This guide contains recommendations and guidance on the fulfilment of the safety requirements established in the publication "Predisposal management of radioactive waste, including decommissioning" (Safety Standards Series No. WS-R-2, 2000, ISBN 9201003005). It covers the roles and responsibilities of different bodies involved in the predisposal management of radioactive waste and in the handling and processing of radioactive material.

The processing of organic waste is a rapidly developing field. Various treatment and conditioning options are being investigated, developed and widely applied. This report revises and summarizes available information on different treatment and conditioning options applied for predisposal management of organic radioactive waste.

This Safety Guide is applicable to the predisposal management of radioactive waste derived from the use of radioactive materials in medicine, industry, agriculture, research and education, including disused sealed radioactive sources. It focuses on waste generated at facilities such as hospitals and research centres, where radioactive waste is not usually generated in bulk quantities. It covers the managerial, administrative and technical issues associated with the safe management of radioactive waste, from its generation to its acceptance at a disposal facility or its release from regulatory control.

Radiation sources used in research and education include particle accelerators, sealed radioactive sources, such as low activity check sources and high activity sealed radioactive sources in irradiators; unsealed radioactive sources that are used as tracers in field work and in laboratory work; naturally occurring radioactive material and X ray generators such as diffraction apparatus and fluorescence analyzers. This Safety Guide provides recommendations on how to meet the relevant requirements of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. GSR Part 3 in the use of radiation sources in research and education. It provides guidance on the control of occupational exposure and of public exposure, for planned exposure situations and, where appropriate, emergency exposure situations and on the safety measures specific to this practice. The recommendations in this publication are aimed primarily at operating organizations such as educational and research establishments including schools, colleges, universities and technical institutes that are authorized to use radiation sources in academic programs, as well as their employees, students, teachers and radiation protection officers. The guidance will also be of interest to individuals working for regulatory bodies and other relevant organizations involved in design, manufacture, supply and service of radiation sources and associated equipment for research and education.

The classification of radioactive waste varies from state to state. This results in different management procedures for each country, while following IAEA and OECD/NEA recommendations. Radioactive waste comes from numerous sources. The largest volumes are generated by the decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear facilities. Long-lived, medium- and high-activity waste – categorized as the most hazardous types of waste – are in fact largely produced by nuclear power reactors, spent fuel reprocessing plants and nuclear accidents. Final disposal of very low-activity, low-activity and very short-lived waste is well controlled. However, final solutions for certain categories, including long-lived waste, sorted waste and spent graphite waste, are not yet in place. Management of Radioactive Waste reviews all the possible solutions and presents those chosen by the various states, including a chapter detailing policy on radioactive waste management, taking France as an example.

Provides detailed information on the handling, processing and storage techniques most widely used and recommended for waste from non-fuel-cycle activities. The report was designed to meet the needs of developing countries by focusing on the most simple, affordable and reliable techniques and discussing their advantages and limitations.

This is the second edition of the WHO handbook on the safe, sustainable and affordable management of health-care waste--commonly known as "the Blue Book". The original Blue Book was a comprehensive publication used widely in health-care centers and government agencies to assist in the adoption of national guidance. It also provided support to committed medical directors and managers to make improvements and presented practical information on waste-management techniques for medical staff and waste workers. It has been more than ten years since the first edition of the Blue Book. During the intervening period, the requirements on generators of health-care wastes have evolved and new methods have become available. Consequently, WHO recognized that it was an appropriate time to update the original text. The purpose of the second edition is to expand and update the practical information in the original Blue Book. The new Blue Book is designed to continue to be a source of impartial health-care information and guidance on safe waste-management practices. The editors' intention has been to keep the best of the original publication and supplement it with the latest relevant information. The audience for the Blue Book has expanded. Initially, the publication was intended for those directly involved in the creation and handling of health-care wastes: medical staff, health-care facility directors, ancillary health workers, infection-control officers and waste workers. This is no longer the situation. A wider range of people and organizations now have an active interest in the safe management of health-care wastes: regulators, policy-makers, development organizations, voluntary groups, environmental bodies, environmental health practitioners, advisers, researchers and students. They should also find the new Blue Book of benefit to their activities. Chapters 2 and 3 explain the various types of waste produced from health-care facilities, their typical characteristics and the hazards these wastes pose to patients, staff and the general environment. Chapters 4 and 5 introduce the guiding regulatory principles for developing local or national approaches to tackling health-care waste management and transposing these into practical plans for regions and individual health-care facilities. Specific methods and technologies are described for waste minimization, segregation and treatment of health-care wastes in Chapters 6, 7 and 8. These chapters introduce the basic features of each technology and the operational and environmental characteristics required to be achieved, followed by information on the potential advantages and disadvantages of each system. To reflect concerns about the difficulties of handling health-care wastewaters, Chapter 9 is an expanded chapter with new guidance on the various sources of wastewater and wastewater treatment options for places not connected to central sewerage systems. Further chapters address issues on economics (Chapter 10), occupational safety (Chapter 11), hygiene and infection control (Chapter 12), and staff training and public awareness (Chapter 13). A wider range of information has been incorporated into this edition of the Blue Book, with the addition of two new chapters on health-care waste management in emergencies (Chapter 14) and an overview of the emerging issues of pandemics, drug-resistant pathogens, climate change and technology advances in medical techniques that will have to be accommodated by health-care waste systems in the future (Chapter 15).