SSG-45 Predisposal Management of Radioactive Waste from the Use of Radioactive Material in Medicine, Industry, Agriculture, Research and Education - Appendix I: Typical Radiation Sources used in Medicine, Industry and Research and the Associated Radioa...

Medical applications

I.4.

Radioactive materials are used in medicine for diagnosis, therapy and research, including in the following applications:

In vitro radioassay for clinical diagnosis and research using unsealed radionuclides;
In vivo use of radiopharmaceuticals for clinical diagnosis, therapy and medical research using unsealed radionuclides;
Radiotherapy using sealed sources that are either implanted inside the patient or used in an external device.

I.5.

Commercially available kits containing only kilobecquerel quantities of radionuclides are used for in vitro radioassay. In many States, this activity is not controlled by the regulatory body because the used kits are eligible for exemption. ¹²⁵I is the main radionuclide, with each assay usually involving a very small amount of activity. Following each individual assay and after the expiry date of the kit, the radioactive material and contaminated items are normally disposed of as conventional waste.

I.6.

For the main in vivo applications, the particular organ to be studied or treated governs the type of radiopharmaceutical used and the quantity administered to the patient. Of the radionuclides in use for imaging work, ^99mTc is the most common, having a radioactive half-life of 6 hours. It is normally eluted in a sterile environment from a commercially supplied generator containing a core of ⁹⁹Mo. Since the half-life of ⁹⁹Mo is 66 hours, generators need to be replaced at approximately weekly intervals. The waste arising from the preparation of ⁹⁹mTc labeled agents, such as discarded vials, syringes and swabs, is potentially contaminated with the radionuclide, but the radioactivity decays rapidly owing to the short half-life, so that regulatory control can be removed and the waste disposed of as conventional waste. However, when applying decay storage for large amounts of ⁹⁹mTc it should be noted that the decay product of ^99mTc, namely⁹⁹Tc, is radioactive and has a very long half-life.

I.7.

Radionuclides such as ¹³¹I, ³²P, ⁹⁰Y, ¹⁹²Ir and ⁸⁹Sr are administered to patients in activities ranging from 200 MBq to 11 GBq for therapeutic purposes. In therapeutic applications, due attention should be paid to the radioactive contaminants contained in waste from patients, such as excreta and soiled linen.

I.8.

Sealed radioactive sources containing other radionuclides such as ⁶⁰Co, ¹⁹²Ir and ¹³⁷Cs are used for patient therapy as temporary implants, for external beam therapy and for irradiation of blood products. Detailed guidance on radiation protection in medical uses of radiation, including the safe handling of waste from medical applications, is provided in IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-46, Radiation Protection and Safety in Medical Uses of Ionizing Radiation [46].

TABLE. 1. Typical Unsealed Radioactive Sources used in Medicine and Biological Research

Radionuclide	Half-life	Principle application	Typical activity per application	Waste characteristics
³H	12.3 a	Radiolabelling Biological research Organic synthesis	Up to 50 GBq	Solvent, solid, liquid
¹¹C	20.4 m	Positron emission tomography Lung ventilation studies	Up to 2 GBq	Solid, liquid
¹⁴C	5730 a	Medical diagnosis Biological research Labelling	Up to 1 MBq Up to 50 GBq Up to 50 GBq	(Exhaled CO2) Solid, liquid Solvent
¹⁵O	122 s	Positron emission tomography Lung ventilation studies	Up to 2 GBq	Solid, liquid
¹⁸F	1.8 h	Positron emission tomography	Up to 500 MBq	Solid, liquid
²⁴ Na	15.0 h	Biological research	Up to 5 GBq	Liquid
³²P ³³P	14.3 d 25.4 d	Therapeutic nuclear medicine Biological research	Up to 200 MBq Up to 50 MBq	Solid, liquid
³⁵S	87.4 d	Medical and biological research	Up to 5 GBq	Solid, liquid
³⁶Cl	3.01 ✕ 10⁵ a	Biological research	Up to 5 MBq	Gaseous, solid, liquid
⁴⁵Ca	163 d	Biological research	Up to 100 MBq	Mainly solid, some liquid
⁴⁶Sc	83.8 d	Medical and biological research	Up to 500 MBq	Solid, liquid
⁵¹Cr	27.7 d	Diagnostic nuclear medicine Biological research	Up to 5 MBq Up to 100 MBq	Solid Mainly liquid effluent
⁵⁷Co ⁵⁸Co	271.7 d 70.8 d	Diagnostic nuclear medicine Biological research	Up to 50 MBq	Solid, liquid effluent
⁵⁹Fe	44.5 d	Diagnostic nuclear medicine Biological research	Up to 50 MBq	Solid, mainly liquid
⁶⁷Ga	3.3 d	Diagnostic nuclear medicine	Up to 200 MBq	Solid, liquid
⁶⁸Ga	68.2 m	Positron emission tomography	Up to 2 GBq	Solid, liquid
⁷⁵Se	120 d	Diagnostic nuclear medicine	Up to 10 MBq	Solid, liquid
^81mKr	13.3 s	Lung ventilation studies	Up to 6 GBq	Gaseous
⁸⁵Sr	64.8 d	Biological research	Up to 50 MBq	Solid, liquid
⁸⁶Rb	18.7 d	Medical and biological research	Up to 50 MBq	Solid, liquid
^82mRb	6.2 h	Diagnostic nuclear medicine	Up to 50 MBq	Solid, liquid
⁸⁹Sr	50.5 d	Therapeutic nuclear medicine	Up to 300 MBq	Solid, liquid
⁹⁰Y	2.7 d	Diagnostic nuclear medicine Therapeutic nuclear medicine	Up to 300 MBq	Solid, liquid
⁹⁵Nb	35.0 d	Medical and biological research	Up to 50 MBq	Solid, liquid
^99mTc	6.0 h	Diagnostic nuclear medicine Biological research Nuclide generators	Up to 100 GBq	Solid, liquid
¹¹¹In	2.8 d	Clinical measurements Biological research	Up to 50 MBq	Solid, liquid
¹²³I ¹²⁵I ¹³¹I	13.2 h 60.1 d 8.0 d	Medical and biological research Diagnostic nuclear medicine Therapeutic nuclear medicine	Up to 500 MBq Up to 11 GBq	Solid, liquid, occasionally vapour
¹¹³Sn	155.0 d	Medical and biological research	Up to 50 GBq	Solid, liquid
¹³³Xe	5.3 d	Diagnostic nuclear medicine	Up to 400 MBq	Gaseous, solid
¹⁵³Sm	1.9 d	Therapeutic nuclear medicine	Up to 8 GBq	Solid, liquid
¹⁶⁹Er	9.3 d	Therapeutic nuclear medicine Diagnostic nuclear medicine	Up to 500 MBq	Solid, liquid
¹⁹⁸Au	2.7 d	Therapeutic nuclear medicine Diagnostic nuclear medicine	Up to 500 MB	Solid, liquid
²⁰¹Tl	3.0 d	Diagnostic nuclear medicine	Up to 200 MBq	Solid, liquid
²⁰³Hg	46.6 d	Biological research	Up to 5 MBq	Solid, liquid

