Hazardous Materials and Ponution Prevention
The Fleet uses thousands of hazardous materials (HMs) on its ships and submarines as cleaners, solvents, functional fluids (hydraulics. lubrication, etc.), and other products in maintenance and other applications. By definition, Navy vessels do not produce regulated hazardous waste, although the used/excess hazardous materials offloaded from ships and submarines are considered hanrdous waste once they are offloaded to the pier. Therefore, any reductions that can be made in the number and range of hazardous materials used onboard ship will directly benefit shoreside activities, too. NAVSEA has had for several years an aggressive effort to identify the harardous materials used on ships and submarines, identify or develop less-hazardous or non-hazardous substitutes, and provide the Fleet with shipboard tracking and inventorying capabilities. The Shipboard Hazardous Materials Database (SHMD) was developed and used to analyze HM use, composition, and procurement and to categorize shipboard HMS into seven classes: cleaning compounds and solvents, adhesives aud sealants, lubricants and functional fluids, acids and akalis, oxidizers/reactive compounds, corrosion preventive compounds, and miscellaneous maintenance products . Minimization studies have been completed for cleaning compounds and solvents (identified and qualified 65 alternatives), adhesives and sealants (identified substitutes for the top five most-used products, out of 650 NSNs covering 2,500 maintenance actions), and corrosion preventive compounds, lubricants, and functions fluids (identified 150 potential substitutes for 3,200 products covering more than 31,OOO maintenance requirements). Controlling documentation is being revised to reflect acceptable non-or less-hzardous substitutes. Work is underway to identify suitable altematives in the other three HM categories. A relateted, but separate effort focuses on submarines, which, by virtue of their closed atmospheres, present special safety and health issues in terms of hazardous materials. This submarine efiiort combines the HM prioritization, consolidation, and elimination efforts for the new Virginia (SSN 774) Class with the HM inventory management experiences on existing submatines. A suite of management tools is being developed to apply the lessons leamed from the surface fleet to submarine-unique HM requirements, including the Submarine Material Control List (SMCL), CD-based Submarine Inventory Control Management System, and HM stowage guidance.
NAVSEA has also been exploring the potential for applying relatively inexpensive COTS materials and equipment to reduce the types and amounts of hazardous materials used on ships and submarines, especially in maintenance-related actions where sailors are directly exposed to the materials and where some hazardous material is most likely to be unused. This will reduce shipboard hazards, material procurement costs, and the special handling, labeling, and storage needed to manage hazardous materials. Dozens of pollution prevention (P2) opportunities have been evaluated aboard ship and many were found to reduce the use of hazardous materials, improve safety and health, simplify cleaning, maintenance, or other procedures, and ease the burden on working sailors. Examples include: a seven-color paint distribution system that reduces wastage, spills, and cleanup rags by dispensing only the amounts needed, pre-mixing, and handling two-part primers; maintenance-free batteries for "yellow gear" (aviation support vehicles) and boats; aqueous parts washers of various sizes that eliminate the use of hazardous solvents; and a cable cleaning and lubricating device that elirninates messy hand cleaning and greasing. Acceleratod Fleet installation of some of these P2 solutions in underway on 16 ships in 10 classes in preparation for Fleet-wide implementation begininning in FY00.
Various paints and coatings are used everywhere on a ship, including places where they are not readily visible (e.g., the interiors of holding tanks). The application and removal of paints and coatings produce solid residual waste, but these wastes are addressed primarily as a shoreside environmental issue where major painting/depainting operations are conducted.
