Disposal of Ra into the Sea

[Malek Chatila <mc02@aub.edu.lb>]

Greetings to all,
I am a nuclear engineer (Ph.D. candidate) who is currently working as a
Health Physicist, Assistant Radiation Safety Officer at the American
University of Beirut (Lebanon).  We are currently negotiating with an
American company to properly dispose of our old radium needles/tubes that
have total activity of around 250 mg.  One of our certified medical
physicists proposed a method to dispose of the radium needles/tubes into
the sea.  Moreover, he described his method as placing the tubes/needles in
an acid container and then dropping the resulting liquid into the sea.
Please advice on the current U.S. or international regulations that address
this issue.  Is such disposal forbidden?  Please also advice on the
environmental impact of such a behavior.  I would appreciate frank answers.

Sincerely,

Malek Chatila
American University of Beirut
Email: mc02@aub.edu.lb
Fax: 011-961-749-198
Phone: 011-961-749-199


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