ML20202F414
| ML20202F414 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | 07003039 |
| Issue date: | 01/10/1986 |
| From: | LOUISIANA STATE UNIV., BATON ROUGE, LA |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20202F116 | List: |
| References | |
| 460908, PROC-860110, NUDOCS 8604140153 | |
| Download: ML20202F414 (63) | |
Text
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/8 Radiation Safety Procedure
- - A' LSU - Baton Rouge Attachment II ORGANIZATION The authorization, structure, personnel, and responsibilities of individuals for the radiation safety program of the University System and on the Baton Rouge campus are described in this section.
The names and telephone numbers of individuals currently involved in the program are included on a card inserted in the pocket inside the front cover of this manual, and in Appendix 1.
Authorization Authorization for Louisiana State University to possess, store, and use radioactive materials is stipulated in a broad-scope radioactive materials license issued by the Nuclear Energy Division of the Louisiana Department of Conservation *, which has vested rtsponsibility from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission within the State of Louisiana.
The broad-scope license allows the UniverJ ty maximum flexibility in the use of radioactive materials for teaching and re-search through the operation of an internal radiation safety and control program.
Copies of the license are available for inspection in the Radiation Safety Office of the Nuclear Science Center.
Administrative authorization from the University is contained in Pm-30, issued from the Office of the President.
Included in this document are the responsibilities and authorities of the individuals and committees required by the University's broad-scope license, and the names of the individuals and committee members.
A copy of the most recent revision of PM-30 is included in this manual as Appendix 1.
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Authorizations for individual campus activities are contained in minutes of the LSU System Radiation Protection Comittee, in campus policy statements, and in approved individual campus radiation safety manuals.
Special authorization for unusual circumstances may be required, and will supersede the contents of this manual.
Program Structure An organization chart of the University's radiation safety program is shown on the following page.
As stipulated in PM-30, the LSU System Radiation Protection Commit-tee is composed of one member from LSU Alexandria, LSU Eunice, and LSU Shreveport; four members from the LSU Medical Center (including the medical schools in New Orleans and Shreveport, and the dental school in New Orleans); two members from the University of New Orleans; three I
members from LSU Baton Rouge, with an additional member from the Center for Agricultural Sciences and Rural Development; the Director of the i
Nuclear Science Center at Baton Rouge; and the LSU System Radiation Protection Officer.
The Chairman of the Radiation Protection Comittee is administra-tively responsible for the radiation-protection programs within the University, and reports directly to the University President.
Direct responsibility for implementation of the radiation safety -
policies and directives established by the Radiation Protection Comit-tee is assigned to the LSU System Radiation Protection Officer.
Appointment of individual campus Radiation Safety Officers is authorized in PM-30, and appointment of individual campus Radiation Safety Comittees has been approved by the Radiation Protection g4MOS
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Committee. Together, the campus Radiation Safety Committee and campus Radiation Safety Officer have the responsibilities for the local supervision and control of radiation hazards.
The Baton Rouge Safety Comittee is composed of representatives from the College of Agriculture, the College of Arts and Science, the College of Chemistry and Physics, the College of Engineering (including the Nuclear Science Center), the School of Veterinary Medicine, the Center for Agricultural Sciences and Rural Development, and the Director of the Nuclear Science Center and Radiation Safety Officer. Administra-tively, the Radiation Safety Comittee reports to the Vice-Chancellor for Advanced Studies and Research.
Personnel Because the individuals appointed to the various committees and l
positions required by the radiation safety program may change frequent-ly, their names, affiliations, and telephone numbers are listed on the card in the pocket inside the front cover of this manual. This card will be revised and distributed as required to assure that all persons using radioactive materials and radiation sources will have current information available to them.
Responsibilities and Authority All persons. involved with the handling, use, and storage of radio-active materials and radiation sources have the general responsibilities to:
o o-1.
Assure that all federal and state regulations have full compliance; i
2.
Assure that all University regulations and policies pertaining to radiation safety have full compliance; 3.
Assure that special project restrictions have full compliance; 4.
Assure that University insurance restrictions are met; 5.
Assure that local and state codes and ordinances have full compliance; 6.
Assure that the integrity and usefulness of University facilities are not compromised; 7.
Assure that University personnel, students, and visitors are not subject to undue radiation exposure; and 8.
Assure that maximum standards of good practice and safe handling are maintained.
These general responsibilities apply to all individual users, techni-cians, students, and operating personnel.
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y Each person who handles radioactive materials or radiation sources must realize that the ultimate success of a radiation safety program lies in responsible actions by individuals in their daily work.
Ultimate responsibility for radiological safety resides in the Office of the President, who may employ the authority of that office to accomplish the objectives of the radiation safety program. Administra-tive responsibility has been assigned to the Chairman of the LSU System Nuclear Energy Committee, with full authority to pursue the assignment clearly stipulated.
The Chairman is advised in administration of the radiation safety program by the Radiation Protection Committee.
Included in the scope of action of the Committee are:
1.
Establishing University-wide policies and guidelines for maintaining an effective program; 2.
Reviewing activities of the campus Radiation Safety Committees; 3.
Reviewing activities of the LSU System Radiation Protection Officer and campus Radiation Safety Officers; 4.
Advising on special facilities or unusual project requests from individual units of the University. System involving exceptional potential hazards; and 5.
Advising on appeals from users protesting actions by campus Radiation Safety Committees-or campus Radiation Safety Officers.
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4 o-s Responsibility for the implementation of the regulations and policies established by the Radiation Protection Committee is assigned to the LSU System Radiation Protection Officer.
The System Radiation Protection Officer is vested with the authority to act immediately in all matters involving the well-being of individuals or the integrity of facilities, subject to the review of the Committee. He acts as a general consultant to the University on planning of facilities and activities and is available to all University personnel. The System Radiation Protection Officer coordinates the functions of the campus Radiation Safety Officers, and reviews their actions for the Radiation Protection Committee.
He prepares license application documents, and acts as a liaison with regulatory agencies.
The campus Radiation Safety Committee is charged with the respon-sibility and authority to control the use of radioactive materials and radiation sources on a local basis.
The campus Radiation Safety Commit-tee can expedite action on radiation safety matters because of its intimate knowledge of local situations, and because of the ability to convene quickly.
An executive committee, consisting of the Radiation Safety Committee Chairman, the campus Radiation Safety Officer, and one other member chosen by the Committee, is empowered by the full Committee to act in emergency situations. The Radiation Safety Committee had advisory responsibilities for:
1.
Assuring that user projects comply with license restrictions, University policies and regulations, and standards of good practice;
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Assuring that proposals for grants and contracts do not impose unacceptable radiological risks for the campus; 3.
Assuring that new construction and renovations of existing buildings meet standards of good practice for installations involving the use or storage of radioactive materials or radiation sources; 4.
Assuring that University personnel involved in the control of radiation hazards, including users and their assistants, have appropriate training and experience; and 5.
Reviewing the actions of the Radiation Safety Officer.
The campus Radiation Safety Officer is appointed by the Chancellor to supervise the radiation safety program in all aspects, with the responsibility for proper control of nuclear projects on the campus and ancillary grounds. As specified in PM-30, approval of the Radiation Safety Officer is required for:
1.
All matters pertaining to campus utilization or amendment of the LSU System radioactive-material license and radiation-source registration; c
e 2.
All requisitions for purchase of radioactive materials and radiation-producing equipment;
- 3.
All user Irojects, including laboratory / teaching uses,
- research and development projects, and other activities with t
potential radiological hazards; i
4.
All contract and grant proposals involving radioactive materials or radiation sources; i
5.
All personnel who will directly use radioactive materials or radiation sources to assure that they are properly trained; and 6.
All facilities, construction, outfitting, and renovation, including initial plans.
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The Radiation Safety Officer has the vested authority to act immediately in all matters pertaining to radiation safety.for the i
purpose of assuring individual well-being and. University-prcperty integrity. He may appeal directly to the President of the University-s i
for support in these actions.
His actions are subject to review.by the campus Radiation Safety Committee and by'the LSU System Radiation
-Protection Committee.
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PROCEDURES Specific procedures required for the proper control of radioactive materials and radiation sources on the Baton Rouge campus are described in this section.
