Radioactive substances

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Radioactive substances within the meaning of the Atomic Energy Act are:

• nuclear fuels, i.e.

a)	plutonium 239 and plutonium 241,
b)	uranium enriched with the isotopes 235 or 233,
c)	any substance containing one or several of the substances mentioned in a) and b),
d)	substances which can be used in a suitable plant to maintain a chain reaction which initiates its own repetition and which are determined in an ordinance having the force of law.

• other radioactive substances which - without being nuclear fuel -,
  

  a)	spontaneously emit ionizing rays,
  b)	contain one or several of the substances mentioned in a) or are contaminated with such substances.

The Radiological Protection Ordinance further distinguishes:

• enclosed radioactive substances: radioactive substances which areenclosed by a tight, firm, inactive shell or permanently embedded in solid inactive substances so that the release of radioactive substances is prevented in the case of usual normal stress; a dimension must at least amount to 0.2 cm;

• open radioactive substances: all radioactive substances except for enclosed radioactive substances;

• short-lived radionuclides: radioactive substances with a half-life of up to 100 days;

• long-lived radionuclides: radioactive substances with a half-life of more than 100 days.

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