Dive Brief:
- A state environmental official has determined that drilling waste originating from the Marcellus shale contains an acceptable amount of radiation.
- This means that Waste Management will not be cited for accepting the waste at its Meadowfill landfill in Harrison County, WV.
- Although a low level of radiation was recorded when inspectors from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection tested the waste, it is low enough that is poses an insignificant threat to workers.
Dive Insight:
The acceptable exposure level of radiation that employees can be exposed to, on a federal level, is 570 micro rems per hour; state DEP tests concluded that the fracking sludge measured 20 micro rems per hour above natural radiation levels. At the end of May 2014, the DEP issued an order for the landfill to stop accepting the drill cuttings until it could test the sludge for radioactivity.