TABLE. 2. Sealed Radioation Sources used in Medicine, Industry and Research

Application	Radionuclide	Half-life	Source activity	Comments
Bone densitometry	²⁴¹Am ¹⁵³Gd ¹²⁵I ²³⁹Pu–Be	433.0 a 244.0 d 60.1 d 2.41 × 10⁴ a	1–10 GBq 1–40 GBq 1–10 GBq Various	Mobile units
Manual brachytherapy	¹⁹⁸Au ¹³⁷Cs ²²⁶Ra ³²P ⁶⁰Co ⁹⁰Sr ¹⁰³Pd ¹²⁵I ¹⁹²Ir ¹⁰⁶Ru	2.7 d 30.0 a 1600 a 14.3 d 5.3 a 29.1 a 17.0 a 60.1 d 74.0 d 1.01 a	50–500 MBq 30–300 MBq 50–500 MBq Various Various 50–1500 MBq 50–1500 MBq 50–1500 MBq 200–1500 MBq Various	Small portable sources
Remote after-loading brachytherapy	¹³⁷Cs ¹⁹²Ir	30.0 a 74.0 d	0.03–10 MBq 200 TBq	Mobile units
Teletherapy	⁶⁰Co ¹³⁷Cs ²²⁶Ra	5.3 a 30.0 a 1600a	50–1000 TBq 500 TBq Various	Fixed installations
Whole blood irradiation	⁶⁰Co ¹³⁷Cs	5.3 a 30.0 a	50–1000 TBq 2–100 TBq	Fixed installations
Research	⁶⁰Co ¹³⁷Cs	5.3 a 30.0 a	Up to 750 TBq Up to 13 TBq	Fixed installations
Sterilization	⁶⁰Co	5.3 a	Up to 40 PBg	Fixed installations
Calibration sources, anatomical markers, sources as standards in instruments	⁶³Ni ¹³⁷Cs ⁵⁷Co ²²⁶Ra ¹⁴⁷Pm ³⁶Cl ¹²⁹I	100 a 30.0 a 271.7 d 1600 a 2.62 a 3.01 × 105 a 1.57 × 107 a	<4 MBq <4 MBq Up to 400 MBq <10 MBq <4 MBq <4 MBq <4 MBq	Fixed installations in instruments or mobile sources
Thickness gauges, density gauges, well logging, moisture detectors, X ray fluorescence	²²Na ⁵⁵Fe ⁸⁵Kr ⁹⁰Sr ¹⁰⁹Cd ¹³⁴Cs ¹³⁷Cs ¹⁴⁷Pm ²⁴¹Am–Be ²³⁸Pu ²⁵²Cf	2.6 a 2.6 a 10.7 a 28.1 a 1.27 a 2.1 a 30.0 a 2.62 a 433 a 87.7 a 2.6 a	Various Up to 5 GBq Up to 100 GBq Up to 10 GBq Various Up to 20 GBq Up to 10 GBq Up to 2 GBq Up to 500 GBq Up to 5 GBq Up to 10 GBq
Static eliminators	²¹⁰Po	138 d	Up to 20 GBq	Mobile equipment
Electron capture detectors	³H ⁶³Ni	12.3 a 100 a	Up to 10 TBq Up to 50 GBq	Mobile equipment
Industrial radiography	¹⁶⁹Yb ¹⁷⁰Tm ⁶⁰Co ⁷⁵Se ¹³⁷Cs ¹⁹²Ir	32 d 128.6 d 5.3 a 120 d 30.0 a 74.0 d	Up to 1 TBq Up to 1 TBq Up to 15 TBq Up to 2 TBq Up to 3 TBq Up to 5 TBq	Mobile equipment