The Office of Radiological Safety (ORS) recently took advantage of the “Source Collection and Threat Reduction Program” (SCATR) to get rid of dozens of sealed sources of radioactive material that are no longer in use.

The SCATR Program is an initiative to reduce the amount of unused sealed sources of radioactive material stored at licensed facilities that could be used for malicious intent.  SCATR is funded through a grant provided by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) and is administered by the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD).

The DOE recognized that facilities often hold on to radioactive sources, even though they are no longer in use, because the disposal of such sources is limited and expensive.  The CRCPD is now able to provide a limited-time opportunity for licensees to dispose of these unwanted sources. This opportunity provides facilities like Georgia Tech financial support equal to 45% of the cost of packaging, transport, and disposal.

This opportunity allowed ORS to get rid of over 90 sealed sources totaling over 3.4 Curies of radioactivity. This will save Georgia Tech over $20,000 in future disposal costs as well as reduce our overall inventory of unneeded radioactive material.