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PLAN ANNOUNCED TO REDUCE RISKS, CUT COSTS AT PHILADELPHIA SUBURB RESEARCH CENTER
Release Date: 09/29/2000
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2000
PLAN ANNOUNCED TO REDUCE RISKS, CUT COSTS AT
PHILADELPHIA SUBURB RESEARCH CENTER
On Sept. 22, EPA, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and Ortho-McNeill Corp., signed a Project XL agreement to test an innovative way to treat waste solutions produced at the company’s Spring House, Pa. research facility. The waste solutions, considered low level mixed wastes because they contain both radioactive material and an organic compound, are regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and EPA. They are currently disposed of offsite at a permitted facility. The company proposes to build an innovative on-site waste treatment system using a high temperature catalytic oxidation process that destroys the hazardous waste and captures the radioactive material from the waste mixture. This new process will allow small quantities of low level mixed wastes to be disposed of in an environmentally superior way, and radioactive material will be stabilized and recycled. This innovative technology will reduce the cost of disposing small amounts of mixed wastes and will allow the company to reallocate savings to health and science research. To implement the new technology, EPA and the PADEP plan to modify current regulatory requirements pertaining to mixed wastes, while the NRC will maintain regulatory controls and oversight on the remaining low-level radioactive material. EPA will retain authority over the company’s low level mixed waste as a solid waste, if necessary.
R-140 ###
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