The present study is aimed at analysing the growth of literature on radioactive waste management. International Nuclear Information System (INIS) database is used as a data source to analyse the focused areas of this field for the period 1970–2011. Journal Citation Report-2010 is used for eliciting information related to journal impact factors. The database contained a total of 101,419 publications covered by all the channels of communication during the period. The study analyses the broad features focusing on its publication growth characteristics, country-wise distribution of publications, domain-wise publications and activity index, various methods of radioactive waste disposal, institutions active in the field, communication channels, and journals preferred for publication by the scientists and the highly cited publications.