Questions concerning these procedures should be directed to the campus Radiation Safety Officer.
Grant and Contract Proposals All proposals to outside agencies must be routed through the Radiation Safety Officer if they involve the use of radioactive mate-rials or radiation sources.
The Radiation Safety Officer will review the proposal initially and conduct clarifying discussions with the originator. He will then transmit the proposal to the chairman of the Radiation Safety Corsnittee for dissemination to the comittee members.
The Committee may invite the originator to attend a meeting to provide clarifying details.
If the Comittee decision is favorable, the Ra-diation Safety Officer will inform the originator in writing, and will initial the proposal routing sheet (see form on following pages). The Radiation Safety Officer will also forward in writing any unfavorable action, with recomendations for revision, to the originator.
Under normal conditions, Committee review of a proposal will be completed within one calendar week.
The Radiation Safety Committee and Radiation Safety Officer conduct reviews of proporals for radiological safety matters only. This review must be completed before the signature of the University President can be obtained.
5 User-Project Applications Individuals who wish to use radiation sources or radioactive materials in research, development, teaching, or demonstration projects must cbtain prior approval of the Radiation Safety Committee and Ra-diation Safety Officer.
A User-Project Application form (NS1009R) can be found on the following page. The date submitted, project title, user's department, and user's college are to be filled in on the appropriate lines.
In the following space, and on additional sheets if necessary, the user must supply information on training and work experience in the handling of radiation sources and radioactive materials. User qualifications must be commensurate with the planned use.
If the application is from a user 1
who has received approval previously on another project, the phrase
" Qualifications on file with Radiation Safety Officer" may be inserted for convenience.
Qualifications must be submitted for all individuals who will be involved in the direct handling of radioactive materials and sources of radiation.
Students or other workers who have not had prior training or experience must be scheduled for such training, which is available through the Nuclear Science Center, early in the_ project.
The radionuclides or radiation sources required for the project must be specified in sufficient detail for radiological safety review.
This listing includes radiation-producing equipment which requires registration by the Nuclear Energy Division. For radionuclides, the total activity that the user expects to have on hand at any one time-must be indicated.
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o Specific information rust be supplied on all locations where radioactive materials or raciation sources are to be employed during the course of the project. This information is required so that the Ra-diation Safety Officer can establish that the sites are under the coverage of the University's radioactive materials license. The Ra-diation Safety Officer is also required to inspect the specified lo-cations to ascertain that tre proposed use is consistent with license restrictions, federal and state regulations, and University rules and policies.
Expected approximate beginning and ending dates, if applicable for the project, should be indicated in the space provided. Some projects, such as laboratory experimeris for repeated courses, which obviously are open-ended, require no ending date.
The user is to attach to the application form a project outline in which the specific details cf the planned use are described in suffi-cient detail to permit review by the Radiation Safety Officer and Radiation Safety Committee for radiological safety problems.
In gener-al, this will involve operational details rather than details of experi-mental planning. Standard laboratory practice for handling radioactive materials can be assumed, b;; deviations from standard practice must be described. Waste-handling plans must be' detailed.
When the 'Jser-Project Application is completed, it is to be trans-mitted to tne Radiation Safety Officer for review. This review may include discussions with the ' applicant and site visits, with specific suggestions for revision of the application.
It is the Radiation Safety Officer's responsibility tc assure that the application meets all regulatory standards. The final application will be forwarded by the
a Radiation Safety Officer to the Chairman of the Radiation Safety Commit-tee for review and distribution to the Committee members. The action of the Committee will be transmitted in writing by the Radiation Safety Officer to the applicant, along with an assigned Project Serial Number, if the Committee approves the application.
If the Committee approves the application.
If the Committee action is unfavorable, the Radiation Safety Officer will provide details of the objections, and suggestions for corrections.
Review of User-Project Applications by the Radiation Safety Officer and Radiation Safety Committee is restricted to matters of radiological safety only.
Under usual conditions, review of an application by the Radiation Safety Officer and Radiation Safety Committee can be completed within one week. Unusual or particularly hazardous projects may require approval of the LSU System Radiation Protection Committee or amendments to the University's radioactive materials license. Such cases will require that the applicant initiate the User-Project application well in advance of the expected starting date.
Minor amendments to approved projects may be accomplished by memorandum to the Radiation Safety Officer, who will review and acknowl-edge the amendment. Major amendments, however, will require the full review procedure.
User-projects involving fixed irradiation facilities or fixed radiation-producing machines require an application to be submitted, but routinely are reviewed only by the radiation Safety Officer.
Unusual requests will, however, be subject to the review of the Radiation Safety Committee.
Decisions unfavorable to applicants may be appealed to the LSU System Radiation Protection Committee.
Radionuclide Orders Radionuclides can be ordered only by approved users for projects that have been assigned serial numbers.
Orders for radioactive materials are handlec just as any other material is ordered, with the single exception trat the approval of the Radiation Safety Officer is required on the purchase requisition before the off-campus order will be processed by the Purchasing Department.
The purchase requisition is transmitted to the Radiation Safety Officer 3
in the Nuclear Science Center, accompanied by an attached note indicat-ing the project serial and name of the approved user. The Radiation l
Safety Officer will review the requisition to assure that the purchase will not lead to license-limit violation, and that the radionuclides are authorized under the project approval.
The purchase requisition will be stamped and signed by the Radiation Safety Officer, a facsimile copy will be made, and the requisition will be forwareed to the Purchasing Department by campus nail.
If the radionuclide is needed quickly, the eser may hand-carry the requisition through the approval process, with usually no more than a ten-minute delay in-the Radiation Safety Office.
In urgent situations that involve direct telephone orders, the user may obtain oral approval from the Radiation Safety Officer, with confinnirg later approval of the purchase requisition when it is circulated through the standard routing.
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Purchase-requisition ap:roval is required of equipment containing radioactive sources, such as gas chromatographs equipped with elec-tron-capture detectors.
Delivery of Radioactive Mate-ials All radioactive materiais arriving on the campus are to be de-livered to the Radiation Safety Officer in the Nuclear Science Center.
t There are only two allowed exceptions to this requirement:
I 1.
By prior agreement of the Radiation Safety Officer, a user may be permitted to retrieve a very-short-lived radionuclide shipment or a " refrigeration-required" shipment directly from the carrier to avoid disruption of an experiment; and 2.
Large pieces of eouipment containing radioactive naterials may be celivered directly to the building where it will be installed.
In both instances, the Radiation Safety Officer must be notified prompt-ly of the arrival of the radioactive material so that proper inventory and receipt procedures can te completed.
Delivery of all radioactive materials to the Radiation Safety Officer is required to provt de adequate inventory-control, and to allow proper initial monitoring o ~ packages for the safety of the ultimate user.
Federal and state regulations require that the University be able to verify at any time the tctal quantities of radioactive materials on i
o hand, and to be able to show an inspector the physical location of each individual shipment or prove that it no longer exists on campus.
Monitoring of packages before distributing them to individual users is required to prevent release of material from broken or otherwise contam-inated containers, and to all'ow notification of excessive working radiation levels when the packages are handled.
After inventory forms and package monitoring have been completed, the individual who ordered the radioactive material will be notified by telephone that the material is available for disbursement.
The inventory record to be completed by the Radiation Safety Office is form NS-1020/1021, which consists of a cover sheet to be distributed to the user at the time of disbursal, and a card-stock second page that provides internal records for the Radiation Safety Officer. The top half of the second page, which provides space for detailed inventory information, is detached from the bottom half, and is filed according to a running acquisition serial number assigned when the shipment is received. This serial number is employed as identification of the shipment thrcughout its stay on the campus. The bottom half of the card is filed in a Visifile according to the radionuclide in the shipment; this file allows ready access to the radioactive materials on hand, their chemical and physical forms, the person who ordered the material, and the current locations.
(See next two pages for a copy of the form).
Radionuclide Disbursement Upon notification of the arrival of radioactive material, the user.
who originated the order may pick it up from the Radiation Safety Office in the Nuclear Science Center, or may send a designated alternate.
it
will be necessary for the individual receiving the material to fill out a Request for Radionuclide Disbursement (Form NS-100 SR), (see next page), which may be completed ahead of time for greater efficiency.
