Radioactive waste pickups are scheduled on a weekly or as-needed basis. We suggest submitting your request prior to noon on Tuesdays to have the best chance of being in the pickup that week. Occasionally changes are made to the waste pickup schedule due to weather or time constraints. We will communicate these changes to licensees and laboratory contacts via e-mail.    

Common Pickup Related Issues

If you have submitted a Radioactive Waste Pickup Request and your waste was not picked up as scheduled, please check to make sure that the container contents sheet on each container is properly filled out. Radiation Safety can not pick up radioactive waste without a signature, date, and wipe test results recorded on the container contents sheet.

Another common reason your containers might not get picked up as scheduled is incomplete information on the waste pickup request. Please make sure to complete all fields on the radioactive waste request form. Remember: liquid waste requires a percentage equalling 100% of all constituents. Chemical names must be written out (no chemical formulas) and pH must be recorded prior to pick up.

If you are unsure about your waste constituents, or if you plan to create a mixed hazardous-radioactive or biohazardous-radioactive waste, please contact us.

Official Waste Containers for Radioactive Waste

Official waste containers are available from the Radiation Safety Unit. They are the only approved containers for use with radioactive materials at the University. We will replace full containers with empty ones when we pick them up.

Waste Container Sizes & Types

Solids

Twenty gallon solid container, approximately 2 feet tall

Twenty gallon solids container

 

Five gallon solid container, approximately 1 foot tall

Five gallon solids container

Liquids

Five gallon (20 liter) liquid container, approximately 1 foot tall

Five gallon liquid container

One gallon (4 liter) liquid container, approximately 1 foot tall

One gallon liquid container

Scintillation Vials & Radioactive Sharps

For scintillation vial pickup, you must distinguish on the form whether your cocktail is non-biodegradable or biodegradable.

Five gallon scintillation vial container, approximately 1 foot tall

Five gallon scintillation vials container.

Radioactive sharps container, approximately 1 foot tall

Radioactive sharps container