Waste
Preparing Radioactive Waste
- Minimize the disposal of non-radioactive material as radioactive waste (e.g., survey waste for contamination prior to disposal).
- Do not discard of any radioactive material or a potentially contaminated item into regular trash containers or wastebaskets.
- Maintain a running estimate of the radioactivity placed in a waste bag.
- Package lead separately for pick-up by the Radiation Protection Office.
- Deface radioactive material symbols, labels and markings. Labels may be torn off, scratched or painted with a spray can or marker so that they cannot be identified.
- Segregate waste by radionuclide (32P, 125I, 14C, 35S, 3H) and physical characteristics (e.g., solid waste, absorbed liquids, scintillation vials, sharps, etc).
- Package solid waste, excluding iodine and animal carcasses, in clear, 4 mil plastic bags. Place Iodine waste in two, individually sealed 4 mil clear plastic bags. Place animal carcasses into 4 mil, black plastic bags. Seal the waste bags. The RPO provides bags.
Place sharps in a Biosafety approved sharps-container that is individually packaged in a plastic bag. - Segregate scintillation vials by radionuclide (3H and 14C in one bag). For vials that contain only 3H and 14C segregate those with an activity of less than 0.05 Ci per milliliter, less than about 100,000 disintegrations per minute per vial.
- Tightly cap scintillation vials and pack in vial-boxes or double bag in 4 mil plastic bags with no more than 200 full sized or 400 mini-vials per container. Use only environmentally friendly scintillation fluid.
For liquids other than scintillation fluids, pack non-flammable liquid waste in RPO provided liquid containers and follow instructions on the bottle label. Do not mix organic and non-organic liquids. Ensure that the container does not have freestanding liquid. Place the container into a sealed clear plastic bag.
- Store waste prior to pick-up by EH&S in tight containers away from work areas and conventional trash. Post the container with radioactive materials and multi-language "Do Not Empty" signs. Where possible, use additional shielding around or as part of the container design to minimize personnel exposure (e.g. Lucite for beta emitters, lead for gamma emitters).
- Attach a completed waste tag. For scintillation vials, specify the brand name of the scintillation fluid.
Email radiation_protection at harvard dot edu to send comments and suggestions to the Radiation Protection Office
