Managing Small Radioactive Collections in the UK: Experiences from the Polar Museum, Cambridge

Many collections in the UK include some radioactive objects, which must be managed in accordance with the Environmental Permitting Regulations and the Ionising Radiation Regulations. These laws are complex and cover a wide range of industries so it can be difficult to work out how they apply to museums in practice. Museums in the UK also have to consider how to integrate their legal obligations for working with radiation with accepted museum ethical guidelines, SPECTRUM 5.0 and the Accreditation Standard. This paper aims to illustrate how radioactive objects can be practically managed in a small museum context through examples from the Polar Museum in Cambridge, where the Radiation Protection team and the conservator have worked closely since 2009 to develop robust procedures. It covers many collections based activities including display, storage and conservation, and discusses these in the context of recent updates to UK law. A risk assessment template for working with radioactive collections is included as an Appendix.