At the time of transfer, the individual who receives the material and a representative of the Radiation Safety Office both initial the disbursement form. The form is then filed as verification of the transfer.
When the radioactive material is transferred to the user, the cover sheet of the inventory form (NS-1020R) will accompany the material.
This sheet requires the user to keep running records of withdrawals from the shipment, uses, and waste transfer for approximate material-balance calculations. Radioactive materials that have been returned to storage in the Nuclear Science Center also are available for disbursement if the originator gives specific permission. Normally, the agreement between two users to share a radionuclide stock is infonnal, and requires no written records.
Waste-Handling Procedures Louisiana and federal regulations, and the University's radioactive materials license impose severe restrictions on waste-disposal methods.
For this reason, waste disposal is centralized through the Radiation Safety Office. Exceptions to this policy are specifically and indi-vidually considered.
Waste materials can t. generally classified as:
1.
Miscellaneous solid waste (broken glassware, paper towels, gloves,etc.);
2.
Major aqueous-solution waste (reaction solutions, primary 1
dilubons of stock solutions, residual stock solutions, etc.);
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Minor aqueous waste solutions (third rinses from glassware, radioactively decayed solutions containing less than microcurie amounts of activity, etc.);
4.
Major organic-waste solutions (see 2, above);
5.
Minor organic-waste solutions (see 3, above, and liquid scintillation counting solutions);
6.
Animal carcasses; 7.
Animal excreta, botanical wastes; and 8.
Permanently contaminated equipment.
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The only uncontrolled waste materials are minor aqueous waste sc utions (item 3 above), which may be disposed of directly to the sar.itary sewer system from an approved laboratory unit (disposal through teilets and washroom basins is not permitted).
Disposal of all other waste materials must be coordinated through the Radiation Safety Office. The primary disposal technique employed is transfer in steel barrels to a waste-handling company approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Only solid or solidified waste may be shf oped, which requires treatment of fluid wastes prior to shipment by con:reting or other solidification procedures.
Users are requested to bring their solid waste in plastic bags, sealed and properly tagged, and liquid waste in five-gallon containers tc the Nuclear Science Center.
The Radiation Safety Office must be prc vided with information as to the radionuclides included in the waste arc estimates of the quantity of each.
Liquid scintillation vials may i
be brought to the Nuclear Science Center without being er.ptied.
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In special circumstances the Radiation Safety Office may elect to-utilize disposal to the sanitary sewer for liquid waste. This disposal is accomplished only through the sink in Room 52 of the Nuclear Science l
Center after careful determination of proper dilution procedures to meet restrictions on releases of radioactive materials to uncontrolled areas.
j Animal carcasses and excreta may be transferred to a commercial' l
waste-disposal site only if complete assurance can be supplied that 1
putrification will not occur.
Small animal carcasses can be treated adequately with formalin, which is the responsibility of the user.
Small quantities of small animal excreta can be transferred for disposal without treatment, but prior agreement with the Radiation Safety Officer i
l is necessary.
l Disposal of animal carcasses by incineration is available through l
i the LSU Medical Center on a limited basis. Arrangements can be made through the Radiation Safety Officer.
Records of all waste disposal, except for minor tqueous waste solution, must be maintained by the Radiation Safety Office. Users can greatly simplify this task by keeping running tallies on waste contain-l l
ers in their laboratories, and providing the information with waste-material transfers.
Disposal of volatile radioactive materials by evaporation or release in a fume hood is permissible only from the Nuclear Science Center by Radiation Safety Office personnel after detailed maxi-mum-permissible-concentration calculations.
Disposal of permanently contaminated large pieces of equipment will be handled by the Radiation Safety Office. Surface or other removable i
contamination will be reduced to the lowest possible level, and the equipment will be sealed in plastic sheets, spray coated, or otherwise a
sealed, and boxed or packaged prior to transfer to permanent disposal.
The shipping company and other individuals involved in the disposal will be fully informed by the Radiation Safety Office of the potention radiation hazards.
Records of all waste disposal must be maintained by the Radiation Safety Office for inspection by personael from the Nuclear Energy Division. The forms necessary for this record keeping are NS-1070R, on which entries are made when the waste is received.in the Nuclear Science Center, and NS-1090R, which is completed at the time of shipment from the University. The Log of Radionuclide Waste Received is considered a permanent record for the Radiation Safety Office to provide detailed information on the waste materials in each shipment; copies of the Waste l
g Shipment Record will be retained by the Radiation Safety Office.
Disposal to the sanitary sewer systems, by burial, and by incin-eration at the Medical Center are sufficiently infrequent that records of such disposals are maintained in file memoranda.
I Transfer and Shipment of Radioactive Materials Federal and state regulations restrict the transfer of radioactive materials, except in certain carefully specified situations, to persons holding valid radioactive materials licenses. A copy of the receiver's license must be provided to the Radiation Safety Officer before he can l
authorize the shipment or transfer.
The Radiation Safety Office will assist in the arrangement for transfer, including providing specific information on packaging and
labeling packages for shipment, and advising on acceptable shipment methods and applicable regulations and restrictions.
Forms are avail-able in the Radiation Safety Office.
The department from which the shipment originates is expected to pay the cost of the transfer.
Records of transfers are maintained in the Radiation Safety Office on form NS-1080R.
The single exception is for the transfer of californium-252 under the control of the Californium Demonstration Center, which maintains a separate inventory system through file memo-randa and a digital computer program AEC0P. Appendix 2 of this manual contains a listing of this program, a typical output, and instructions for preparing the input data for the code.
Monthly inventory printouts frot.. the Californium Demonstration Center are provided to the Radiation Safety Office.
When particularly hazardous shipments are received or sent, records of personnel exposures, shipping-cask smears, and other pertinent information are maintained by memorandum in the Radiation Safety Office.
Storage of Radioactive Riterials l
Individual users are expected to keep on hand in their laboratories only those radioactive materials which they are actively using, or those which they feel must receive personal supervision. The intent of this policy is to reduce as far as possible the number of places on the campus where severe radiological hazards might be involved in emer-gencies such as fires or explosions. Space is available in the Nuclear J
l Science Center for storage of radioactive materials which users wish to
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keep but are not actively ~ using, or wish to submit to the general University inventory stock.
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All storage locations must be posted with approved radiation warning signs, which are available from-the Radiation Safety Office. No storage of radioactive materials in locations where food or beverages are also stored is permissible..
Room 52 in the basement of the Nuclear Science Center is employed for long-term storage of small quantities of radionuclides, and for storage of all intense radiation sources that are not permanently installed in separate locations._ The storage room is under the direct
~ supervision of the Radiation Safety ~0ffice, from which permission must be obtained to remove radioactive materials and radiation sources.
Radioactive Materials Accountability The University is required by the terms of its radioactive mate-rials license, and by state and federal regulations to be able to account for all radioactive materials under its control.
Records are maintained in the Radiation Safety Office of all purchase requisitions, receipts, disbursals, transfers, and ultimate disposals of radioactive materials, as descr'ited in preceding sections of this manual. Records in the Nuclear Science Center must reflect known locations and known users.
Individual users are expected to keep internal records of the
. radioactive materials they receive f rom the Radiation Safety Office,- how they are used, what the current content of each-individual bottle or vial is, and what material has been returned.to the Nuclear Science Center as waste or for storage. These records need not be highly ~ formal
nor extremely detailed, but they must provide the necessary information when it is requested by the Radiation Safety Office.
The Radiation Safety Office is expected to prepare a sumary on-hand inventory from records each six months, and to perform a phys-ical inventory each year to verify records.
The Radiation Safety Office must be notified of exchanges of radioactive materials among users, which requires approval of the i
Radiation Safety Officer, and when radioactive materials are moved to a location other than shown on the disbursal record.
A running log of receipts, disbursals, and shipments (form J
NS-1060R) of radioactive materials is maintait ed by the Radiation Safety i
Office. Each action is identified by sequence number (log number), and provides information on individuals, radionuclides, quantities, and shipment identification (serial number). A similar system of sequential actions may prove useful to individual users.
Certain specified materials on loan from the federal government require additional accountability procedures, which are the responsibil-ity of the Radiation 53fety Office. These materials include encapsulated uranium slugs, plutonium-beryllium neutron sources, and encapsulated californium sources.
