United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1994-05-18 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:RCED-94-133 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-133 P0b002ee18037117d f:rc94133 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-133 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-133 RCED-94-133 Sewage treatment Environmental monitoring Water pollution control Radioactive wastes Environmental policies Health hazards Federal/state relations Nuclear waste disposal Nuclear waste management Safety regulation EPA National Industrial Pretreatment Program Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District Southerly Sewage Treatment Plant (OH) Letter Report RCED Radioactive materials are sometimes discharged into municipal sewer systems by hospitals, decontamination laundries, research facilities, and manufacturers licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). NRC regulations fall short, however, in controlling low-level radioactive wastes being discharged into municipal sewer systems, possibly putting treatment plant workers, plant property, and the general public at risk. During the past decade, at least nine cases of radioactive contamination of sewage sludge have occurred at treatment plants. One of the most recent was the inadvertent discovery by NRC in 1991 of radioactive contamination at the Southerly Sewage Treatment Plant in Cleveland, Ohio. NRC has concluded that the elevated radiation levels at the site do not pose health or safety risks to plant workers or to the public. The facility has already spent more than $1.5 million for on-site cleanup and a secured fence, and estimates for off-site disposal range as high as $3 billion. The full extent of contamination at other treatment plants nationwide is unknown because (1) NRC has inspected only 15 of the 1,100 NRC licensees that may discharge radioactive material to determine if a concentration problem exists, (2) NRC does not know how many of the estimated 3,000 "agreement state" licensees may have been inspected, and (3) neither NRC nor the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires treatment plants to test for the presence of radioactive materials in sewage sludge. Exposure to treatment plant sludge, ash, and related by-products can occur in a variety of ways. For example, some of the substances are used for agricultural and residential purposes, such as lawn fertilizer. NRC and EPA studies on the health effects of radioactive materials in sewage sludge and ash have been inconclusive. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Nuclear Regulation: Action Needed to Control Radioactive Contamination at Sewage Treatment Plants, by Jim Wells, Associate Director for Energy and Science Issues, before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the Subcommittee on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources, House Committee on Government Operations. GAO/T-RCED-94-247, June 21, 1994 (15 pages). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-133/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-133.htm GAO/RCED-94-133 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-133 Letter Report GAO/RCED-94-133; Nuclear Regulation: Action Needed to Control Radioactive Contamination at Sewage Treatment Plants; Sewage treatment Environmental monitoring Water pollution control Radioactive wastes Environmental policies Health hazards Federal/state relations Nuclear waste disposal Nuclear waste management Safety regulation EPA National Industrial Pretreatment Program Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District Southerly Sewage Treatment Plant (OH)