Like all industrial activities, nuclear activities generate waste. Some of this waste is radioactive. The three fundamental principles on which strict management of radioactive waste is based, are the responsibility of the waste producer, traceability of the waste and information of the public.

For very low level waste, application of a management system based on these principles, if it is to be completely efficient, rules out setting a universal threshold below which regulatory supervision can be dispensed with.

The technical management provisions to be implemented must be tailored to the hazard presented by the radioactive waste. This hazard can be mainly assessed through two parameters: the activity level, which contributes to the toxicity of the waste, and the lifetime defined by the half-life, the time after which the activity level is halved.

Finally, management of radioactive waste must be determined prior to any creation of new activities or modification of existing activities in order to:
- optimise the waste management channels;
- ensure mastery of the processing channels for the various categories of waste likely to be produced, from the front-end phase (production of waste and packaging) to the back-end phase (interim storage, transport, disposal).

TENORM (technologically-enhanced naturally occuring ionising radiation) activities justify supervision, and even risk evaluation and management, if likely to generate a risk for exposed workers and, as applicable, the population in general.

Some professional activities which cannot be defined as "nuclear activities" can indeed lead to significant exposure to ionising radiation of the workers and, to a lesser extent, of the populations in the vicinity of the places where these activities are carried out. This is in particular the case with activities which use materials (raw materials, construction materials, industrial residues) containing natural radioelements not used for their radioactive, fissile or fertile properties. The natural families of uranium and thorium are the main radioelements encountered.

Among the industries concerned, we could mention the phosphate mining and phosphated fertiliser manufacturing industries, the dyes industries, in particular those using titanium oxide and those using rare earth ores such as monazite.

The radiation protection actions required in this field are based on a precise identification of the activities, estimation of the impact of the exposure on the persons concerned, taking of corrective action to reduce this exposure if necessary, and monitoring.

Targeted on the risk to the population as a whole, but also to workers, monitoring of human exposure to radon in premises open to the public is also a radiation protection priority in geographical areas with a high potential of radon exhalation owing to the geological properties of the site. A strategy to reduce this exposure is necessary if the measurements taken exceed the regulatory action levels defined on the basis of work done internationally. Teaching establishments, health and social care establishments, thermal establishments and penitentiary establishments are primarily concerned by the radon monitoring measures.

Finally the exposure of aircrews to cosmic radiation, aggravated by prolonged periods at altitude, also warrants dosimetric monitoring.