Waste management at Centro de Radiofarmacia of the Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares

The Centro de Radiofarmacia of the Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares produces and researches several radiopharmaceuticals used in therapy and diagnosis, for more than 270 nuclear medicine hospitals and clinics. It provides about 2,300,000 procedures per year. Some tasks accomplished at the Centro de Radiofarmacia's plant generate radioactive solid, liquid and gaseous waste which request a strictly management (temporary storage and final disposal, in case of solid and liquid waste) in agreement with the requirements set by CNEN-NE-6.05 regulations. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate the advantages of segregation of the solid waste by half-life. Once the majority of radionuclides of the plant has short half-life, it is possible to discharge a great amount of waste in the public sewage system after this segregation, reducing the storage time in the facility. (author)