On August 18, 2017, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) formally proposed regulations providing additional requirements for the management of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM) waste, making Montana the latest state to propose such regulations. The proposed regulations come on the heels of its neighbor, North Dakota, adopting new rules with TENORM disposal limits, which may have prompted Montana to act.
In preparing its proposed regulations, Montana DEQ relied on two detailed studies regarding oil and gas production wastes that had been recently conducted: a North Dakota study conducted by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and a Pennsylvania study conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, both of which found that landfilling of waste from the oil and gas industry poses minimal risk to workers and the public. MDEQ’s proposed TENORM regulations are consistent with North Dakota’s (and ANL’s recommendations), in that they both set TENORM disposal limits at 50 pCi/gm for Ra-226 and Ra-228. MDEQ is also requiring that the TENORM concentration of waste in a landfill not exceed the dose limit of 100 mrem/y at the boundary of the active disposal unit based on the results of MDEQ-approved site-specific modeling. And, in what is becoming the norm for state TENORM regulations, MDEQ is also requiring generators to sample and characterize the TENORM waste prior to disposal and landfill owners and operators to screen every incoming load for radiation concentrations.
MDEQ is holding public hearings on the proposed regulations on September 7th in Helena and on September 20th in Sidney. Be sure to check back here at Environmental Law Next for additional developments as more states propose these regulations.