Michigan Panel OKs State TENORM Disposal Regulations

The Michigan panel charged with looking at the state’s Technologically-Enhanced Naturally-Occurring Radioactive Materials (TENORM) regulations found that the 50 picocurie per gram disposal limit was protective of public health, according to its report released late last week. U.S. Ecology’s Wayne Disposal landfill outside Detroit had been at the center of local outcry last year against the importation of radioactive fracking waste from outside the state, resulting in the pause in acceptance of the waste at the facility. Michigan’s Republican Governor Rick Snyder created a panel of experts to look at the issue of fracking waste disposal in greater depth to ensure the regulation protected public health and the environment. The panel determined the design of the state’s hazardous landfill were adequate to protect the public and worker’s over the waste’s decay period, and it even suggested that the landfills could accept higher levels of radiation. The report also included recommendations for new regulations, including the capping of waste a landfill could accept in a year.