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Solid waste processing and disposal facilities are required to install equipment that scans incoming waste for radioactive material.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) allows disposal facilities to accept non-harmful materials with low levels of radioactivity—materials in consumer products, such as smoke alarms, and isotopes used in nuclear medicine. These items do not pose any risk to employees or the environment.
When materials are found with higher levels of radioactivity, they are segregated and transported to an approved waste disposal facility.
Pennsylvania does not have any sites licensed to take regulated radioactive waste. All waste of this type is shipped to sites in South Carolina or Utah. |
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Waste disposal facilities must have detection devices to monitor incoming loads of waste for radioactive materials and must follow specific guidelines to make sure such material is properly identified and managed.
Read in more detail: DEP Fact Sheet – “Monitoring for Radioactive Material in Solid Waste”
Pennsylvania Municipal Waste Disposal Facilities
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