Environmental Solutions

Radioactive Management

Bridges Environmental deals with radioactive waste that primarily stems from medical or industrial applications. We offer a complete service including identification of sources, safeguarding, dismantling of complete sites, recycling or final storage. Additionally, we offer storage and transportation containers.

Re-use of radioactive waste

Bridges Environmental always looks for an option to find applications for the isotopes in nuclear waste so as to re-use them. Already, caesium-137, strontium-90 and other isotopes are extracted and re-used. While re-use does not eliminate the need to manage radioisotopes, it reduces the quantity of waste produced.

Some high-activity low-level waste (LLW) requires shielding during handling and transport, but most LLW is suitable for transportation with increased security levels. It is one key consideration to reduce the volume of radioactive waste.

Bridges Environmental takes care of the whole process from collection of radioactive waste to its final disposal.

Medical

Radioactive medical waste tends to contain beta particle and gamma ray emitters. It can be divided into two main classes. In diagnostic nuclear medicine a number of short-lived gamma emitters such as technetium-99m are used. Many of these can be disposed of by leaving them to decay for a short time before disposal as normal waste. Other isotopes used in medicine require a more sophisticated approach.

Industrial

Industrial source waste can contain alpha, beta, neutron or gamma emitters. Gamma emitters are used in radiography, while neutron emitting sources are used in a range of applications, such as oil well logging.