Toxic and Radioactive Waste Management

Abstract

Various satisfactory methods for the disposal of different types of wastes—liquid and solid, toxic and nontoxic—are described, including incineration and land burial. The main principles for the design and safe operation of land‐based burial sites to prevent pollution are stated. For radioactive wastes, sea dumping is no longer acceptable in European countries, and the principles for the design of low‐ and intermediate‐level wastes accepted in Europe are also given. For high‐level wastes, vitrification is proceeding in the United Kingdom and France. Data on the quantities of wastes produced in Great Britain and a brief history of the legal controls on waste disposal are supplied. It is concluded that civil engineers may be increasingly confident that a variety of safe and satisfactory disposal routes for all forms of toxic and radioactive wastes are available.