Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1996

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Environmental Engineering

Major Professor

R. Bruce Robinson

Committee Members

Robert M. Counce, James Smoot

Abstract

Laboratory operations perform extremely diverse activities and account for less than 1 percent of the hazardous waste generated nationwide; consequently, until recently, pollution prevention activities were not strongly emphasized or documented. Due to the laboratories' roles in society, however, pollution prevention opportunity assessments and implementation in the laboratory environment are essential. Laboratories are often where new production and operational innovations originate and where many of tomorrow's engineers and scientists are educated and indoctrinated. The initial integration of pollution prevention concepts in the laboratory can result in significant reductions in waste in future operations. The Metals and Ceramics (M&C) Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) recognized that the integration of pollution prevention into its activities was essential and supported this study as well as other pollution prevention activities, including implementation.

This study established a methodology and gathered data in an iterative manner. The 1992 M&C Division's activities that generated nonradioactive Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous wastes were examined. First, through data gathering, these operations were defined, and waste sources were determined. Current and potential pollution prevention opportunities were also identified and quantified. Due to the increased hazard of these wastes and related materials, additional precautionary activities are required. These added requirements and quantifiable associated costs were identified by gathering data from the initiation of a purchase requisition requesting a hazardous material through future disposal of the resulting nonradioactive RCRA hazardous waste. The added requirements and associated costs were placed in one of four categories: (1) procurement, (2) general environmental, safety, and health, (3) usage and storage, and (4) waste management. The added costs were also categorized by the type of funding: (1) direct research and development (R&D) funding, (2) M&C overhead funding, (3) ORNL overhead funding, (4) U.S. Department of Energy-Headquarters Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management (EM) funding, and (5) non-ORNL funding, such as costs incurred by corporate auditors. The trends related to waste generation, pollution prevention, added requirements, and added quantifiable cost data were evaluated.

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