S.Y. Chen, Master of Health Physics program director and senior lecturer in physics, was chair of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) symposium, “Emerging Issues in Radioactive Waste Management,” held February 5–6 in Denver. At the symposium, which was a part of the Health Physics Society 51st Midyear Meeting, he also gave a talk on his paper titled, “Issues and Framework for Managing Radioactive Waste Resulting from Wide-Area Contamination.”

Chen’s paper builds upon the NCRP Report 175, “Decision Making for Recovery from Major Nuclear or Radiation Incidents,” and discusses the comprehensive waste management strategy that is needed to effectively address the magnitude of issues facing wide-area radioactive contamination issues. The strategy he proposes further incorporates flexibility into the existing policy for handling a possible array of radionuclides that could be encountered in acts of terrorism, and includes related waste-management issues such as temporary waste storage and staging, and packaging and transportation, not included in the existing framework.

To learn more about the NCRP Symposium, visit the NCRP website.