Hazardous+Waste

  //"Nuclear waste is produced at every stage of the nuclear fuel cycle, from uranium mining and enrichment, to reactor operation and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Much of this nuclear waste will remain hazardous for hundreds of thousands of years, leaving a poisonous legacy to future generations" (Waste).//

"Hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment. **The universe of hazardous wastes is large and diverse** (Hazardous Waste)." Hazardous waste can exist in many forms. It can be gases, liquids, sludge, and solid (Hazardous Waste). Wastes are catagorized in three lists, the F-List, the K-List, and the P and U-list.

F-List-Non-specific source wastes. Common byproducts of factories and industrial process. This list may include solvents.

K-List-Specific source wastes. Specific byproducts such as run-off from pesticides and run-off from petroleum refining plants (Hazardous Waste).

P and U-Lists-Commercially unused chemicals. An example of this are unused pharmaceutical materials that are disposed of (Hazardous Waste).

Wastes are described with several select characteristics. Ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity. Ignitability is the characteristic that describes how likely or prone to combusting of catching fire a substance is. For example, gasolines and other oils have a high ignitiability rating (Hazardous Waste). Corrosivity is the ability of a substance to dissolve metals or other containers, battery acid is an example of a corrosive substance (Hazardous Waste). Toxicity is how dangerous something is if ingested or consumed (Hazardous Waste).