Low-level waste

The definition of low-level waste is set by the nuclear regulators of individual countries, though the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) provides recommendations.

This waste typically consists of contaminated protective shoe covers and clothing, wiping rags, mops, filters, reactor water treatment residues, equipments and tools, luminous dials, medical tubes, swabs, injection needles, syringes, and laboratory animal carcasses and tissues.

In the UK, LLW is defined as waste with specific activities below 12 gigabecquerel/ tonne (GBq/t) beta/gamma and below 4 GBq/t alpha emitting nuclides.

VLLW is LLW that is suitable disposal with regular household or industrial waste at specially permitted landfill facilities.

The major components of VLLW from nuclear sites are building rubble, soil and steel items.

The four low-level waste facilities in the U.S. are Barnwell, South Carolina; Richland, Washington; Clive, Utah; and as of June 2013, Andrews County, Texas.

Items allowed to be disposed of in this way include glow-in-the-dark watches (radium) and smoke detectors (americium).

Low-level waste buried under layers of soil at a storage facility.
NRC graphic of a low-level waste facility
Low-level waste storage pit at the Nevada National Security Site