This standard provides guidelines for incineration of combustible forms of low-level radioactive waste. It addresses the siting, licensing and permitting, operation and monitoring of the incinerator operation, disposal of residues, and decontamination and decommissioning. This standard may be applied to incineration of mixed wastes (i.e., radioactive wastes that contain other hazardous components as defined by federal or state agencies), provided consideration is given to additional design features and regulatory permitting required by the hazardous nature of the wastes.

For purposes of this standard, incineration is considered a treatment or volume-reduction technique rather than a disposal mechanism. Other volume-reduction techniques have been described previously, such as in “Solid Radioactive Waste Processing Systems for Light-Water-Cooled Reactor Plants,” ANSI/ANS 55.1-2021.