The importance of a document management policy to radioactive waste management

Abstract

The absence of document management policies on the nuclear area, in Brazil, can affect the short- and the long-term safety of radioactive waste management. Knowledge about the radioactive content of the waste is essential to its safety. However, in the national legal framework, there is no specific rules about the maintenance of documents/information, neither procedures that are related to management of records that ensures their integrity, authenticity and preservation. Considering the nature and the magnitude of the dangers associate to radioactive waste, information related to all steps of its life cycle, from generation to final disposal, is essential to an appropriate management and disposal, in line with the principles of preserving the human health and the environmental, today and in the future. This paper intends to indicate all the main aspects of a document management policy that could impact on radioactive waste management, and to discuss how a national policy establishing guidance to all those involved in the generation and the management of the radioactive waste could help improve the processes of recording and preserving the required information to the future.