Comprehensive Review of CRCPD Efforts in the Disposition of Disused Radioactive Sources

The Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD), a national non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to radiation protection, established a National Radioactive Material Disposition Program to assist state radiation control programs, licensees, and members of the public in managing orphan sources and otherwise unwanted or disused radioactive material. The program consists of several services including technical assistance with disposition options; financial assistance to radiation control programs for the disposition of orphan sources; and the Source Collection and Threat Reduction (SCATR) Program for financial and logistical assistance in the disposal of unwanted sources. For the past 18 years, the CRCPD has partnered with the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to provide outreach to licensees and assistance in the disposal of disused sources, through the SCATR Program. The overarching goal of the SCATR Program is to design and execute a comprehensive and cost-effective process for identifying and reducing the threat of diversion of radioactive material for misuse, focusing on those sources that have a commercial disposal path. During the time the program has been in place, the scope has expanded to include higher activity sources, such as irradiators, and source collections in unusual circumstances. Progress toward the goals, disposal and transportation issues, and ancillary concerns being addressed by CRCPD are discussed.