Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 105 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH › Title 105 CMR 120.000 - The Control of Radiation › QUALITY ASSURANCE › Section 120.893 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
As used in 105 CMR 120.890, the following definitions
				  apply:
Board
means the Low-level
				  Radioactive Waste Management Board established in M.G.L. c. 111H, §
				  2.
Days
means calendar days; provided
				  that in computing time periods such periods shall exclude the day of the, event
				  which starts the period running, and further provided that if the last day of a
				  period falls on a Sunday, legal holiday or declared state of emergency day,
				  such period shall be extended to the close of business on the next business
				  day.
Department
means the Department of
				  Public Health.
Development
means all activities
				  undertaken with respect to a low-level radioactive waste facility during the
				  period commencing with the selection of any superior site pursuant to M.G.L. c.
				  111H, § 23 and continuing until the commencement of facility operation
				  pursuant to M.G.L. c. 111H, § 39.
Disposal
means the isolation of
				  low-level radioactive waste from the biosphere inhabited by human beings and
				  their food chains.
Generator
means a person, including
				  a broker, who produces low-level radioactive waste.
Generator Guidance
means the
				  document titled
Low-level Radioactive Waste Minimization
				  Guidance
compiled by the Department for the guidance of waste
				  generators.
Half-life
means the time in which
				  half the atoms of a particular radioactive substance disintegrate to another
				  nuclear form.
Licensee
means a person holding a
				  license issued pursuant to 105 CMR 120.100 by the Department of Public Health
				  to transfer, acquire, own, possess or use quantities of, or devices or
				  equipment utilizing, radioactive material.
Low-level Radioactive Waste
means
				  radioactive material that
(1) is neither high-level waste, nor spent nuclear fuel, nor
				  by-product material as defined in section 11(e)(2) of the Atomic Energy Act of
				  1954, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2014(e); and
(2) is classified by the Federal Government as low-level
				  radioactive waste, but not including waste which remains a Federal
				  responsibility, as designated in section 3(b) of the Low-Level Radioactive
				  Waste Policy Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. §2021c(b), as in effect as of
				  December 8, 1987.
Management
means the storage,
				  packaging, treatment, transportation, or disposal, where applicable, of
				  low-level radioactive waste.
Management Plan
means the low-level
				  radioactive waste management plan adopted by the board pursuant to M.G.L. c.
				  111H, § 12 to provide for the safe and efficient management of low-level
				  radioactive waste.
Manifest
means a detailed record of
				  the characteristics and quantities of packaged waste as presented for
				  transportation, treatment, storage, or disposal which usually accompanies waste
				  transfers for these purposes.
Minimization Plan
means the plan
				  required by each generator which identifies actions to allow for "storage for
				  decay" of short-lived radioisotopes, and actions to achieve source and volume
				  minimization.
Mixed Waste
means low-level
				  radioactive waste containing material that either:
(1) is listed in
				  310 CMR
				  30.131 through
				  30.136;
				  or
(2) causes the waste to exhibit any of the characteristics
				  identified in
				  310 CMR
				  30.120.
Person
means any agency or political
				  subdivision of the federal government or the commonwealth, or of any state, any
				  public or private corporation or authority, individual, firm, joint stock
				  company, partnership, association, trust, estate, institution or other entity,
				  and any officer, employee or agent of such person, and any group of such
				  persons.
Radioactive Material
means any
				  solid, liquid, or gas which emits radiation spontaneously.
Radioactive Material User
means any
				  person who requires a license or registration with the Department of Public
				  Health pursuant to 105 CMR 120.000 to use radioactive materials for any
				  purpose.
Radioactivity
means the
				  transformation of unstable atomic nuclei with the emission of radiation.
Source Minimization
means minimizing
				  the volume of radioactivity of low-level radioactive waste prior to its
				  generation by such methods as:
(1) avoiding unnecessary contamination of items during the
				  use of radioactive materials;
(2) carefully segregating radioactive waste from
				  non-radioactive trash; or
(3) substituting non-radioactive isotopes or radioisotopes
				  with shorter half-lives where practicable.
Storage
means the holding of
				  low-level radioactive waste for treatment or disposal.
Storage for Decay
means a procedure
				  in which low-level radioactive waste with a relatively short half-life is held
				  for natural radioactive decay in compliance with applicable federal and state
				  regulations.
Treatment
means any method,
				  technique, or process including source minimization, volume minimization, and
				  storage for decay, designed to change the physical, radioactive, chemical, or
				  biological characteristics or composition of low-level radioactive waste in
				  order to render such waste safer for management, amenable for recovery,
				  convertible to another usable material or reduced in volume.
Volume Minimization
means treatment
				  of low-level radioactive waste after its generation in order to minimize the
				  physical dimensions of the waste and the space required for disposal.
Waste
means low-level radioactive
				  waste.
Waste Facility
means a facility that
				  is licensed in Massachusetts for the purposes of treating, storing or disposing
				  of low level radioactive waste.