Management of disused long lived sealed radioactive sources (LLSRS)

The document provides advice the sealed source users and the national waste management organizations with the technical know-how on the management of disused and spent long lived sealed radioactive sources (LLSRS) and with the particular guidelines required for handling, conditioning for storage, and storage of these sources. The guidance is intended to assist in establishing compliance with the present standards, requirements, and adopted practices. It also provides background material for any possible technical assistance to developing countries and serves as a reference for technical staff involved with IAEA programmes on the subject. Because of the historic nature of many of the sources under this category and the lack of well developed technical procedures recognized on the international level, this publication can serve as a basis for establishing future handling and conditioning procedures. The LLSRS addressed in this publication are primarily those containing radionuclides having half-lives greater than 30 years. These sources may contain long lived alpha-emitters, mainly 238Pu, 239Pu, 237Np, 241Am, 226Ra; beta-emitters: 14C, and 63Ni and could be neutron sources such as PuBe, RaBe and AmBe