Radioactive Waste Management Activities in Myanmar

Although Myanmar has no nuclear facilities such as power reactors, nuclear fuel cycle facilities, research reactors, nuclear research facilities, the utilization of ionizing radiation, radioisotope and radioactive sources to some extent for health, social and economic benefits have been started since late 1950's. The main sources of radioactive wastes are mainly from hospitals that use short-lived radioisotopes for nuclear medicine purposes. Spent seal sources which are generated from the application of radioactive sources in medical diagnosis, treatment and agricultural research were studied. For short –lived radionuclides, waste management may involve collection and storage of the waste for decay until they can be exempted from further regulatory control. For long half –lives radionuclides, waste management may include not only collection and storage, but also more complicated activities such as conditioning and disposal. Main Radioactive Waste Producers in Myanmar are Industries, Medicine and Agricultural Services. The procedures of waste management activities are collection, treatment, conditioning, packaging and storage. The process of Conditioning for Spent Ra226 had been performed in Division of Atomic Energy (DAE) in this work. DAE is responsible for carrying out research and development in radioactive waste management. The purposes of waste management policy are: the waste is returned to the manufacturers, is stored by licensees, and is sent to National Waste Center. All the departments using ionizing radiation sources have followed the IAEA Safety Rules and Standard with care and caution, no radiation hazard or accident or incident has ever occurred at all. Safety and radiation protections are being taken as much as possible to comply with relevant IAEA regulations. Myanmar is also participating in the human resource development programme in connection with IAEA for radioactive waste management of training, workshops, e- learning course and CONNECT Website and platform. (author)