Management of Radioactive Waste Resulting from Radioisotope Production on the IRE Site

摘要

1. Introduction:On the IRE site operate three companies who produce low and medium level radioactive waste resulting from various applications. The main activity of IRE is the extraction of "Mo, ~131I, ~133Xe and ~90Y/~90Sr from irradiated uranium target. The dismantling of spent sealed sources is also an other activity generating radioactive waste. MDS Nordion prepares ~99mTc generators, pharmaceutical products based on fission ~131I, 201Tl from cyclotron irradiated target, ~90Y from bulk ~90Sr solution and various sealed sources (~60Co, ~137Cs, ~192Ir) for medical and industrial purposes. IBA-Radioisotopes is the third company on the site and produce ~103Pd from cyclotron irradiated targets. Support services such as decontamination, Quality Control and maintenance are also waste producers. The management of all the radioactive waste is under the responsibility of the IRE waste department. To limit the amount of radioactive waste and its expensive elimination by the National Organization for Radioactive Waste Management (ONDRAF/NIRAS) IRE has developed specific sorting procedures to take advantage of the specific half-lifes. Waste only contaminated by short half-life radioisotopes are separated and can be released as industrial waste if residual contamination levels are below the clearance level fixed by the National Authority. On IRE site 2 types of waste are generated : medium and low level waste. They need specific treatment as explained below.