#the answer is that pcbs are covered by tsca and not rcra because pcbs are not hazardous waste by definition

[quaranmine]

#heya howdy!#I might be able to help you with this query!#I have taken a couple environmental science classes and re-read several wikipedia articles#hazardous waste is defined by different criteria depending on country#but for the US the EPA is the one that defines them#I highly recommend checking out the EPA's website on hazardous waste as it is extremely informative#the gist of getting rid of hazardous waste is that its either treated recycled or disposed of and there are issues with all three methods#for things like nuclear fuel rods and control rods#they are stored at specific sites and usually buried underground#there's a phenomenon called NIMBY (not in my backyard) in which government and private agencies find it hard to find people#that are willing to have nuclear sites and landfills and such near them#hazardous waste like e-waste (electronic waste) or medicines & cosmetics (some of which can be endocrine disrupters) have to be disposed#of differently and properly since e-waste and EDs are extremely harmful if they get into ecosystems (arsenic lead stuff like that)#or if its electronic just always bring it in to Best Buy they'll make sure it gets disposed of properly and they'll pay you#that's been your daily hazardous waste lesson again go check the EPA they have waaay more information on this kinda thing via @jackfrostbiten

first, adding these tags here because they're amazing. and here's the EPA hazardous waste site for good measure

second, i sadly don't know much about nuclear waste in general, but i can talk some on hazardous waste. be aware though, i'm only familiar with US laws on it though!

the law that defines hazardous waste is known as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, otherwise known as RCRA (rick-ra). it defines hazardous and non-hazardous waste and applies to it from creation to disposal. the criteria for a waste being deemed hazardous is if it displays one or more qualities: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity and toxicity. there's a lot of listed wastes, and most of them have requirements on what sort of facilities they must be taken to--are they buried in a lined special landfill? are they incerated? etc, it will vary by chemical. the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA, tos-ca) is what i mostly work with, and it deals with the regulation/registration of new chemicals, regulation of existing potentially hazardous chemicals, and their distriution.

anyway, that's mostly regulatory stuff, which isn't really what was asked about, but it's more of what i know. the nuclear regulatory commision actually has some responsibilities over regulating nuclear waste, while the epa has others.

i skimmed this article though for actual clean up/non regulatory information and it seemed interesting:

the funniest thing about my environmental science degree is that whenever i tell people that's what i do, they immediately assume i do ecology/wildlife stuff. they're like oh animals? botany? ur like a naturalist?

and i LOVE nature dont get me wrong but like. my favorite thing to study is actually environmental disaster remediation and pollution <3 i love superfund sites i love groundwater plume maps i love emergency management i love (getting rid of) hazardous waste <3

i'm aware basically everyone else's eyes glaze over at this <3