Ireland is a small country with no historic or current civil or defence nuclear reactors or spent nuclear fuel storage or reprocessing activities. There is currently no centralised radioactive waste store. However, like all modern societies, Ireland uses radioactive materials in the form of sealed and unsealed sources in support of its high technology industries and its medical and other societal infrastructure. These activities give rise to waste materials such as disused sealed sources.
Most of the radioactive waste in Ireland is short lived arising from the use of radioactive substances for medical purposes and remains radioactive for a short period of time, e.g. weeks or months. Such short lived unsealed radioactive waste is stored in a dedicated secure storeroom in the hospital, under licence from the EPA, until it reaches background radiation levels. It is then disposed of as inactive waste. In 2011 the Irish Government facilitated a programme to reduce the amount of disused radioactive sources in Ireland. A reduction from ~3,000 disused sources in 2011 to about 14 sources, mostly radium-226 in 2024. The amount of radioactive waste is small but it is inevitable that it will increase, particularly as legacy sources and orphan sources are discovered. From previous discussions at Eurad-2 meetings it was noted that the definition of a Small Member Inventory State (SIMS) is not firmly established. In this presentation I want to set out why Ireland is a SIMS. In particular I want to highlight that, while the amount of radioactive wastes in Ireland is small, the management of this waste and the development of long-term arrangements for legacy sources and orphan sources is a challenge for Ireland.
In January 2026, Ireland will receive an Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) mission in January 2026. Ireland’s framework for the management of radioactive waste will be examined. The recommendations and suggestions from this IRRS mission will be viewed as an opportunity to improve Ireland’s national regulatory system.
