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i

Disposal process for high activity sources by a university through the U.S. Department of Energy's off-site source recovery project



Details

  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Sealed radioactive sources are used in a wide variety of applications by a large number of license holders in the Unites States. Applications range from low-activity calibration sources to high-activity irradiators for engineering, research, or medical purposes. This paper describes and evaluates the safety and security measures in place for disused sealed sources, in particular of high activity sealed sources at the end of their operational life-time. The technical, radiation protection, and financial challenges for licensees and the Competent Authorities are reviewed from the point of view of the license holder. As an example, the waste management processes and the chain of custody for disused research irradiator sources are followed from extraction from the irradiator facility to the source disposal or recycling contractor. Possible safety and security concern in the waste disposal process are investigated in order to identify improvement potential for radiation protection or source security. Two shipments of disused sealed sources from Colorado State University (CSU) have been conducted through the CSU Radiation Control Office (RCO) in the last two years, with a third shipment expected to be completed by the end of November 2011. Two of the sources shipped are considered 'high' activity and exceed the U.S. NRC limits requiring increased controls for security purposes. Three sources were shipped in 2009 and ten more are expected in 2011. A total activity of 117.3 GBq was shipped in 2009. Nine sources were recently shipped in October 2011 through a third party waste broker where the total activity was 96.34 GBq. The last source is scheduled for shipment no later than 30 November 2011 and contains an activity of 399.96 GBq. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • ISBN:
    9780983618614
  • Publisher:
    Waste Management Symposia, Inc.
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Grant
  • Genre:
    Proceedings
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Pages in Document:
    1-6
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20048983
  • Citation:
    The 38th Annual Conference of the Waste Management Symposia, February 26-March 1, 2012, Phoenix, Arizona. Tempe, AZ: Waste Management Symposia, Inc., 2012 Mar; :1-6
  • Contact Point Address:
    James P. Abraham, Colorado State University Radiation Control Office, Department of Environmental Health Services, Fort Collins, CO. 80523-6021
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2012
  • Performing Organization:
    University of Colorado, Denver
  • Peer Reviewed:
    False
  • Start Date:
    20070701
  • Source Full Name:
    The 38th Annual Conference of the Waste Management Symposia, February 26-March 1, 2012, Phoenix, Arizona
  • End Date:
    20250630
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:58b50c47076a0e5107ca292682fc1e30363eb23ae04bf04fcf4d2f3f1162adc24f3b9492d00c76cc291812f39390ea426eea16f1fe387a38d25ecfa4f2c5ec3e
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 222.18 KB ]
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