The present work describes the technical information on issues associated with themanagement of disused Ra-226 radioactive sources. The different settings needed tocondition these sources in stainless steel capsules, working area setup, packagingpreparation, Ra-226 source characterization, capsule welding, leakage test and datainformation are completely described. The radium sources addressed in the present work aremainly those which have been used in medicine and for industrial applications, in the formof sealed radiation sources. In Egypt hospitals are among the largest users of sealedradium radioactive sources which are mostly used for brachytherapy. The inventory ofradium sources in large hospitals could be in the hundreds. There is a real risk thatsources may be lost or mishandled, if very restricted procedures are not followed. Anadditional problem with these sources is that they are often leaking, due to internaloverpressure. The small size of the sources, portability and high apparent value (due tothe materials of encapsulation) increase the risk of theft.
