Waste is considered any material or component for which the authorized user foresees no further use. Users are not authorized to discard any radioactive waste to the sewer, vent, or by violating mandated procedures, to regular trash. RSS is committed to limiting and restricting the release of radioactive materials to the environment. Dilution is not viewed as a true means of disposal.
Extensive control is placed upon any experiment generating volatile wastes.
Each specific laboratory that generates the waste must manage radioactive waste generated at the University of Kansas. Authorized users are responsible for completing the appropriate records as specified by the RSS and for preparing all wastes for transfer to the RSS for disposal. Waste is segregated, packaged, and compacted as needed in the radioactive waste processing facility in Burt Hall. The radioactive waste minimization program addresses process changes that can be made to reduce or eliminate radioactive wastes, methods to minimize the volume of regulated radioactive wastes through better segregation of materials, and by substitution of nonhazardous materials for hazardous materials. The goal of the radioactive waste minimization plan is to minimize the present and future concerns to the human health and environment by reducing or eliminating radioactive wastes as much as is economically practicable, and by pursuing the best radioactive waste management method that is available.