Registration of Machines Producing Ionizing Radiation Regulations of the Nuclear Energy Division require that all equip-ment that produces ionizing radiation must be registered with the Division, which then issues a certificate of registration to the owner of the equipment. The Radiation Safety Office maintains files of the certificates, and has responsibility for submitting registration
applications (see form DRC6 on the following pages), which also are kept on file by the Radiation Safety Office.
Machine sources included under the registration requirement are diagnostic X-ray machines of all classes (e.g., field-portable, fluoroscopic,special-procedures, panoramic-dental,cystological,etc.),
therapeutic X-ray _ machines of all classes (e.g., deep-therapy, superfi-cial-therapy, supervoltage, etc), industrial X-ray units, analytical instruments (e.g., diffraction, fluorescence, etc.), imaging instruments (e.g., scanning electron microscopes, etc.), and accelerators (e.g.,
Cockcroft-Walton, electron-therapy systems, etc.) Some microwave equipment (klystrons) and some older large-screen color television sets may yield enough external low-energy X radiation to warrant registra-tion.
Although the Radiation Safety Office has the responsibility of completing registration forms, it is encumbent upon individuals initiat-ing purchase of radiation-producing equipment to notify the Office of the arrival of such equipment. Such purchases must have been approved previously by the Radiation Safety Officer and the Radiation Safety Committee through a User-Project Application.
When an instrument is moved to a new location, or is transferred away from the campus, the Radiation Safety Office must be notified to assure that records are current.
Physical inventories of ra-diation-producing equipment will be made on an annual basis.
Movement of a radiation-producing machines from one location to another requires prior authorization from the Radiation Safety Officer, which will be granted only after preliminary safety and shielding analyses has been completed, l
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New Facilities Approval New buildings or renovated areas in old buildings in which radioac-tive materials or radiation sources are to be used must be approved by the Radiation Safety Officer and the Radiation Safety Committee, and also by the LSU System Radiation Protection Officer.
Additional review by the LSU System Radiation Protection Committee may also be required in certain instances.
Radiation Safety personnel should be involved as early as possible in the planning of new facilities.
Proper design considerations can result in significant savings to the University by reducing initial costs and avoiding expensive corrective alterations later.
Personal Monitoring Every individual employee of the University, consultant, and student actively involved in the handling of radioactive materials or use of radiation sources must be included in the University's radiation monitoring program.
Long-term visitors, post-doctoral fellows, and other such persons must also be covered by the program. Good practice dictates, and state and federal laws require, that the University provide information to users that their radiation doses are within regulatory limits, and also that individuals be notified if their radiation doses exceed radiation-protection guidelines.
It is a policy of the University to work toward E"asE16eir 'sTreas'onablfdcKe abli"Jradiation exposures in all facilities a
and programs involving radioactive materials and radiation sources.
Radiation Safety Officer personnel, individual users,.and supporting l
personnel are expected to participate continually in implementing this policy.
The monitoring program includes,twhereiappl6bl$, personal film badges, personal thermoluminescence dosimeters, personal direct-reading pocket dosimeters, personal extremity dosimeters, area integrating monitors (e.g., film badges), rate-sensitive area monitors, pertable survey instruments, portable and fixed air-sampling instruments, surface smears, and bioassay procedures.
Personal dosimetry devices are avail-able for detection of beta, X and gamma, and thermal-and gas-neutron radiations; supporting techniques allow assessment of alpha inhalation hazards. The Radiation Safety Office will determine what monitoring techniques are to be used for a project before it is approved by the Radiation Safety Committee.
Students enrolled in courses in the Nuclear Science Center, or it, courses outside the Center in which radioactive materials or radiation sources will be used extensively, are monitored by individually assigned film badges.
Because radiation levels in student laboratories are only slightly above background levels, student badges are exchanged on a calendar-quarter basis; under Louisiana regulations this encompasses a full semester.
University employees and students involved in research projects are assigned badges to be exchanged on a monthly basis. Badges are to be exchanged the first week of each month.
Because of the number of individuals on the campus who are under the monitoring program, it is impractical for Radiation Safety Office personnel to collect and redis-tribute badges each month.
Individuals assigned film badges therefore have the responsibility of bringing their badges to the Radiation Safety
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9 Office for exchange. This also will give individuals as opportunity to inquire about their previous month's badge reading.
All film badges are color coded so that Radiation Safety Office personnel can check for unexchanged badges when they visit the various laboratories on site-monitoring checks.
Excessive exposure detected on a film badge requires imediate notification of the wearer, initiation of any appropriate medical assistance, and a determination of the cause of the exposure. When necessary, Nuclear Energy Division and United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission offices will be notified of the incident.. These agencies can be of assistance in assuring the best available medical care, and also in procuring support personnel for facilities recovery.
Anyone who suspects an overexposure should report this imediately to the Radiation Safety Officer, who can be reached at the telephone numbers listed on the card inside the front cover of this manual.
Records of individual radiation dose histories are maintained in the Radiation Safety Office on standard forms supplied by the Nuclear Energy Division (forms DRC-4 and DRC-5 on the following pages), which permit computation of life time accumulated dose.
Individuals are encouraged to check their records.
In order _ to obtain prior-exposure histories for an individual being assigned a film badge for the first time, it will be necessary for the Radiation Safety Officer to request
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this information by letter from previous employers; the requesting
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l letters require the signature of the individual.
Responses to these letters require the signature of the individual.
Responses to these letters are a permanent part of the individual's file.
The Radiation
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Safety Office will respond to similar request from employers after an individual leaves the campus.
Site Monitoring The Radiation Safety Office has the responsibility for monitoring all locations where radioactive materials and radiation sources are used or stored. Site-monitoring checks normally are made at approximately three-month intervals; no notification for such a check is given. More J
frequent site-monitoring checks will be made if unusual hazards exist, or if a significant change from the previous check is detected.
Users may request special checks on a one-time basis, or may request more frequent routine checks.
Site-monitoring checks include smears to establish removable contamination levels, port +'_-survey-meter measurements of radiation levels and surface contamination levels, and wall-mounted film badges to obtain integrated exposure levels.
Checks also include visual in-spection of working conditions, observations of operating techniques, and discussions with site personnel to s'uggest improvements in radiation safety practices.
Because Radiation Safety Office personnel cannot be present for frequent monitoring in every laboratory, users are encouraged--and in some instances, required--to monitor their own facilities on schedules tailored to their special needs.
Records of laboratory monitoring by users must be maintained in the laboratories; these will be reviewed periodically by the Radiation Safety Officer.
i Corrective suggestions normally are handled informally.. Memoranda.
to supervisory personnel may, however, become necessary in the event of i
persistent problems.
t Special Services Personnel in the Radiation Safety Office.are available for consul-I tation on all problems related to radiation hazards and their control.
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PRACTICE Guidelines, policies, and rules for the practice of radiation safety on the Baton Rouge campus are presented in the following sections of this chapter.
4 General Rules for Radioactive Materials Eating, drinking, smoking, or the use of cosmetics are not permit-ted in areas where radioactive materials are used or stored.
Personnel monitoring devices (film badge, TLD badge, pocket dosimeter, finger badge, wrist badge) prescribed for the area must be worn.
Protective clothing (gloves, laboratory smock, cover-alls.,
respirator, shoe covers, etc.) prescribed for the area must be worn.
Proper containment (absorbent paper, trays, secondavy liquid containers) required for the operations must be in place.
Fume hoods are to be used for all operations that potentially involve release of air-borne materials, including gases, volatile compounds, and dusts and aerosols.
Prescribed radiation detection equipment and survey instruments must be available and known to be working.
Work areas should be monitored when an operation is completed, cr at the end of the work period.
Hands, feet, and clothing should be monitored before leaving the work area.
ff Radioactive materials must be stored and shielded in the manner prescribed for the area, and secured to restrict unauthorized persons from using or removing the material, i
All bottles, jars, boxes, and cabinets containing radioactive materials must be clearly labeled as to the radionuclide, quantity, and date, and initialed by the responsible person.
All entrances must be properly labeled with signs appropriate to the hazard, and posted with the names and telephone numbers of individu-als to be contacted in emergencies.
