Plans to safely manage medical and research waste

The Australian Government’s nuclear agency, ANSTO, will make an application to the independent nuclear regulator, ARPANSA, to vary its license for its Interim Waste Store. The original operating license was approved in 2015, enabling the facility to hold what is called a TN-81 cask of intermediate-level radioactive waste that was safely repatriated from France in 2015. The license variation to ARPANSA will allow ANSTO to prepare to receive a second TN-81 cask of intermediate level radioactive waste, which will to be repatriated in the 2022 financial year, in this case from the UK. Between 75-80 per cent of the radioactive waste produced at ANSTO is directly associated with production of nuclear medicine that and every Australian is likely to need to benefit from nuclear medicine at some point in their lifetime.   Nuclear medicine is used in the diagnosis of a variety of heart, lung and muscular skeletal conditions, as well as diagnosis and treatment of certain types of cancer. Australia’s nuclear reactor also supports world- class research to make industries more profitable, and medical and environmental innovations. A variety of low and intermediate level radioactive waste...