Management Status of Disused Sealed Radioactive Sources in Korea

According to the increasing usage of sealed sources in Korea, the necessity of best management practices of DSRS have been raised. Moreover, the development of safe and efficient treatment and disposal technology has become an important issue. Until 2014, DSRS of 52,176 have been stored at temporary RI waste storage facility, and long-lived DSRS whose half-lives are more than 30 years took about 62% of total radioactivity. This study reviewed the current status of DSRS and analyzed it based on recent classification standard of NSSC Notice. It resulted that more than half of the number of DSRS were defined as EW, and most of activity were fallen under the category of ILW. The results of this study can be used as basic data to draw up a long-term management plan of DSRS. Because Low- and Intermediate-Level Radioactive waste (LILW) has been primarily generated from nuclear power plants (NPPs), most R and D studies have focused on the technologies concerning radioactive waste from NPPs