Initial runs on new procedures should be made with non-radioactive materials.
Procedures should be designed to reduce transfers from container to container, bench to bench, and room to room to a minimum as a means of reducing the possibilities of spills.
Radiation levels in work areas should be determined before an operation is begun so that proper shielding and remote-handling equip-ment can be employed to reduce individual exposures.
Individuals unfamiliar with radiation hazards and emergency proce-dures must not be permitted to work with radioactive materials.
Pipetting by mouth in areas where radiation materials are being used is forbidden.
All equipment, glassware, and other centents of an area in which radioactive materials are being used, or have been used, should be considered as contaminated until properly monitored.
Any injury, no matter how slight, involving radioactive materials must be monitored to determine if the wound is contaminated.
General Rules for Radiation-Producing Machines
{
Although electron microscopes, microprobes, and other instruments in which electrons are accelerated to energies in excess of 10 kilovolts require registration in the State of Louisiana, many such instruments
pose no radiation safety hazards.
Instruments in this class must be monitored periodically, particularly if any maintenance has been dcme, but othenvise do not necessitate more than prudence in their operation.
Operators should, however, be thoroughly familiar with potential p~ab-lems, and should request assistance if they believe that a problem has developed.
The following rules apply to machines which yield intentionaTTy externalized beams of ionizing radiation:
1.
All operating personnel must be intimately familiar with.ne principles of operation, principles of radiation safety, and potential general and specific hazards of their particula-machine.
2.
Radiation surveys must be made whenever beam-target-specimen-detector geometry is changed, or whenever shielding arrangements are altered.
3.
System interlocks must be installed to assure that the equipment cannot be operated in an unsafe manner or when personnel are in exposure areas.
l 4.
For irradiation vaults, target rooms, and X-ray therapy amd
{
l diagnostic rooms, both voice and visual communication are j
l desirable.
5.
Master-switch keys and secondary keys should be in the possession of the first person entering an exposure room, and that person should be the last to leave the room.
h
..~, -
6.
Situations which require interlocks to be temporarily disabled I
must be cleared with the Radiation Safety Officer.
7.
For multiple-beam-port instruments, beam-port shields should be brightly colored to allow quick visual checks that they are properly positioned.
8.
All radiation-producing equipment must have clearly visible warning lights to indicate when the equipment is generating radiation. Additional caution lights are recommended as a redundant system for showing the machine status. Warning-light systems should be wired to indicate when a light is not operational.
l 1
9.
Permanently installed radiation monitors and portable survey instruments prescribed for the installation should be available and known to be functioning when the equipment is going to be activated.
- 10. A log of operations, in which both routine procedures and unusual situations are recorded, should be kept.
t
- 11. All operating personnel must be properly badged with individually assigned integrating dosimeter devices.
- 12. A written and oral practical examination, with results kept on file for new operating personnel is' desirable before a new operator is allowed to work without supervision.
4
- 13. Operators should check radiation levels with protable survey instruments before entering an irradiation room.
- 14. Emergency notification procedures must be posted, and emergency response procedures should be reviewed with all personnel periodically.
'f
- 15. Approved warning signs indicating the nature of the hazards must be posted at entrances to hazard areas, and the instrument
~
console must be posted with a plaque indicating the nature.and quality of the radiation produced.
- 16. Unusual operations or unexpected behavior must be reported to the Radiation Safety Office immediately.
i Signs, Notices and Labels j
Regulations of the Nuclear Energy Division require that signs be posted to inform the public of the existence of a hazard in areas where radioactive materials and radiation sources are used and stored.
Posted signs must comply with federal regulations, which are in agreement with international symbols for recognition of hazards. These signs are printed with magenta ink on a yellow background, and bear the work
" caution" at the top, the standardized three-bladed "propellor" symbol for radiation in the center, and a descriptive prescribed phrases denoting the magnitude of the hazard at the bottom. Tne prescribed phrases are "RADI0 ACTIVE MATERIALS" for areas in which'an individual is unlikely to receive a radiation dose in excess of 5 millirems in an I
hour, " RADIATION AREA" for situations in which maximum dose rates are
-_~
between 5 and 100 millirems per hour, and "HIGH RADIATION AREA" where dose rates are.possible in excess of 100 millirems per hour.
Radiation Safety Office personnel will determine which regulation sign is appropriate for a location, and will supply the signs to the users. Users are required to notify the Radiation Safety Office prompt-ly if a sign is removed or defaced so that it can be replaced.
Two modifications of the legal signs are permitted under the LSU Radiation safety program.
These include the addition of the phrase "X RADIATION" across the bottom blade of the propellor symbol on a ra-diation-area sign to be posted where X rays are present in an external beam, and the phrase " CONTAMINATION ZONE" across the bottom of the symbol on a radiation-area or high-radiation-area sign to be posted
]
where uncontained radioactive material exists in a hazardous condition.
I These five officially recognized signs are shown on the following pages. Hand-lettered signs bearing other phrases are not acceptable substitutes.
In addition to signs indicating the presence of a radiation hazard, each area must be marked with a notice identifying individuals to be called in an emergency, and their current telephone numbers at the University and at home.
Individuals to be listed on the notice include:
i 1.
Principal user 2.
Alternate knowledgeable of the specific area (if possible) 3.
Radiation Safety Officer 4.
Radiation Safety Specialist from Radiation Safety Office Emergency notices will be supplied by the Radiation Safety Office, which should be informed promptly of any changes.
General Rules for Animal Handling Involving Radioactive Materials Because of the variety of experimental animals and locations where they are employed for radioactive studies, only guidelines for handling such animals can be covered in this manual.
It will be the responsibil-ity of each user to supply with a User-Project Application detailed procedures for the specific location, animal, and experimental program.
If these have been detailed previously for another user project, the previous information may be referenced by project serial number.
1 General rules for the use of radioactive materials in experimental animals are:
1.
All project personnel, including animal handlers, farm workers, 1
student, and technical personnel, must be fully informed of the hazards posed by the project specifically, and radioactive materials generally; emergency procedures; and restrictions on areas, waste handling, carcass disposal, and procedures for cleaning facilities when the experiment is terminated, i
2.
All areas where experimental animals will be housed, including holding pens, must be clearly posted with proper signs l
commensurate with potential hazards.
i 3.
No animal is to be held, even temporarily, in an area not previously designated and posted for radioactive-materials use.
The single exception will be an extreme emergency situation involving the life of project personnel or experinental animals.
l i
. ~. -
4.
Each cage, pen, or stall in which an animal dosed with radioactive materials.is held must be clearly marked as to the nature, quantity, and date of-administration of the material.
5.
Cages, pens, and stalls must be designed to facilitate total collection of excreta in order'to reduce contamination levels.
1 Additional measures may be required for control of special hazards, such as feather dust from poultry or saliva from cattle.
6.
Dirt-floored holding areas are not acceptable for animals desed with radioactive materials.
i 7.
Unless specifically authorized for a project, animals dosed with radioactive materials may not be pastured.
Similarly, l
small animals may not be returned to stock colonies.
l 8.
Animal sacrifice is permitted only in an area previously designated for this purpose and properly outfitted with necessary decontamination gear and waste-handling facilities.
Unless specifically exempted, blood cannot be drained to the sanitary sewer for disposal.
9.
All personnel must wear approved work clothes and protective
]
equipment when handling radioactive animals and excreta, or j
working in the area where dosed animals are being held.
i 1
u
- 10. Portable survey meters sensitive to the emitted radiation from i
the radioactive materials must be available and known to be in working order, and all personnel must be capable of using and interpreting the readings from these instruments.
i
- 11. All wounds incurred in posted areas must be monitored for radioactive contamination, and reported immediately to the Radiation Safety Office if contamination is detected.
- 12. Specific instructions for the collection, storing and disposal of excreta and carcasses must be approved for each user project.
- 13. Animals dosed witle radioactive materials may not be sold, nor may they be used for human food.
- 14. Milk from lactating female animals must be treated as excreta, and may not be sold or consumed.
i
- 15. Areas where animals are dosed with radioactive materials must be checked frequently for contamination by instrument surveys and wipe tests according to approved procedures, i
EGenersl~ Rules for Field!Use of Sealed Ra' iat' ion Sources d
Sealed sources constitute a class of radioactive materials in which j
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the radionuclides are compacted as high-integrity solids, and then encapsulated into two successive and independently sealed capsules to 4
1
prevent the escape of the central radiation source.
