Controlling and Managing Radioactive Sources

This chapter discusses the dangers of uncontrolled or orphaned radioactive sources. From the Indian perspective, N. Ramamoorthy provides an overview of the importance of legitimate industrial and medical uses of radioactive materials. He argues that such applications preclude a one-size-fits-all approach to security. To mitigate the problem, Ramamoorthy argues for the use of non-radiological alternatives where possible, and for better accountability and proliferation-proof designs where there is no alternative. U.S. authors Christopher Boyd and Anne Wiley explain that radiological sources can provide material for dirty bombs, and are often located in areas with relatively lax security environments. To address this problem, the authors argue for regulatory flexibility and, where possible, for risk elimination rather than risk mitigation.