Acutely Hazardous Wastes. Any wastes defined as acutely hazardous by 22 CCR, Chapter 11, Article 4. These are the P-listed wastes listed in Appendix II.

Certification. The person who signs his or her name on the hazardous-waste requisition and/or the radioactive-material tag certifies that the contents of the hazardous, radioactive, or mixed waste are described correctly and completely by the requisition or tag. This description and the generator’s signature are legally binding.

Certify. To attest by signature, to the best of one's knowledge, that the information provided is correct.

Characteristic Waste. Waste that, according to EPA and California regulations, exhibits one of the following four characteristics: ignitability, reactivity, toxicity, or corrosivity.

Characterization. The detailed documentation necessary to certify that the waste is what it is claimed to be. Characterization can include process knowledge (see definition below), required analyses, or written documentation (log books, formulas, etc.).

Corrosive Wastes. Aqueous wastes with pH £ 2 or ³ 12.5 (or nonaqueous wastes that produce a solution with these pH values when mixed with an equivalent weight of water). Corrosive wastes also include wastes that can corrode steel at a rate of 0.25 inch per year.

Cradle-to-Grave Tracking. The term for the system in which carefully detailed documentation of the generation, storage, treatment, and disposal of all hazardous wastes generated at a facility is maintained. These records essentially cover hazardous waste from the point of origin (generation) to its final off-site treatment destination and disposal.

D-Code Waste. Hazardous or mixed waste that meets the characteristic criteria for certain metals or organics.

Discarded Material. Any material that is disposed of, burned, incinerated, accumulated, stored, treated, or recycled.

Dry Waste. Radioactive waste that contains no free liquids but contains glass, paper, plastic, metal, wood, or rubber.

Extremely Hazardous Waste. Any hazardous waste or mixture of hazardous wastes whose exposure to humans could likely result in death, a disabling personal injury, or a serious illness caused by the hazardous waste or mixture of hazardous wastes because of its quantity, concentration, or chemical characteristics (from 22 CCR 66260.10). These wastes are listed in Appendix III.

F-Code Waste. Hazardous or mixed waste that meets the definition of a listed waste by the process that created the waste.

Flammable. See definition for “Ignitable Wastes,” below.

Hazardous Wastes. The following types of waste fall under the category of hazardous wastes:

Wastes that exhibit one or more of the criteria for identification of “hazardous waste” (22 CCR 66261.21–66261.24). These criteria are:

• Toxicity
• Ignitability
• Reactivity
• Corrosivity

Wastes listed in the California Code of Regulations (22 CCR 66261) and the Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR Part 261). These wastes include certain discarded commercial chemical products, off-specification products, container residues, and spill residues.

High-Level Waste. The highly radioactive waste material that results from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, including liquid waste produced directly in reprocessing, any solid material derived from such liquid waste that contains fission products in sufficient concentrations, and other highly radioactive material that is determined, consistent with existing law, to require permanent isolation.

Identification. The description of the waste in a container. When you fill out the waste label, the radioactive material tag, or the requisition, you identify your waste.

Ignitable Wastes. Material that has any of the following properties:

• A liquid with a flash point of less than 60°C (140°F). Exception: aqueous solutions containing less than or equal to 24% alcohol and no other hazardous material.
• Solids that are capable of causing fire through friction, absorption of moisture, or spontaneous changes.
• A flammable compressed gas. Examples: carbon monoxide, ethylene, hydrogen, methane.
• A material defined as an oxidizer. Examples: nitric acid (at >70%), perchloric acid, potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide (³8% solution), silver nitrate, ammonium persulfate, potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, chromic acid.

Listed Waste. Waste that, according to the EPA and the state of California, appears on specific lists in the regulations.

Low-Level Waste. Waste containing radioactivity that is not classified as high-level waste, TRU waste, spent nuclear fuel, by-product material [as defined in Section 11e(2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended], or naturally occurring radioactive material.

Mixed Waste. Any radioactive waste that is also an EPA-regulated hazardous waste.

Nonconformance Corrective Action Report (NCAR). Documentation of a major waste violation. NCARs might result from a waste-characterization failure, or from a waste container found stored in an SAA for greater than one year or in a WAA for greater than 90 days.

P-Code Waste. Discarded commercial chemical products, off-specification species, container residues, and spill residues thereof as listed in 22 CCR 66261.33.