These capsules are designed to allow useful radiation to penetrate the' walls, while ' con-taining the radioactive material.
Both gamma-emitting and neu-tron-emitting sources are in the possession of the University, and are available for both laboratory and field experimental uses.
Gamma sources, and neutron sources to a lesser extent, designed for 4
field use offer intense radiation fields, and therefore require special precautions, particularly when exposed in open areas _ such as rice ponds and forest plots.
Field uses include radiographic inspections of the interior of test specimens, determination of soil density, and the estimation of soil moisture content.
The hazards of intense gamma-emitting sources for industrial radiography are sufficiently well recognized that a special section of the Louisiana Radiation Regulations (Part D " Radiation Safety Require-ments for Industrial Radiographic Operations") was adopted. Recognition of this special concern is indicated by the inclusion of this section in the Baton Rouge manual of radiation safety procedures.
Although gamma-emitting (cobalt 60, iridium-192, radium-226) sources and neutron-emitting (polonium-beryllium, plutonium-beryllium, americium-beryllium, and californium-252) sources are designed and utilized for a wide variety of procedures, similarities in field use exist.
The following general rules are applicable, subject to specific stipulations by the Radiation Safety Officer and Radiation Safety Committee after review of a user's application form:
i 1.
Two individuals (e.g., a principal user and a helper) must be present whenever a sealed source is being used in normally uncontrolled areas.
All personnel who may be involved as principal users and m.
helpers must be trained in the operation of the exposure device, and in the specific hazards relating to the device.
3.
Appropriate survey instruments, known to be operational, must be in the possession of the source users in the field. Users l.
must be capable of operating and interpreting the readings of the instruments.
4.
The principal user must be capable of predicting and determining the extent of radiological exclusion areas for the specific source in use, j
5.
Signs reading " CAUTION, RADIATION AREA" must be posted at I
distances from the exposed source where readings indicate a dose-equivalent rate of 5 millirems per hour. A physical barrier (e.g., high-visibility rope) must be placed to enclose the area in which the dose-equivalent rate may exceed 100-i millirems per hour, and signs reading, " CAUTION, HIGH RADIATION 4
AREA" must be posed at this perimeter.
6.
Either the principal user, the helper, or a knowledgeable alternate must within controlling distance when the source is in their possession in the field, and must have visual l
supervision of the source when it is exposed.
4
- 7..The principal user is responsible for preparing a plan of the area where a source is being employed, and to indicate measure I
t dose-equivalent rates at the inner and outer perimeters. 'The drawing constitutes a permanent part of use records for 'the i
source.
t 8.
A source must be logged out of and back into a storage area by the principal user.
1 9.
Keys to source locks must be in the possession of either the user or helper whenever a source is not under visual supervision.
10.
The user and helper, and any other alternates, must be provided with badges (film or TLD) and pocket dosimeters appropriate for the radiation emitted by the source.
Dosimeters must be read i.
and recorded at the end of each day's operation.
11.
Vehicles in which radiation sources are transported from storage to the field and return, must be marked as to the contents of the vehicle, and have posted in the front, rear, and both sides a large placard reading "RADI0 ACTIVE" with black 1
letters on a yellow background.
l 12.
Users, helpers, and alternates must be knowledgeable of proper i
emergency procedures for the source in their possession, and must carry emergency identification cards with them bearing the i
telephone number of the Radiation Safety Office.
1
I 13.
Personnel in the Radiation Safety Office are available for discussion of special hazards, rules, regulations, and standards of good practice for field use of sealed radiation sources.
14.
Field use of unsealed sources can not be undertaken without i
specific approval of the Radiation Safety Officer and Radiation i
Safety committee following review of environmental impacts for the use.
General Rules for Decontamination Although Radiation Safety Office personnel are available to assist in decontamination operations, it is an unwritten rule of the nuclear industry that the person who is responsible for contamination has the obligation to assume primary responsibility for decontamination.
Immediate reaction to a contamination situation frequently can prevent serious side-spread problems. The order of oriorities is:
.i 1.
Well-being of involved individuals l
2.
Prevent spread of contamination 4
3.
Decontamination of individuals 4.
Decontamination of facilities and equipment General decontamination procedures for both personnel and facilities are t
discussed in the following sections.
4
i Personnel Decontamination.
General decontamination procedures for exposed personnel are sunnarized in the table on the following page.
The mildest procedure is listed first (soap and water), and the most severe at the bottom of the table. Always begin with the mildest procedure. A soft hand brush is preferable to hand-to-hand washing because the brush reaches into crevasses and under fingernails more effectively than hand lathering. Never use a hard brush:
Stiff bris-l ties tend to abrade the skin and lead to internal contamination, and recoiling bristles tend to splatter and spread contamination.
If the procedures in the table are not effective, washing with a titanium dioxide paste (a mixture of titanium dioxide powder and lanolin cream) should be tried. This requires caution to avoid unnecessary surface abrasf on.
A still more drastic procedure involves dipping the hands into a saturated potassium pennanganate solution, rinsing in running water, and then dipping into a five-percent (5%) sodium bisulfite solutica to remove the permanganate stain.
For very heavy contamination the initial i
4 solution should be prepared from egaal volumes of saturated potassium i
permanganate solution and 0.2 N sulfuric acid, and should be applied with a soft brush for not more than two minutes. The sodium bisulfite solution should be freshly prepared to be effective.
If these procedures fail to remove the contamination, there is little risk of it coming off during nonnal use, and leading to internal contamination.
Skin ultimately will decontaminate spontaneously through growth and slow abrasion.
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Flooding with water immediately is the most effective emergency procedure for tritium contamination, and washing with an aqueous ammonia solution may prove effective for iodine contamination.
All jewelry must be removed before decontamination of hands is attempted.
Rings especially tend to inhibit proper complete decon-tamination. The jewelry should be decontaminated separately before it is worn again.
Hair is generally difficult to decontaminate because of its surface structure.
In extreme cases moustaches or beards may require shaving, and a short hair cut may be advised to bring contamination levels down to acceptable values. These remedial actions should be done only in a controlled area.
If air-borne activity is suspected, the interior of the nose and ears should be cleaned with cotton swabs. These procedures are best accomplished by a nurse or physician.
liounds from contaminated sources (e.g., broken glassware) should be allowed to bleed freely for a short while to inhibit internal contamina-tion.
If residual activity is detected in a wound, decontamination should be undertaken only by a knowledgeable physician.
Decontamination of Equipment and Facilities. Prompt washing with a general-purpose decontamination solution is the most effective immediate remedial procedure for contaminated equipment and facilities. Commer-cial preparations are available; information-on sources are kept on file in the Radiation Safety Office.
Although the specific composition of these preparations usually are proprietary, they generally consist of alkaline solutions of general-purpose chelating agents (EDTA) and
heavy-metal complexing agents (citrate ion), and a detergent.
The material is supplied in concentrated form, and requires dilution before use according to the supplier's instructions.
Additional decontaminant solutions may be useful in special cases or special surfaces:
1.
Glass: chromic acid cleaning solution,10% nitric acid solution, 2% ammonium bifluoride solution, specific carrier solutions in 101 hydrochloric acid.
4 2.
Aluminum and steel:
sodium phosphate solutions, sodium metasilicate solutions, phosphoric acid solutions,10% nitric 3
acid solution, electrolysis in 1% nitric acid solution with steel as the anode.
3.
Brass and lead: 10% hydrochloric acid solution, well rinsed ano neutralized with the dilute ammonia, glycerine / jewelers-rough emulsion.
4.
Paints:
strong detergent solution, ammonium nitrate solution, annonium bifluoride solution.
1 5.
Linoleum and composition tile:
xylene or trichloroethylene to remove top surface of wax, commercial wax stripper applied by hand, detergent solutions, sandpaper abrasion for stubborn spots.
t 4
~
6.
Unprotected wood, concrete, or brick: vacuum surface to remove 4
dust to which contamination may be adhering, plane off surface of wood, spall concrete surface with a blowtorch under well ventilated conditions.
7.
