC. After this date the South Carolina Legislature closed Barnwell to all states except for those in the Atlantic Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Compact (Connecticut, New Jersey and South Carolina).<\/p>\n

Southeast Low -Level Radioactive Waste Regional Compact<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Virginia is a member of the Southeast Low -Level Radioactive Waste Regional Compact.\u00a0\u00a0To meet their obligations under the Act, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia formed the Southeast Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Compact in 1983. The number of states in the Compact changed to six with the withdrawal of South Carolina in 1995 and North Carolina in 1999. The compact concept offers the significant advantage of rotating responsibility for the region\u2019s LLRW and maximizing efficient use of available resources to protect public health and the environment.\u00a0 The mission of the Compact is “to ensure that adequate, reliable, and appropriate services are available, now and in the foreseeable future, such that low-level radioactive waste generated in the Southeast Region can be safely managed in an efficient, equitable, economical, and environmentally responsible manner in order that each party state may meet its responsibility for providing for the availability of capacity either within or outside the State for disposal of low-level radioactive waste generated within its borders (Article 1, PL 99-240).”<\/p>\n

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a News Release on May 29, 2008 entitled “NRC Updates Guidance to Licensees for Extended Storage of Low-Level Radioactive Waste.” See\u00a0https:\/\/www.nrc.gov\/docs\/ML0815\/ML081500171.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

For information regarding activities of the Southeast Compact see their web page at: http:\/\/www.secompact.org<\/a><\/p>\n

High Level Radioactive Waste<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Radioactive waste that is highly radioactive and have long half life requires additional precautions for disposal and is regulated by the federal government. An example of high level radioactive waste is spent reactor fuel.\u00a0 Spent reactor fuel originating from US Naval Nuclear reactors or fuel provided to foreign countries under the “Atoms for Peace” Program are returned to the Department of Energy for disposal at its facility in Hanford, WA.<\/p>\n

Currently there is no high-level radioactive waste disposal facility for spent commercial nuclear reactor fuel.\u00a0 Congress has approved the selection of a site located at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. For information on this facility see the following web page: U.S. GAO: Disposal of High Level Nuclear Waste Summary<\/a><\/p>\n

Until this facility is opened, all commercial nuclear power stations are required to store their spent fuel at the power station.\u00a0 Most power stations have limited storage capacity to store spent fuel in fuel storage pools.\u00a0 The spent fuel generates significant heat after it is removed from the reactor. This is called decay heat and can damage the fuel rod assemblies if the heat is not removed.\u00a0 So they are typically stored in a pool of water.\u00a0 Virginia Power pioneered work in the development of storing these spent fuel assemblies in a dry cask.\u00a0 The large steel casks have fins surrounding the cask to radiate the heat from the casks into the air, in other words the spent fuel is air cooled instead of using a liquid coolant, such as water.\u00a0 The first dry cask storage facility in the nation is located at Surry Nuclear Power Station.\u00a0 The North Anna Nuclear Power Station now has one as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Office of Radiological Health | 109 Governor Street | Richmond, VA 23219<\/p>\n

Telephone (804) 864-8150<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Discharge to Sewer\/ Airborne Release State and Federal regulations allow radioactive materials licensees to discharge radioactive materials to sanitary sewer and to the atmosphere by incineration for certain radioisotopes in specific quantities, and concentrations. Decay in Storage Radioisotopes having short half-lives may be stored at the licensee’s facility until the material is no longer detectable.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"parent":4,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nRadioactive Waste - Radiological Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/radiological-health\/radioactive-waste\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Radioactive Waste - Radiological Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discharge to Sewer\/ Airborne Release State and Federal regulations allow radioactive materials licensees to discharge radioactive materials to sanitary sewer and to the atmosphere by incineration for certain radioisotopes in specific quantities, and concentrations. Decay in Storage Radioisotopes having short half-lives may be stored at the licensee’s facility until the material is no longer detectable.\u00a0 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/radiological-health\/radioactive-waste\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Radiological Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-05T17:34:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/radiological-health\\\/radiological-health\\\/radioactive-waste\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/radiological-health\\\/radiological-health\\\/radioactive-waste\\\/\",\"name\":\"Radioactive Waste - Radiological Health\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/radiological-health\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-29T14:29:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-05T17:34:49+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/radiological-health\\\/radiological-health\\\/radioactive-waste\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/radiological-health\\\/radiological-health\\\/radioactive-waste\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/radiological-health\\\/radiological-health\\\/radioactive-waste\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/radiological-health\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Radiological Health\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/radiological-health\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Radioactive Waste\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/radiological-health\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/radiological-health\\\/\",\"name\":\"Radiological Health\",\"description\":\"To promote and protect the health of all Virginians\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/radiological-health\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Radioactive Waste - Radiological Health","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/radiological-health\/radioactive-waste\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Radioactive Waste - Radiological Health","og_description":"Discharge to Sewer\/ Airborne Release State and Federal regulations allow radioactive materials licensees to discharge radioactive materials to sanitary sewer and to the atmosphere by incineration for certain radioisotopes in specific quantities, and concentrations. Decay in Storage Radioisotopes having short half-lives may be stored at the licensee’s facility until the material is no longer detectable.\u00a0 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/radiological-health\/radioactive-waste\/","og_site_name":"Radiological Health","article_modified_time":"2025-09-05T17:34:49+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/radiological-health\/radioactive-waste\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/radiological-health\/radioactive-waste\/","name":"Radioactive Waste - Radiological Health","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-01-29T14:29:31+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-05T17:34:49+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/radiological-health\/radioactive-waste\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/radiological-health\/radioactive-waste\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/radiological-health\/radioactive-waste\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Radiological Health","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Radioactive Waste"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/","name":"Radiological Health","description":"To promote and protect the health of all Virginians","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3236,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/72\/revisions\/3236"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/radiological-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}