Читать книгу Management of Radioactive Waste - Jean-Claude Amiard - Страница 34

Radionuclides have many uses in medicine and biological research. There are about 23 radionuclides that are used as radioactive tracers for various diagnostic purposes. Other radionuclides are present in sealed sources and serve as sources of ionizing radiation for medical, industrial and research applications [AMI 13]. The types of sealed sources are very varied and there are about 52 types of irradiators [IAE 19a].

Various medical and industrial, civilian and military accidents have occurred with abandoned irradiators [AMI 18, AMI 19].

Some industrial activities, such as chemical treatment related to the production of rare earths or the manufacture of phosphate fertilizers, lead to the concentration of natural radioactivity in a residue that becomes radioactive waste. This is particularly the case for the Rhodia plant in La Rochelle (Charente Maritime).

Many radioactive sources in sealed form are used in medicine to treat cancer (brachytherapy). They are used in industry to radiograph welds to test their integrity, to measure the water content of soil and for many other applications. They are also used in research or medicine to establish diagnoses (scintigraphy) or to treat certain cancers (thyroid) as radioactive tracers, in liquid form. The quantity of waste generated is small, but there are more than a thousand users scattered over the French territory [AMI 13].