Evaluation of the health service wastes profile concerning to radioactive wastes presence when the final disposures processing

The medical procedures of diagnosis and treatment that use radiopharmaceuticals generate radioactive wastes. which can, after reaching the release limit, follow the conventional ways of collection and disposal of the urban solid wastes. This research aims to detect radiometrically the presence of radioactive wastes in the health-care wastes at the final disposal, checking out if the release legal limit for solid wastes (7,5 x 104 Bq/kg = 2μCi/kg) is being observed. Measurements in the material of the garbage trucks that make the special collect from Health Service Installations are performed using a scintillation detector at Belo Horizonte sanitary landfill. Values above the established limit were found in 60% of the cases. The spectral analysis of 6 samples showed the presence of 99m Tc in 5 of them and 131 I in one. These radionuclides are the most common radiopharmaceuticals used in Nuclear Medicine. The conclusion is that there is release of radioactive wastes together with the health-care wastes, due to the disregard of the decay time until the release legal limit is achieved. (author)