Surveillance of the activity concentrations of airborne radioactive substances in the workplace of nuclear facilities

Numerous facilities in the non-nuclear sector in Belgium (e.g. in the non-radioactive waste processing and management sector and in the metal recycling sector) have been equipped with measuring ports for detecting radioactive substances. These measuring ports prevent radioactive sources or radioactive contamination from ending up in the material fluxes treated by the sectors concerned. They thus play an important part in the protection of the workers and the people living in the neighbourhood of the facilities, as well as in the protection of the population and the environment in general. In 2006, Belgium’s federal nuclear control agency (FANC/AFCN) drew up guidelines for the operators of non-nuclear facilities with a measuring port for detecting radioactive substances. These guidelines describe the steps to be followed by the operators when the port’s alarm goes off. Following the publication of the European guideline 2003/122/Euratom of 22 December 2003 on the control of high-activity sealed radioactive sources and orphan sources, a procedure has been drawn up by FANC/AFCN and ONDRAF/NIRAS, the Belgian National Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials, to identify the responsible to cover the costs relating to the further management of detected sealed sources and if not found to declare the sealed source as an orphan source. In this latter case and from mid-2006 the insolvency fund managed by ONDRAF/NIRAS covers the cost of radioactive waste management. At the request of the Belgian government, a financing proposal for the management of unsealed orphan sources as radioactive waste was also established by FANC/AFCN and ONDRAF/NIRAS. This proposal applies the same approach as for sealed sources and thus the financing of unsealed orphan sources will also be covered by the insolvency fund.

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On the Regulation of Liquid and Airborne Radioactive Discharges of the Industrial Enterprises that do not Use Atomic Energy

Occupational Safety in Industry ◽

10.24000/0409-2961-2021-1-88-93 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 88-93

Author(s):

A.V. Kuryndin ◽

◽

A.S. Shapovalov ◽

N.B. Timofeev ◽

A.L. Vernik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

International Atomic Energy Agency ◽

Atomic Energy ◽

The European Union ◽

Nuclear Facilities ◽

Energy Agency ◽

Natural Origin ◽

Radioactive Substances ◽

The Russian Federation ◽

Artificial Origin

In accordance with the legislative framework of the system for regulating liquid and airborne discharges of radioactive substances into the environment in force in the Russian Federation, this system is equally designed to regulate discharges of the radionuclides of both artificial and natural origin. The mechanisms of radiological impact of the discharges of natural origin radionuclides on the environment and population do not have any specificity in comparison with the ones of artificial origin radionuclides. Nevertheless, to date, the law enforcement of the Russian system for regulating discharges of the radioactive substances is applied only in relation to the discharges of the radionuclides of artificial origin carried out by nuclear facilities. At the same time, regulation of the discharges of natural origin radionuclides, in accordance with the safety standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is the best practice in the field of environmental protection, and the levels of radiation exposure, which characterize such discharges, are not low enough to be neglected. Regulation of the discharges of natural origin radionuclides is provided for in the norms of the European Union and is practically applied in the number of countries of the European Union, where the legislation provides for the regulation of activities, in which the raw materials containing radionuclides of natural origin are used, and the types of economic and other activities subject to this regulation are determined. The Russian system of regulation of discharges of the radioactive substances into the environment is built on the same basic principles and criteria that underlie foreign regulation systems, and which are recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The regulatory and methodological base formed to date in the Russian Federation contains all the required legal mechanisms for the regulation of discharges of the radioactive substances from nuclear facilities, is based on the best international practices and fully complies with the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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Radiation Mould with Radio Isotope Solutions Fluid „Iso-mould”

Nuklearmedizin ◽

10.1055/s-0037-1621152 ◽

1961 ◽

Vol 1 (03) ◽

pp. 246-257

Author(s):

M. O. Roxo-Nobre ◽

D. M. Vizeu

Keyword(s):

Clinical Practice ◽

Remote Control ◽

Lymph Nodes ◽

Half Life ◽

Radioactive Substances

SummaryA technique of mouldage, employing fluid radioactive substances is adopted, to replace the radium-moulding in the treatment of large surfaces. The technique is explained in detail, proving its greater safety by remote control and an adjustment of adequate means of protection. Distribution is obtained by means of a serpentine attached to the mould in question, which follows the Paterson-Parker system. The authors believe the distribution of radiation on curved anatomical areas to be much more uniform by mould system than any other process of application of the same radiation of rectilineal propagation, transmitted at greater focus-skin distances. The isotopes used up to now were the La140 and others of reduced half-life, in order to prevent the danger of eventual contaminations. Although the application of the process still has very little clinical practice, the technique is presented with a view to experimentation in extensive superficial tumours, or those of little depth, such as tumours of the skin, breast, penis, thyrreoid and lymph nodes.

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