Corrosion indicates a weakening of the container material and could lead to an eventual loss of containment. Dr. Hirschhorn supports a prohibition of chemically incompatible wastes at WIPP and believes that the appropriate process to ensure that chemically incompatible waste is not emplaced at WIPP is to open and examine more carefully every drum of debris waste. As currently written, the EPA language does not include non-aqueous solid waste, but the EPA has developed a procedure to test the pH of such solids. Shippers in those states must put the legally correct state codes on the shipping manifests. The legal definitions of these codes are determined by the individual states.
Some states define corrosivity as being a solid, as well as an aqueous or liquid property.
Other states do not. Therefore, corrosive waste could be prohibited from being shipped to WIPP from one state, while being allowed to be shipped from another state. Some solid materials in the waste may be corrosive. Rags and cellulosics can absorb liquids having very high or very low pH. Therefore, at the very least, rags and cellulosics should be tested with the EPA's solid corrosivity test. For example, the California test method could be used.