Mixed Waste Chemical Compatibility: A Testing Program for Plastic Packaging Components

The purpose of hazardous and radioactive materials packaging is to enable these materials to be transported without posing a threat to the health or property of the general public. To achieve this aim, regulations in the United States have been written establishing general design requirements for such packagings. While no regulations have been written specifically for mixed waste packaging, regulations for the constituents of mixed wastes, i.e., hazardous and radioactive substances, have been codified by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT, 49 CFR 173) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, 10 CFR 71 ). The design requirements for both hazardous [49 CFR 173.24 (e)(l)] and radioactive [49 CFR 173.412 (g)] materials packaging specify packaging compatibility, i.e., that the materials of the packaging and any contents be chemically compatible with each other. Furthermore, Type A [49 CFR 173.412 (g)] and Type B (10 CFR 71.43) packaging design requirements stipulate that there be no significant chemical, galvanic, or other reaction between the materials and contents of the package. Based on these requirements, a Chemical Compatibility Testing Program was developed in the Transportation Systems Department at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). The program attempts to assure any regulatory body that the issue of packaging material compatibility towards hazardous and radioactive materials has been addressed. This program has been described in considerable detail in an internal SNL document, the Chemical Compatibility Test Plan & Procedure Report (Nigrey 1993).