Process Knowledge. The ability of the generator to characterize waste on the basis of knowing the chemical materials from which the waste was derived, and the processes through which the waste was generated. Also includes the ability to verify the characterization with the documented procedures used and data accumulated during the waste-generation process, or with data gathered through the use of noncertified analysis.

Radioactive Material Area (RMA). An area where the potential exists for contamination from the presence of unsealed radioactive materials, or an area that is exposed to beams or other sources of particles (neutrons, protons, etc.) capable of causing contamination.

Radioactive Waste. Waste that contains radioactivity or has been induced to be radioactive. Radioactive waste can be solid or liquid.

Reactive Waste. A material that has the following properties:

• It is normally unstable and readily undergoes violent change.
• It reacts violently or forms potentially explosive mixtures with water.
• It is a cyanide- or sulfide-bearing waste that is capable of generating toxic gases, vapors, or fumes.
• It is capable of detonation or explosive reaction.
• It is defined as an explosive.

Satellite Accumulation Area (SAA). An area in an individual laboratory, shop, or other facility designated by the generator for the accumulation of waste not to exceed 55 gallons of hazardous waste, or 1 quart of extremely or acutely hazardous waste. California regulations allow waste accumulation for up to one year in an SAA; however, under Berkeley Lab policy, waste may only be accumulated up to 275 days (nine months). This is not a provision of the HWHF Permit.

SAA Start Date. The date that a hazardous waste is first placed in a container.

Secondary Containment. A container designed to hold one or more containers for the collection of liquid waste in a laboratory or shop area. Examples of secondary containment include plastic tubs or buckets, photographic development trays, and pail skids.

Segregation. The practice of not placing chemically unrelated or incompatible materials in the same container.

Separation. The practice of keeping containers of incompatible wastes apart physically.

Sharps. A sharp is any device having corners, edges, or projections capable of cutting or piercing the skin. Berkeley Lab’s definition of sharps includes both contaminated sharps (contaminated with medical/biohazardous waste) and uncontaminated sharps that pose a safety hazard to the custodians and other personnel.

Solid Waste. Any discarded material (solid, liquid, or gas) that is not excluded in the regulations.

Toxic Wastes. Wastes that pose a hazard to human health or the environment because of carcinogenicity, acute or chronic toxicity, bioaccumulative properties, or persistence in the environment.

Transuranic (TRU) Waste. Transuranic waste is radioactive waste containing more than 100 nanocuries (3,700 becquerels) of alpha-emitting transuranic isotopes per gram of waste, with half-lives greater than 20 years, except for high-level waste.

Treatment. Any method, technique, or process designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste. (This definition is taken from 40 CFR 260.10 and 22 CCR 66260.10.)  Neutralization and dilution are examples of processes that are considered treatments by federal and state regulations.

U-Code Waste. Listed wastes that are commercial chemical products, manufacturing chemical intermediates, or off-specification commercial chemical products.

Waste Accumulation Area (WAA). An officially designated area for the accumulation and storage of large quantities (>55 gal) of hazardous waste. Specific regulations apply to WAAs, including security, labeling and signage, contingency plans, and emergency equipment. Wastes can be accumulated in WAAs for up to 90 days. Berkeley Lab policy states that waste may be kept in a WAA for no longer than 60 days. This is not a provision of the HWHF Permit.

WAA Receival or Accumulation Start Date. The date that a container transferred from an SAA to a WAA is received by the manager of the WAA, or the date waste is first placed in a container at a WAA collection point.

Waste Container. Anything that collects waste. Waste containers include drums, carboys, cans, bottles, boxes, plastic bags, metal transport containers, and any other container approved as appropriate for the type of waste being handled.

Waste-Generating Organization. A program, facility, or group that generates hazardous, radioactive, or mixed waste.

Waste Generator. The individual or operation responsible for actually generating the hazardous, radioactive, or mixed waste within an organization. Berkeley Lab as a whole is viewed as a waste generator by environmental regulatory agencies. Within Berkeley Lab, each researcher, laboratory, shop, and facility, as a potential point of origin for hazardous, radioactive, or mixed waste, is a waste generator.

Waste Stream. Waste generated from an industrial process or application, laboratory experiment, or routine laboratory procedure with roughly constant and unchanging radioactive, mixed, or hazardous characteristics.