REGULATIONS AND POLICY

Canadian PCB Regulations and Policy

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EPA and OWRA | Regulation 347 - General-Waste Management | Regulation 362 - Waste Management-PCBs | Regulation 352 - Mobile PCB Destruction Facilities [page 1] [page 2] [page 3]

Ontario Regulation 352 - Mobile PCB Destruction Facilities

Objectives
Classifies different mobile destruction facilities for purpose of defining different public hearing requirements.

Establishes record-keeping requirements for every site.

Establishes maximum installation and operation times for Class 2 and Class 3 systems.

Establishes maximum point of impingement air concentration standards for PCBs, dioxins and furans, rules for the disposal of solid waste originating from a treatment facility, rules for discharge of cooling water, surface drainage water and other waste water, rules for safe storage of PCB waste, rules for self-inspections, minimum distances of facilities, equipment, and containers from watercourses, other buildings, drainage systems, general soil or ground cover characteristics for the systems,

Requires applicants for Class 1 sites to deposit a sum of money, furnish a surety bond, or furnish personal sureties in the amount of $50,000, and requires applicants for Class 2 systems to provide the same amount for each system applied for in Ontario. The sum may be used by the Director to carry out any actions to remove waste, maintain equipment, etc. until sixty days after the applicant gives notice that the equipment is disassembled and the "site is terminated". An applicant that is a municipality is exempt from this surety requirement.

Establishes requirements for giving notice of proposed Class 1 and 2 applications to clerk of municipality where facility is proposed, clerk of municipality responsible for waste disposal (if different), the medical officer of health, directors of local Boards of Education, and affected workers.

Definitions and relevant thresholds
Same definitions as in O. Reg. 362, except:

"mobile PCB destruction facility" means movable, transportable machinery or equipment intended to destroy the chemical structure of PCBs;

"PCB equipment" means equipment designed or manufactured to operate with PCB liquid or to which such liquid was added, or drums and other containers used for the storage of PCB liquid; and

"PCB liquid" is defined less stringently than in Reg. 362, by failing to include liquids diluted below the 5 or 50 ppm concentrations.

"Class 1 mobile PCB destruction facility waste management systems" are those that process waste so that PCBs and the "associated organic matrix" are disposed of by incineration or other thermo-chemical processes. A Class 1 site is one where such a system operates "solely to destroy PCB waste."

A "Class 2 mobile PCB destruction facility waste management system" disposes of the PCB by chemical means, and the associated organic matrix is recovered for re-use or disposal.

A Class 3 facility waste disposal site is one where a Class 2 system is connected to a transformer whose fluid is treated and returned to the transformer. The operator of the facility is required to sample and analyze the fluid for PCBs after the completion of the treatment but not sooner than ninety days after (subs. 10 (1)). The transformer is not to be considered decontaminated until the PCB concentration in it is less than 50 mg per litre (subs. 10 (2)).

Description
Class 2 mobile PCB destruction facility waste management systems and Class 2 and 3 mobile PCB destruction facility waste disposal sites are exempt from s. 32, EPA (Ministerial discretion to require a public hearing by Environmental Review Tribunal).

Applications for Certificates of Approval respecting Class 1 facilities may therefore require a hearing by the Tribunal.

Records must be kept respecting every site, including: description of the source, nature and quantities of PCB wastes there; owner and operator names; description of the location of the destruction site; dates of receipt and destruction of the waste; method of destruction and daily start and stop times of operation; results of monitoring and sampling information; description of nature and quantities of any materials remaining after destruction; details about storage or disposal of such materials; and a
description of every accident, process upset, breakdown or spill, the reasons for the occurrence, any damage or injury suffered, and measures taken to correct it (s. 7).

Applications for a C of A for a facility must include a "contingency plan" (for dealing with on-site emergencies such as spills, fires and vandalism, notification of Ministry, etc.) and a "data quality assurance program" for testing protocols, assuring laboratory standards, and assuring the quality of monitoring and analytical programs to be carried out.

The system cannot be operated until the waste to be treated has been confirmed to contain an amount and concentration of PCBs that complies with the approved capacity of the system (s. 11). Similarly, no waste from a Class 2 or 3 site may be disposed of without it first being sampled for PCBs (s. 12).

Use and operation standards for PCB destruction facility waste disposal sites are found in s. 6 of the regulation. The section is reproduced in its entirety below.

In addition to point of impingement measurements, operators of Class 1 systems are required to sample (and analyze "as soon as practicable" thereafter) mass air emissions of PCBs, chlorinated dibenzodioxins and chlorinated dibenzofurans: "during the fist twenty-four hours of operation at each of the first three sites of operation"; after the first twenty-four hours at those sites, at least once in every year in which the system operates thereafter; and again after any major repairs or alterations to the system that are likely to affect the mass air emissions of those chemicals (s. 13).

Regulation 352 (page 2 of 3) >>