Acondicionamiento de las fuentes de radio 226 en Cuba

abstract 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.