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EPA Signs Agreement with Pennsylvania DEP, Ortho-McNeil to Improve Disposal Methods and Reduce Costs

Release Date: 9/25/2000
Contact Information: Roy Seneca (215) 814-5567

Roy Seneca, 215-814-5567

SPRING HOUSE, Pa. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and the Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Corporation have signed an agreement under EPA’s “Project XL program” that will help the company recycle low-level radioactive laboratory waste rather than dispose of it in the environment.

“We’re proud to play a part in helping to facilitate this new innovative process under our Project XL program. This is truly an initiative that benefits the environment and helps Ortho-McNeil by reducing its costs of disposing of this material,” said Bradley Campbell, EPA’s regional administrator for the mid-Atlantic region.

Ortho-McNeil generates small batches of the low-level radioactive waste as part of its pharmaceutical research in its laboratory. Currently, the only permitted treatment option for this waste involves off-site transportation and disposal at an authorized disposal facility.

To treat this waste, the authorized facilities use incineration, which destroys the hazardous waste component, or solidification and land disposal. Neither method allows the radioactive material in the waste to be recovered for reuse. Additionally, both involve substantial transportation and treatment costs, and are particularly not cost-effective considering the small amounts of this material generated by Ortho-McNeil (batches of 50 to 500 milliliters and less than 50 liters per year).

Under the agreement, Ortho-McNeil will be permitted to use a high-temperature catalytic oxidation process it has developed within its laboratory, which will destroy the hazardous waste component in the material and trap the remaining low-level radioactive material onsite, ultimately making it available for reuse. Under this process, waste is processed in the same secure lab where it was created.

Ortho-McNeil has freely shared, and will continue to share this technology with other research institutions, government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, colleges, and hospitals that generate this type of low-level radioactive waste.

The process represents an environmentally superior way to address small quantities of low-level radioactive waste because there is less risk of off-site spills, worker exposures and releases during storage, transportation and handling.

The oxidation process comes under EPA’s “Project XL,” which stands for eXcellence and Leadership. This is a national program that allows companies flexibility in environmental regulations on condition that the public benefits from reduced pollution or other superior environmental performance.