Geology of Waste Management

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Geology of Waste Management

• Wastes generated as a consequence of using earth
  materials
• Wastes and contaminants occur in and travel
  through the geological environment
• Waste management schemes use geological
  reservoirs for containment
• Waste management schemes use geological processes
  for dilution and dispersal

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Not In My Back Yard
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Forms of Waste

• Solid Waste
• Material that can not be easily passed through a
  pipe
• Liquid Waste

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Sources of Solid Waste

• Agricultural
• organic matter disposed on site
• Mining
• waste rock, tailings - disposed on site
• Industrial
• Municipal

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Composition of Industrial Waste


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Composition of Municipal Waste
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Solid Waste Disposal

• Open dumps - non-disposal
• Composting - organic material
• Recycling - newsprint, aluminum, plastic,
• Incineration - combustible
• Landfills - most common

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Sanitary Landfills
Clay Cap
Gas Recovery System
Monitoring well
Refuse
Leechate
Groundwater
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Site Constraints

• Topographic relief
• Location of the water table
• Amount of precipitation
• Type of soil and rock
• Location of the disposal zone in the surface
  water/groundwater flow system

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Site Constraints
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Engineered Landfills
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Liquid Waste

• Sewage
• Industrial Effluents

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Septic Tanks
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Sewage Treatment
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Hazardous Waste

• Waste that poses a present of potential danger to
  humans or wildlife
• poisonous, carcinogenic, caustic, acidic,
  explosive, infectious, or radioactive
• Require special handling and treatment

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Types of Hazardous Waste
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Sources of Hazardous Waste
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Hazardous Waste Disposal
Injection well
Monitor well
Aquifer
Well casing
Impermeable unit
Injection
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Radiation

• Alpha particles
• 2 protons 2 neutrons, heavy
• Beta particles
• electron from nucleus, light
• Gamma rays
• electromagnetic radiation

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Units of Radiation Measurement

• Curie
• disintegrations/second
• Rad
• amount of energy absorbed by biological tissue
• Rem
• energy adjusted for radiation type

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Types of Radwaste

• Low-level
• near surface burial sites, or dilute and disperse
• Intermediate-level
• separate or decay on-site until low-level
• High-level
• spent fuel, deep burial

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Disposal of Radwaste
Vault Backfill
Geological Barrier
Fuel Ceramic/glass pellet
Titanium Shell
Buffer Barrier