WITS - WASTE DATA COLLECTION WITH OUR PALMS AT OUR FINGERTIPS

The waste management and environmental compliance group (NMT-7) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has initiated a project to build a computer-based system for tracking inventory, storage and disposal information for hazardous and radioactive waste and contaminated byproducts. This project, the Waste Inventory Tracking System (WITS), will initially be used in TA-55 (which includes the Los Alamos National Laboratory Plutonium Facility) and the Chemical and Metallurgy Research (CMR) building where wastes are generated. The system handles numerous waste types with variation in size, disposal method, and hazard classification including: low level waste such as room trash (compactable waste), SEG waste (non-compactable), and over-sized waste, mixed waste, hazardous and chemical waste, universal waste, and waste containing asbestos and PCB's. WITS is designed to provide up-to-date location, status, content information, radioactivity analyses, and other inventory information for every waste item and container managed by NMT-7. The system will support comprehensive reporting capabilities and cradle-to-grave audit trails. WITS is intended to facilitate handling of waste by NMT-7 staff to help minimize waste disposal costs, ensure compliance with applicable regulations, and standardize waste management methodologies and practices. This paper compares current management practices with revised methodologies supported by WITS. It shows how automating inventory tracking helps achieve these goals.