Clothing: EDTA solution at pH 3-4, general-purpose detergent (D0 NOT SEND TO COMMERCIAL LAUNDRY).
]
8.
Greasy surface:
trichloroethylene, xylene, commercial hand-degreasing cleaners.
UseofLIluclear'SciencECenterSpecial5ourcesp 1
Special sources in the Nuclear Science Center are available for use by individuals throughout the University. User-Project Applications are required for these facilities, as for all radiation sources. Nuclear 1
Science Center personnel will provide the necessary training for indi-viduals to use the sources, provided previous general radiation safety i
4 training has been acquired.
I Radiation safety rules for the various sources are described in the following sections.
j Cobalt-60 Irradiator. The Nuclear Science Center has located in its basement a pool five feet in diameter and fifteen and one-half feet deep, in which major quantities of sealed gamma-emitting radiation
(
sources are stored. The pool was designed to house up to one hundred thousand curies of cobalt-60, which would result in a maximum' radiation i
dose rate of approximately 5 millirems per hour at the pool surface.
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9 Formal sources in the pool consist of annular arrangements of individual rods loaded with cobalt-60.
These formal sources are em-ployed for irradiations by placing samples in containers which are then lowered through the water to positions within the source annuli, and i
retrieved after timed periods corresponding.to.the desired radiation exposures.
General rules for using the cobalt-60 irradiator are:
1.
Only an approved user may receive permission to perform irradiations.
)
l 2.
All persons associated with the user project must receive individual training in the use of the irradiator, and must be listed in the Radiation Safety Office as approved operators.
3.
Keys to unlock the building entrance, door to Room 50, and to unlock the pool hatch will be issued only to approved operators.
1 4.
Unless the sources are being employed for repetitious short-time irradiations, or unless the irradiation will extend beyond regular working hours, the keys must be returned promptly to the key panel in the main office of the Nuclear Science Center.
i 5.
Care should be exercised when handling loose objects over the pool grid to avoid dropping items into the pool. This applies also to handling of the pool hatch.
i
6.
The grid cover for the pool must not be removed 'v operators without express prior permission from the Radiation Safety Officer, and without personnel from the Radiation Safety Office being present.
7.
Neither the basement door nor the ceiling escape hatch can be blocked while persons are in the irradiator room. Operators 4
must check to be sure that exits are not blocked before beginning an irradiation.
8.
Insertion of hollow tubing througn the water down to the region of the sources constitutes violation of the shield, and therefore cannot be permitted unless specifically stated in authorization for a user project.
l 9.
Operators must have an operable survey meter with them while using the irradiation pool, and must be capable of interpreting the meter readings.
- 10. Operators must complete the information required in the log book provided, including the name of the operator, material irradiated, source employed, and approximate total dose applied to specimens.
4
- 11. Retrieval of items from the bottom of the pool must be supervised by Radiation Safety Office personnel.
~4 0 W
12.
Specimens to be irradiated which could lead to potential rupture of the specimen container require special safety precautions approved in advance by the Radiation Safety Officer and Radiation Safety Committee, and tested in advance for effectiveness.
13.
If the alarm horn sounds while personnel are in the basement area, the basement is to be evacuated, and should not be re-entered until Radiation Safety Office personnel have j
determined that no hazard exists.
14.
If an individual planning to use the irradiator hears the alarm horn when approaching the entrance door, the Radiation Safety Office must be notified immediately.
Under no circumstances should operators enter the irradiator room while the warning horn is sounding.
1 15.
If the level of water in the pool appears unusually low (about 3 feet below the top grating), the Radiation Safety Office must be informed promptly.
Additional special rules may from time to time be posted on the entrance to the irradiator room and in the log book when especially hazardous irradiations are in progress. These rules supersede all previous rules, and will remain in force until the notice of rule change has been removed.
Californium-252 Irradiation Facility. LSU has been designated as one of several Californium Demonstration Centers by the United States Energy Research and Development Agency.
Under this program the Univer-sity has established a californium-252 irradiation facility consisting of a water-filled tank four feet wide, eignt feet long, and six and one-half feet deep, shielded on three sides by two-inch-thick boric acid anhydride blankets and at least three feet of sand-filled solid concrete l
I blocks; the remaining side of the tank has been left open for special irradiations. The facility is designed to hold up to 130 milligrams of californium-252 in an irradiation assembly at the closed end of the tank. The tank is covered by metal-screen covers which are padlocked in place on both sides of the tank.
Because of the special hazards involved with using intense sponta-neous-fission neutron sources, approval of user projects requires review by the Radiation Safety Officer, the Radiation Safety Comittee, and by l
the Manager of the Californium Demonstration Center.
The Manager of the Demonstration Center is responsible for oversee-ing the training of users, maintenance of the facility, inventory of sources, and daily operations involving the use of californium-252 assigned to the Center.
Keys to the tank covers will be issued only to individuals approved by the Manager. Users are expected to observe the following rules:
1.
An operable beta-gama survey meter must be on hand during use,
]
and the individuals involved must all be capable of operating the instrument and interpreting its readings.
2.
At least two persons must be present for use of the facility after regular working hours.
3.
Users are expected to estimate in advance what induced-activity
(
levels are to be expected, and what radiation fields will be for specimens removed from the facility.
Appropriate shields must be on hand for specimen removal to assure minimum personnel exposure.
4.
Brass, copper, and other materials that are easily activated should not be employed as incidental parts of irradiation chambers.
Exceptions require explicit approval from the i
l Manager or Radiation Safety Office.
5.
Sample containers must be sealed in such a manner that loose material will not escape into the shielding-tank water.
6.
Sources are not to be moved in the tank or removed from the water unless explicit prior authorization has been given.
7.
Unusual or emergency situations must be reported promptly to the Radiation Safety Office and to the Manager of the Demonstration Center.
8.
Cover screens must be locked whenever the facility is left unattended, and keys must be returned to the main office of the Nuclear Science Center when use of the facility has been completed.
9.
Users may apply to the Manager of the Demonstration Center for projects which involve transfer of sources from the main facility tank to remote locations.
If sources and shielded containers appropriate to the project are available, and the project is within the scope of work for the Center, a User-Project Application form may be filed with the Radiation Safety Officer for review by him and the Radiation Safety Committee, and restrospectively by the Manager of the Demonstration Center. Radiation Safety Office personnel must be on hand for the transfer, and are expected to assist in source monitoring at the new location while the source is in residence there.
Philips-Norelco Industrial X-Ray Machine. The Nuclear Science Center has available for general use an industrial-quality radiographic X-ray machine, located in the basement of the Center. This instrument has to separate tube heads, one rated to a maximum accelerating voltage of 150 kilovolts and a maximum beam current of 12 milliamperes, and the second rate for maxima of 300 kilovolts and 10 milliamperes. The tube heads are operated in a large concrete-block-shielded room entered through a maze, with the operating console outside of the shield area.
The maze entrance is closed with a door outfitted with a disabling interlock switch in series with the console switch so that the machine-cannot be energized when the door is open. The console itself is equipped with a master switch for line power, and a safety switch for l
the high-voltage circuit; both switches are key locked to prevent unauthorized use.
User-projects for the X-ray machine must be approved by the Ra-diation Safety Officer and the Radiation Safety Committee.
Because exposure rates in excess of 3,000 Roentgens per hour are possible with this equipment, observance of the following is essential:
1.
Operators must receive individual training by Nuclear Science Center personnel before being permitted to make unsupervised irradiations. A list of approved operators will be maintained in the Radiation Safety Office.
2.
Keys to the master switch and safety switch will be issued only to approved operators.
j 3.
An operating survey meter appropriate for the average radiation 1
energy being used must be available at the operating console, and all personnel must be capable of operating the instrument and interpreting the meter readings. The meter must be in the operator's hand when the shield area is entered.
4.
The first individual entering the exposure room must have an operating survey meter and the safety key in his possession, and this same individual must be the last person to leave the
-room.
It-is the responsibility of this operator to establish conclusively that on one else remains in the room if the X-ray machine is to be energized.
e 5.
The last person to leave the shielded room should close e the maze door, secure the bolt latch, and establish that the interlock is engaged.
6.
Failure of any safety device must be reported to the Radiation Safety Office. Under no circumstances can an operator bypass any device.
