Patent Number: 048636380
Section: description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention provides a process for the containment of hazardous waste materials such as radiation solids, toxic soils and asbestos wastes or solids and other similar hazardous wastes. The hazardous waste material 10 is initially encased into a plurality of containment vessels 12 which preferably may be in the form of generally cylindrical drums or barrels 14. Drums 14 are preferably of a metal configuration to facilitate retainment of the hazardous waste therein. Lead lining 34 may be applied about the inside of the drum 14 or about the exterior of drum 14 to minimize radiation from low level radioactive wastes. To facilitate knowledge as to the specific type of waste within a particular containment vessel a coding means 16 may be applied to the exterior of the individual containment vessels. Preferably this coding means can be a color coding means, or can be any other coding means such as alphabetic or numeric or symbolic characters. The containment vessels 12 are organized into a grouping 18 thereof which may be anywhere from two to eight such vessels. This grouping 18 is then secured with respect to one another by a securement means such as a steel banding to facilitate retainment of the individual containment vessels with respect to one another. This steel banding means 26 extend in any direction as long as the individual containment vessels 12 are fixedly secured with respect to one another. The banded grouping 18 of containment vessel 12 is then entombed within a plastic casing 20. This entombment is performed by a molding operation which preferably is steam heated but can be formed by any convenient means in order to provide preferably a seamless clear plastic casing completely entombing the grouping 18 of containment vessel 12. To facilitate handling of the plastic casing 20 a handling means 22 may be secured to the plastic casing 20 or to the waste material itself. Handling means 22 can be secured to the lower surface 28. This handling means 22 may take the form of a pallet 24 or any other convenient type handling means. To facilitate stability of placement of the entombed grouping 18 of containment vessel 12 a plurality of casing support means 30 may be secured to the lower surface 28 of plastic casing 20. This support means may take the form of a plurality of cylindrical legs 32 which are preferably approximately eight inches in height and hollow thereby providing an extremely stable means of mounting upon any type of floor area and specifically with respect to the under ocean floor area. As shown best in FIG. 2 and in the bottom view shown in FIG. 3 the cylindrical legs 32 can provide overall stability by placement of one each adjacent each corner of the bottom surface 28 of transparent plastic casing 20. The finally entombed grouping of containment vessels 12 can be placed in any convenient location for storage without fear of any leakage or leaching of the hazardous waste 10 outwardly into the surrounding environment. This is made possible by the combination of the seamless transparent plastic casing 20 and the steel banded and possibly lead lined containment vessels 12 or drums 14. This combination of sealing means will prevent leakage or leaching of hazardous waste 10. The configuration shown in FIG. 4 is particularly usable for landfill waste wherein such waste can be compressed into modules 36 which can be cubical or of other shapes. A plurality of such compressed modules 36 can be banded together utilizing the banding means 26. These modules can then be entombed within a seamless transparent plastic coating in a similar manner to the process described above for encasing drums 14. The plastic transparent casing 20 will provide easy identification and seamless sealing of the hazardous landfill waste with respect to the surrounding environment. While particular embodiments of this invention have been shown in the drawings and described above, it will be apparent, that many changes may be made in the form, arrangement and positioning of the various elements of the combination. In consideration thereof it should be understood that preferred embodiments of this invention disclosed herein are intended to be illustrative only and not intended to limit the scope of the invention.