GB/T 4960.8-2025 Glossary of nuclear science and technology—Part 8: Radioactive waste management English, Anglais, Englisch, Inglés, えいご
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National Standard of the People's Republic of China
GB/T 4960.8-2025
Replacing GB/T 4960.8-2008
Glossary of Nuclear Science and Technology—Part 8: Radioactive Waste Management
Issued on 2025-08-29
Implemented on 2025-08-29
State Administration for Market Regulation
Standardization Administration of China
Contents
1 Scope
2 Normative References
3 Basic Terms
4 Waste Classification
5 Waste Treatment
6 Waste Storage and Transportation
7 Waste Disposal
8 Uranium/Thorium Mining Waste Management
9 Decommissioning
Index
1. Scope
This document defines terms and their definitions related to radioactive waste management.
It applies to all activities associated with radioactive waste management.
2. Normative References
This document has no normative references.
3. Basic Terms
3.1 Radioactive Waste
Waste containing radionuclides or contaminated by radionuclides, where the activity or activity concentration exceeds national clearance levels, and is no longer intended for use.
3.2 Radioactive Waste Management
Activities related to the treatment, storage, transportation, disposal, and supervision of radioactive waste.
3.3 Waste Characterization
The process of determining the radiological, physicochemical, mechanical, and biological properties of radioactive waste.
(Terms 3.4–3.29 follow the same structured format, e.g.,)
3.4 Waste Pretreatment
Any or all operations performed before waste treatment, including collection, sorting, chemical conditioning, and decontamination.
3.5 Waste Segregation
The systematic categorization of waste types based on radiological, chemical, and/or physical properties.
Note: Aims to facilitate waste handling and/or processing.
3.6 Contamination
The presence of unwanted radioactive substances or radiation exceeding prescribed limits on surfaces or inside equipment, sites, humans, or environmental media due to human activities.
3.7 Decontamination
The process of reducing or removing radioactive contamination through physical, chemical, or biological methods.
3.8 Waste Treatment
Operations to alter waste characteristics.
Note: Targets safety and/or economic goals, including volume reduction, radionuclide removal, and component modification.
3.9 Waste Conditioning
Operations to prepare waste into suitable packages for handling, transportation, storage, and/or disposal.
Note: Includes solidifying waste, enclosing it in containers, and providing external packaging if necessary.
3.10 Waste Storage
The placement of conditioned radioactive waste in nuclear facilities with isolation, environmental protection, human control, and retrievability, as required by national regulations, before disposal.
3.11 Pre-disposal Management
All waste management activities prior to disposal.
3.12 Waste Retrieval
The recovery of waste from storage facilities or sites.
3.13 Waste Disposal
The placement of conditioned waste in approved dedicated facilities (e.g., very low-level waste landfills, near-surface disposal sites, intermediate-depth disposal facilities, or deep geological repositories) without intent for retrieval.
3.14 Waste Minimization
The process of reducing waste quantity and activity to as low as reasonably achievable through waste reduction, recycling, and proper treatment of primary and secondary waste across all facility lifecycle stages.
3.15 Waste Inventory
Detailed records of waste characteristics.
Note: Includes waste sources, types, radioactivity levels, and quantities.
3.16 Species of Radionuclide
The chemical form, valence, and properties of radionuclides under specific conditions (pH, Eh, ligands, ionic strength, etc.).
3.17 Discharge
The planned and controlled release of gaseous or liquid effluents to the environment.
3.18 Dispersion
The transport, diffusion, and mixing of gaseous or liquid effluents in the atmosphere or water bodies.
3.19 Effluent
Gaseous or liquid streams discharged from nuclear facilities, with radioactivity concentrations and/or total activities below discharge control limits.
3.20 Effluent Monitoring
Sampling, analysis, or real-time measurement of effluents.
Note: Ensures compliance with discharge control limits.
3.21 Discharge Control Limit
The maximum permissible radioactivity concentration and/or total activity of radionuclides in effluents, approved by regulatory authorities.
3.22 Exemption
The partial or complete exemption from regulatory control for practices or sources confirmed to meet national radiation protection safety standards, as approved by regulatory authorities.
3.23 Clearance
The regulatory authority's removal of control over radioactive materials or items in approved practices.
Note: Regulatory control refers to restrictions imposed for radiation protection purposes.
3.24 Clearance Level
Values (activity concentration, total activity, and/or surface contamination) prescribed by regulatory authorities.
Note: When radioactivity concentrations and/or surface contamination meet or fall below these levels, regulatory control may be lifted upon approval.
3.25 Environmental Remediation
Collective measures to eliminate radioactive contamination and restore damaged environments (e.g., topography, vegetation).
Note: Also termed "environmental restoration."
3.26 Partitioning-Transmutation
The process of separating long-lived actinides and fission products from high-level waste, fabricating them into fuel targets, and irradiating them in critical/subcritical reactors to convert them into short-lived or stable nuclides.
Note: Aims to reduce final disposal volume and optimize resource utilization.
3.27 Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM)
Non-uranium/thorium minerals containing natural radionuclides.
Note 1: Examples include rare earth ores, phosphates, and oil/gas field materials.
Note 2: Requires regulatory control if radioactivity exceeds prescribed limits.
