Securing Materials

Radioactive materials are used in many beneficial ways, including medical, academic and industrial uses. Cancer treatment is just one way that radioactive materials benefit the public. Despite these benefits, some materials can potentially harm people and the environment if misused. For these reasons, their security, including use and handling, is strictly regulated in the United States by the NRC.

• “Dirty bombs”

A "dirty bomb," also called a "radiological dispersal device" (RDD), combines explosives, such as dynamite, with radioactive material. A dirty bomb is NOT a nuclear weapon. Most dirty bombs would not be highly destructive and would not release enough radiation to kill people or cause severe illness. Instead, a dirty bomb is a "Weapon of Mass Disruption” that could cause panic and fear, and require costly cleanup. Some materials licensed by the NRC could possibly be used in a dirty bomb, which is why they are strictly regulated.

National Source Tracking System (NSTS)

• The NRC will implement the NSTS in 2008 to enhance controls for certain radioactive materials considered to be of the greatest concern from a safety and security standpoint. Until the NSTS is deployed, the NRC and Agreement States perform an annual inventory of these sources. The tracking system is being developed with other federal and state agencies, and international partners.
  
  The NSTS will require licensees to report the manufacture, transfer, receipt, disassembly, and disposal of nationally tracked sources. The NSTS is an important component of the NRC’s effort to enhance the control of radioactive material and prevent its use by the nation’s adversaries. There are approximately 54,000 of these sources in use in the United States.