A quality health service, as defined by the World Health Organization, ‘is one which organizes resources in the most effective way to meet the health needs of those most in need, for prevention and care, safely, without waste and within higher level requirements’. As health care standards improve globally, providing an optimal service that meets international standards and public expectations requires effective quality management. The process of quality improvement aims at defining, measuring and setting quality standards, and overcoming the associated challenges that include rising costs and skills shortages. The objective of this publication is to provide a framework for quality management systems (QMSs) to be implemented, managed and sustained holistically in nuclear medicine departments. It builds upon the IAEA’s QUANUM programme, which has successfully been implemented in more than 80 countries worldwide.

This publication is the result of a collaborative effort, between the IAEA, OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and European Commission, to develop a standard taxonomy for nuclear facility decommissioning and thereby facilitate the sharing of knowledge on this topic. Adoption of the taxonomy will support the capture of knowledge from the ongoing implementation of decommissioning activities involving nuclear power plants, research reactors, and fuel cycle facilities. This publication will benefit a wide range of professionals working on gathering and organizing knowledge to be shared in the field of decommissioning, including government officials, managers of nuclear facility operating organizations, regulators, and industrial organizations offering decommissioning and waste management services.

The brachytherapy process requires consistent reference dosimetry that is traceable to metrological primary standards and common procedures to be followed for reference dosimetry globally. The Code of Practice is addressed to both Secondary Standards Dosimetry Laboratories and hospitals. It fulfils the need for a systematic and internationally unified approach to the calibration and use of vented well-type re-entrant ionisation chambers in determining the strength of brachytherapy sources with intensities measurable by such detectors. The dosimetry formalism as well as common procedures for calibration, reference dosimetry, reference-class instrument assessment and commissioning of the well-type ionisation chamber system are provided.

The IAEA International Conference on Radioactive Waste Management: Solutions for a Sustainable Future brought together experts from Member States to share experiences in the management of radioactive waste, with the aim of increasing the visibility of progress, good practice, and effective solutions. The sustainable application of nuclear technologies for the benefit of humanity, in cancer therapy, generating low-carbon electricity, improving crop yields and many other applications is fully connected with the responsible management of waste. It is only through the effective, safe and secure implementation of radioactive waste management solutions that Member States can continue to benefit from nuclear technologies and nuclear energy production, and the papers contained within these proceedings will help promote the sharing of good practices and experiences and thereby to a more sustainable future.

With an increasing interest in Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and their applications, a Technical Meeting on Considerations for the Back End of the Fuel Cycle of Small Modular Reactors was organized in September 2022 to facilitate the exchange of information and discussions to enable experts to collaboratively identify the opportunities and challenges faced at all stages needed for managing the spent fuels from different SMR technologies (e.g. storage, transportation, reprocessing and recycling, and disposal), the gaps in current infrastructure and the knowledge required to ensure an integrated approach to the overall spent fuel management strategy, as well as the potential ways to move forward in addressing them in the near, medium and long terms. This TECDOC presents the proceedings, session summaries and conclusions of the Technical Meeting, as well as the 27 extended abstract/full papers presented at the meeting.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) programme ‘Modelling and Data for Radiological Impact Assessments’ (MODARIA), which ran from 2012 to 2015 had the general aim of improving capabilities in the field of radiological and environmental dose assessment. Within MODARIA Working Group 3 ‘Application of models for assessing radiological impacts arising from NORM and radioactively contaminated legacy sites to support the management of remediation’, a software tool, NORMALYSA (NORM And LegacY Site Assessment), was developed. NORMALYSA can be used to simulate radionuclide transport in the environment from the source term (e.g. radioactively contaminated land) to the relevant receptors (e.g. residential areas, agricultural areas, water bodies) and to estimate resulting radiation exposure and corresponding doses to humans. This publication is the User Manual for NORMALYSA v.2.3 software, which also contains a description of the overall software architecture and the functionality of NORMALYSA.

This publication has been developed based on the results of the Technical Meeting on Advances in Post-Irradiation Examination Techniques for Power-Reactor Irradiated Fuels and Innovative Fuels held in July 2021. It explores the use of existing and new post-irradiation examination (PIE) techniques for the study of next-generation fuel types. Specifically, this publication provides an overall understanding of what important performance parameters are typically studied for each fuel type to properly assess its performance, and what are the relevant PIE techniques required for the analyses. Its intended audience comprises nuclear fuel designers, manufacturers, operators, regulators, academia and policy makers who work with the nuclear fuel community.

This publication highlights human and organizational lessons of the Fukushima Daiichi accident and discusses how to make owner/operating organizations of nuclear power plants more sustainably robust and resilient throughout all institutionalized systems. It also discusses how organizations can effectively manage the interfaces with stakeholders such as regulators, the public and within industry. The publication includes many practical examples of institutionalized initiatives that further enhance safety and improve overall nuclear power plant performance. This publication is intended for senior managers and leaders of nuclear power plant owner/operator organizations, and for other associated stakeholders such as manufacturers, vendors, contractors, and national and international industry organizations. Consideration and implementation of these noted initiatives and necessary attributes intend to help them develop strategies that support navigation through a rapidly changing business environment.

There are a number of IAEA Member States considering nuclear power programs and accordingly establishing regulatory infrastructure for the oversight of nuclear safety and security. The lessons identified from different IAEA expert missions, peer reviews, regulatory conferences, and training workshops have highlighted that most of the countries embarking on a nuclear power programme are facing various challenges in the development and implementation of regulatory oversight in line with the phases of implementation of nuclear power programmes specified in JAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-16 (Rev. 1), Establishing the Safety Infrastructure for a Nuclear Power Programme. The objective of this publication is to support the development and implementation of a structured regulatory oversight programme for the operation of a first nuclear power plant to ensure safety and security throughout its lifetime by using IAEA safety standards and security guidance documents. The TECDOC provides relevant information that is useful to embarking countries by considering the challenges and offering suggested approaches for regulatory oversight of a first nuclear power plant. This publication is intended for regulatory bodies, licensees of NPPs, technical support organizations and competent authorities responsible for oversight of nuclear safety and security of NPPs.

Containment barrier systems are among the most widely used technologies for remediating contaminated sites. Various structures have been engineered to address site-specific needs, while barrier selection depends largely on whether regulatory requirements are prescriptive, or performance based. This publication provides an introduction to the design and construction of different containment barriers for low-level radioactive waste generated from remediation activities: basal (bottom) liners, final covers, in situ vertical barriers and in situ permeable reactive barriers. Practical aspects of each structure are discussed in theoretical case studies, which allow remediation project designers, implementers and regulators to make more informed decisions about the use of these barriers.