An effective waste management process for segregation and disposal of legacy mixed waste at Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico

Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico (SNL/NM) is a research and development facility that generates many highly diverse, low-volume mixed waste streams. Under the Federal Facility Compliance Act, SNL/NM must treat its mixed waste in storage to meet the Land Disposal Restrictions treatment standards. Since 1989, approximately 70 cubic meters (2,500 cubic feet) of heterogeneous, poorly characterized and inventoried mixed waste was placed in storage that could not be treated as specified in the SNL/NM Site Treatment Plan. A process was created to sort the legacy waste into sixteen well-defined, properly characterized, and accurately inventoried mixed waste streams (Treatability Groups) and two low-level waste streams ready for treatment or disposal. From June 1995 through September 1996, the entire volume of this stored mixed waste was sorted and inventoried. This process was planned to meet the technical requirements of the sorting operation and to identify and address the hazards this operation presented. The operations were routinely adapted to safely and efficiently handle a variety of waste matrices, hazards, and radiological conditions. This flexibility was accomplished through administrative and physical controls integrated into the sorting operations. Many Department of Energy facilities are currently facing the prospect of sorting, characterizing, and treating a large inventory of mixed waste. The process described in this report is a proven method for preparing a diverse, heterogeneous mixed waste volume into segregated, characterized, inventoried, and documented waste streams ready for treatment or disposal