Conditioning of radium 226 sources in Cuba

• Main Authors: Juan Carlos Benítez Navarro, Mercedes Salgado Mojena, Niurka González Rodríguez, Rafael Castillo Gómez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centro de Gestión de la Información y Desarrollo de la Energía (CUBAENERGIA) 2011-01-01
• Series: Nucleus
• Subjects: radio 226, fuentes de radiaciones, fuentes encapsuladas, encapsulación
• Online Access: http://nucleus.cubaenergia.cu/index.php/nucleus/article/view/549

The production and use of Ra-226 sealed sources was internationally recommended to be halted for health and safety reasons. Consequently, all Ra-226 sources in Cuba were collected, characterized and conditioned. The paper describes the safety and operational aspects related to the Ra-226 conditioning. For this, a Special Permission was granted by the Regulatory Body, as required. A radiological assessment, a safety report as well as an emergency plan were prepared and approved before the operations. The work was accomplished with due reliability following an established comprehensive Quality Management System. As a result of these operations, 188.5 GBq of Ra-226, contained in different types of radiation sources (brachytherapy needles and tubes, standard sources for calibration, etc.) were encapsulated and conditioned. The capsules with the sources were conditioned in a retrievable form within fi ve waste packages intended for long term storage.