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Waste management - how?
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Waste from medicine, industry and research (MIR)

Radioactive waste is produced from wide range of applications in medicine, industry and research (radiation sources from medicine and industry, waste from research facilities, etc.).

 

For example, the following have to be recycled or disposed of as radioactive waste:

  • radiation sources from medicine (mainly recycled)

  • radiation sources from technical applications

  • tritium waste from luminous paints in the watch industry

  • radioactive substances from measuring cells in old fire alarms

  • radioactive chemicals

Where is MIR waste produced? Some examples
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Radioactive sources are used in radiation therapy. (Image: University Clinic, Zürich)

 

Numerous applications of radioactive substances can be found in industry and technology. The picture shows use of a radioactive source to check welding seams in a pipe. (Image: Suva, Lucerne)

 

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Older generation fire alarms contain radioactive substances (americium-241) in the measuring cells. (Image: Nagra)


 

Luminous paint used for watch faces – an example

of everyday use of radioactive substances.

(Image: Suva, Lucerne)

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Particle physics research at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva results in components becoming activated; these have to be disposed of as radioactive waste.

(Image: CERN, Geneva)

 

  
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