Radiation regulations radioactive waste disposal

In any case, and albeit the different regulation in different countries, as a general principle only licensed personnel working in an authorized facility are authorized to handle and use radiopharmaceuticals. Facilities and procedures are subject to periodic inspection by official radiation safety officers that control production and handling of radioactive material, its transportation, proper use, as well as personnel dosimetry and radioactive waste disposal. 

Caution Handle all radioactive substances according to the radiation safety regulations instituted at each facility approved to handle such materials. Use adequate precautions to protect personal safety and the environment. Dispose of radioactive waste only by following approved guidelines. 

EPA. 1993a. Environmental radiation protection standards for management and disposal of spent nuclear fuel, high-level and transuranic radioactive wastes. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Code of Federal Regulations. 40 CFR 191. 

Regulations should require, as a condition for granting an authorization for select facilities and/or sources, that adequate funds be made available for the timely decommissioning of facihties and the management of radioactive waste and/or spent radiation sources, including disposal. The arrangements for financial assurance proposed by an applicant should be incorporated as a condition of the authorization. 

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). 1985. Environmental Radiation Protection Standards for Management and Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High-Level and Transuranic Radioactive Wastes, 40 CFR 191, Title 40, Part 191, Washington, DC. 

Moreover, the WIPP repository would be a global first-of-a-kind facility for safe disposal of long-lived and high-energy emitting radioactive waste such as TRUW and HLW. Conceivably, its continued safe operation in compliance with several hazardous waste regulations and one of the strictest environmental radiation protection standards in the world should enhance public confidence in the safety of deep geological disposal of TRUW and HLW both in the USA and abroad. 

The difficulties that waste disposal raised for peaceful atomic development prompted the AEC to devote increased attention to the technical, economic, and public-relations aspects of the problem. One early step it took was to include conditions in its radiation-protection regulations for licensees disposing of small volumes of low-level waste. The regulations allowed discharge of radioactive waste material into public sewerage systems if it was "readily soluble or dispersible in water," did not exceed maximum permissible concentrations after dilution, and did not produce more than one curie per year of radioactivity. The regulations also permitted underground disposal of limited quantities of waste but restricted the number of burials to twelve per year in depths of at least four feet. All other waste-disposal procedures required specific AEC authorization. ... 

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