Radioactive Waste Management

The purpose of this part is to determine the conditions of discharge of wastes from the use of radioactive to the environment, by not giving damage to public, users and environment.

Issues mentioned in this regulation cover the limitations and conditions relevant with the discharge of wastes, resulting from the use of radioisotopes which have half life of less than 100 days and radioactive materials with C-14 and H-3 contents, in areas such as medicine, industry and research, to the environment after the user accumulated and kept them if necessary.

Sealed radioactive sources, radioisotopes which have a half life of more than 100 days, and wastes resulting from activities involving nuclear fuel cycle are out of the scope of this regulation.

This part is prepared on the basis of provisions of Turkish Atomic Energy Institution Law with no. 2690 and Radiation Safety Statute.

Turkish Standard for Waste Management

Terms and abbreviations

In this part;

Authority: Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEK),

Statute: Radiation Safety Statute put into force with cabinet decision on 24/7/1985 and with no. 85/9727,

Radiation Safety Regulation: Regulation issued in the Official Gazette dd. 24/3/2000 and no. 23999,

Regulation on Control of the Medical Wastes: Regulation issued in the Official Gazette dd. 20/5/1993 and no.21586,

Radioactive Waste: Every kind of radioactive material which are not to be reused or other equipment contaminated with radioactive materials,

License holder: Official or private person or institutions who has acquired a license from Authority in order to store and use radioactive materials in accordance with the provisions of Radiation Safety Regulation,

Sealed Radioactive Source: Radioactive material that is sealed in a capsule or coated with a coating material in order to provide imperviousness under normal usage and possible accident conditions.

ALI: Intake limit of radioactive materials to the body annually in Becquerel (Bq) units, (ALI is initials of “Annual Limits on Intake”)

ALI min: Two different ALI values are determined by accepting that radioactive material scan be taken into body from digestive and/or respiratory system. ALI min values given in this regulation are the lowest values of the said two values,

Half Life: The time passed for the initial activity value of a radioactive material fall down at half value.

Discharge to the Environment: Discharge of liquid wastes into the sewer system, solid wastes to the medical waste disposal facilities, wastes in gas form such as vapor, aerosol and dust particles to the atmosphere in the forms explained and in quantities not exceeding the limits indicated in this regulation.

Limitations on Discharge of the Wastes Generated from the Use of Radioactive Material to the Environment

Limitations on Discharge of Liquid Wastes to the Sewer System

Liquid wastes can only be given to the sewer system in the limitations given below, under the responsibility of the license holder, provided that fulfillment of the provisions designated in the Authority law and following the concentration values being found acceptable after Authority’s evaluation of the information relevant with the waste system of body provided by the organization.

• Total quantity of radioactivity in the waste which can be discharged to the sewer system by one organization at once cannot be more than 2.5 times of the ALI min value given in Table 13.1 and cannot exceed 100 MBq.
• Scintillation solvents for laboratories and liquid wastes with similar organic solvent contents cannot have alpha radioactivity. Concentration of solvents with beta and gamma radioactivity content do not exceed 3.7 Bq value in millimeter, radioactivity concentration ofsolvents with H-3 and C-14 contents do not exceed 37 Bq value in millimeter. For the wastes exceeding those values, the provisions in paragraph (a) of Article 7 of this Regulation are applied.
• Radioactivity quantity that can be discharged to the sewer system in one month for one organization cannot be more than 25 times of the ALI min value given in Table 13.1. Wastes exceeding those values are subject to paragraph (a) of Article 7 of this Regulation.
• If waste includes more than one radioisotope, ratio of each radioisotope activity to its own ALI min value calculated then the sum of those ratios is taken. In order to discharge those wastes to the sewer system, that sum cannot be greater than 2.5 for each discharge and cannot be greater than 25 for monthly total discharge.
• Liquid wastes with the urine and feces of patients who are under I-131 treatment, shall be connected to the sewer system out of the hospital at one point, a radiation warning sign shall be put up and regular measurements shall be made. At this point I-131 concentration value cannot exceed 10 Bq value.

Limitations on the Discharge of Solid Wastes to the Environment

Equipment contaminated during the usage of radioactive materials and solid radioactive materials which cannot be used are classified as waste and can be discharged to the environment under the responsibility of the license holder within the limitations given below.

a) Radiation dose rate on the surface of radioactive waste bags which will be sent to the medical waste disposal facilities shall not exceed 1 μSv/hour in anyway. Measurements shall be made by an appropriate detection device that can measure the emission of radiation of the radioactive material.

b) Alpha-releasing solid wastes cannot be discharged to the environment. For those wastes application must be made to the Authority.

Limitations on the Discharge of Gas Wastes to the Atmosphere

Wastes in gas form are discharged to the atmosphere under responsibility of the license holder under the conditions determined in the licensing and facility projecting phase.