EPA-funded PCB lest burns are likely success

Abstract

Incineration is clearly one of the most effective ways of disposing of hazardous waste, says Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Anne M. Gorsuch. It is also one of the cheapest ways. This is especially true for once widely used polychlorinated biphenyls, oily man-made substances banned for most uses since 1979. If combustion parameters are made too stringent and test burns are mandated for each incinerator coming on-line, however, costs can soar. In this cost-conscious Administration, EPA has taken economics to heart. In an attempt to set safe but not too strict parameters and to establish a data base that would eliminate the need for test burns at each new incinerator facility, EPA has funded PCB test burns at Los Alamos National Laboratory's elaborate experimental incinerator. This facility, originally designed to destroy radioactive wastes, has since been modified to accept liquids such as PCBs. Los Alamos scientists, headed by Larry A. Stretz, burned highly concentrated PCB-containing wast...