Management of Radioactive Waste in Nuclear Medicine

The use of radionuclides in medicine will inevitably result in various forms of radioactive waste. The waste emerges from the production of radionuclides and radiopharmaceuticals, diagnostic and therapeutic use, and in biomedical research. Radioactive waste can also include spent sealed sources used for calibration, or quality control of different kind of medical equipment. The waste can lie within a wide range of activities and half-lives and be in different forms, solids, liquids, or airborne. In nuclear medical applications the main part of the radioactive waste consists of radionuclides with short half-life and low radiotoxicity, but other risks associated with the waste must also be considered. The philosophy of all work with radioactive material is to minimize any hazards on human health and impact on the environment both in the short and long term. To meet this, the basic principles of radiation safety must be applied – that is, justification, optimization, and the use of dose limits. This also includes radioactive waste management, and therefore the radioactive waste generated must be kept to a minimum as well as adapted to the work situation. The management of radioactive waste from medical applications is guided by international recommendations and regulated by regional and national authorities. The organization and regulations may vary in different countries due to the national legal framework, but the purpose is the same – to minimize a negative impact of the waste in all aspects.