Cockcroft-Walton Accelerator (Neutron Generator). The Nuclear Science Center has established an Activation Analysis Laboratory, with one of its major pieces of equipment being a 150-kilovolt Cockcroft-Walton accelerator configured for production of high-energy neutrons.
The accelerator is located in a shielded room in the basement of the Center, with the operating console in the entrance foyer to the base-ment. Normally this equipment is employed for the production of 14-megavoit neutrons through the H(d n)4 He reaction by accelerating deuterons into a tritium-loaded target. Beam currents up to 4 milliam-1I peres are possible, with a maximum yield of approximately 2 x 10 neutrons per second from a fresh target.
Entrance to the accelerator suite is through a single door which is interlocked with the operating console so that the machine cannot be energized when the door is open.
Both a master power key-lock switch and a safety key-lock switch must be turned to activate the system. A Texas Nuclear Corporation spherical neutron dosimeter is located within the accelerator vault to monitor the production of neutrons. Because this detector is some distance away from the target position, it does not provide accurate personnel-dosimetry information; it does, however,
4 serve as a "go-no go" device to indicate whether neutrons are being generated, and can provide quantitative information proportional to the total number of neutrons produced during a sample exposure. An addi-tional permanently installed radiation detection system, consisting of a Geiger-Muller tube and audible-alarm rate meter, is located in the target room. The alarm is set to trip at low radiation levels, and must be reset by hand; the system therefore provides a warning that an activation has been made, even though neutrons are no longer being produced.
Although the high-energy neutrons represent the major hazard from this installation, operators must be aware of three additional radiological problems:
atmospheric and surface contamination with tritium oxide, radiation emitted by induced activity, and X-rays produced when ions are accelerated against blank ' targets during beam-alignment operations. Tritium oxide contamination is a potentially severe problem because of the closed-circulation air system in the basement complex, and requires constant surveillance by the Radiation Safety Office and Activation Analysis Laboratory personnel. Maximum hazard exists during target-change operations, which must be performed by experienced individuals only.
The Radiation Safety Office must be notified of plans to change targets, and will be on stand-by status to assist in the event of an emergency. Tritium bioassays are not per-formed routinely because past experience has sh dn that internal con-tamination is negligible if routine procedures are followed, even during target changes; bioassays must be made.when unusual situations suggest personnel contamination, however, and will be performed at any time upon request by an individual.
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Induced activity following neutron bombardment with this equipment will, in general, not pose a significant radiological hazard. Operators should be alert, however, for the possibility for high hand doses while working with activated samples. Operating personnel should also be aware of radiation levels from activated products in the region of the target, particularly after high-beam-current runs. Persons using the facility must also anticipate the possibility that the rupture of a sample may lead to wide-spread contamination, both in the target room and in the sample-transfer system.
Radiation Safety Officer personnel should be notified if contamination is detected, and further operation of the accelerator discontinued until the problem is corrected.
A fourth hazard for this installation is the possibility of
. electrocution by the 150,000 volt accelerating potential. This hazard is especially troublesome because of the minimal working area, and the closeness of the corona dome to the shield wall.
Only carefully trained operators will be allowed to perform irra-diations with the accelerator because of the hazards involved in its use and the ease with which this expensive piece of equipment can be irreparably damaged. The approval of operators is limited to the Manager of the Activation Analysis Laboratory, who may require both a written and demonstration examination to assure proper operator quali-fication.
Operators and other personnel working with the accelerator instal-lation must observe the following rules:
1.
The safety-switch key must be in the possession of the first individuel entering the accelerator room, and in the possession
O of the last person to leave.
It is the responsibility of the last person leaving the shielded area to establish conclusively that no one else is in the area, including the mechanical equipment room, the target room, the accelerator room, and the entrance maze.
2.
Both a fast-neutron and a beta-gamma survey meter, known to be operable, must be available at the operating console, and all persons involved must be capable of using the instruments and of interpreting their readings.
3.
The accelerator is not be operated until at least one of the area monitoring systems has been established to be operating properly, and background count rates have been made and recorded.
4.
The operator must personally check the status of all interlocks to determine that they have not been disabled or bypassed.
)
5.
At least two persons must be present when the accelerator is to
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be used at other than regular working hours. For personal safety, this rule should be observed at all times.
6.
The operator must enter a record of use in the log book provided. Any non-routine procedure or occurrence must be noted.
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7.
In the event of an emergency, all personnel must be cleared from the basement, and the Manager of the Activation Analysis Laboratory and the Radiation Safety Office notified immediately. Re-entry is prohibited until authorized by Radiation Safety Office personnel.
8.
The accelerator is not be operated while the Radioactive Materials Storage Room (room 52) is occupied.
The operator must verify that this room is clear, and restrict entrance while the machine is producing neutrons.
9.
As for other major radiation sources, user-projects must be approved by the Radiation Safety Officer and the Radiation Safety Comittee.
In addition, review and approval by the Manager of the Activation Analysis Laboratory.is required to assure the continued integrity of the facility.
Protection and Measurements Report Number 39, Chapter.8. Copies of these sources are available in the Radiation Safety Office for further information.
Definitions necessary for understanding the tables are:
Controlled Personnel are individuals who have been approved for work with radioactive materials and radiation sources, including University employees, student, and visitors, and who have been assigned personnel dosimeters by the Radiation Safety Office.
No person under the age of 18 years may be designated in this category.
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General Population include all human beings other than those designated as controlled personnel.
Restricted Area includes any area in a building or on the Universi-ty grounds where radioactive materials or radiation sources are to be used, and entrance is restricted to controlled personnel or the general population only under the surveillance of controlled personnel.
Restricted areas must be marked with proper signs.
Unrestricted Area includes all areas which are not qualified as restricted areas.
Dose Commitment is employed here as a general term for both in-ternal-and external-source exposure.
i Rem is the special unit of Dose Equivalent, as defined by the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements, which a
is intended to express a scaled value of potential biological consequence from exposureEt'o radiation, independent of the type or quality of the radiation.
Year is any period of 365 consecutive days.
Calendar Quarter is any period of between twelve and fourteen consecutive weeks. One semester is considered equivalentEto one calendar quarter because of the scheduling of laboratory periods.
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Emergency Exposure is considered to be limited to a situation which potential requires a life-saving mission, and is considered as a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
Individual means any single human being or a small group of people exposed simultaneously.
Average implies that the exposure group represents a large number of people.
The numerical values in each column of the tables are target maximum values against which the radiation safety program at LSU are matched in consideration of user-project applications and facilities design. They represent a conscientious effort on the part of the LSU Radiation Safety Committee to achieve the "as-low-as-practicable" goals of regulatory agencies.
Radioactive materials present both external and internal radiation hazards when improperly controlled.
External hazards are easily as-sessed with radiation survey meters. Assessment of potential internal hazards is more difficult, and frequently can be accomplished only after the fact. The classification of radioactive materials presented on the following page may be of assistance to users in developing a " feel" for the hazard for materials with which they will be working.
The classi-fication is based upon maximum acceptable body burdens, roughly accord-ing to:
j
Slight toxicity = millicurie tolerance, Moderate toxicity = microcurie tolerance, High toxicity = nanocurie tolerance, and Very Ligh toxicity = picocurie tolerance.
Radionuclides in the last category are generally bone seekers with long half lives and long decay chains, and are dominated by heavy-element alpha emitters.
Detailed information on body burdens can be found in the Radiological Health Handbook, compiled and edited by the Bureau of Radiological Health of the U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Wel fare.
Copies are available for reference in the Radiation Safety Office.
The potential hazard, expressed as the radiotoxicity, of radionuclides may be employed to establish guidelines for laboratory practice and protective measures to be employed when various quantities of materials are being used. This classification scheme is somewhat arbitrary, but should be of use in planning laboratory activities for new projects. This classification scheme is shown on the following page. Users should plan their operations to minimize on-hand quantities of radionuclides to meet the "as-low-as-practicable" radiation-hazard criterion.
In spite of all precautions, laboratories in which radioactive materials are extensively used can be expected to become contaminated-from time to time, and general radiation levels at work stations may exceed target "as-low-as-possible" values.
Frequent monitoring is therefore necessary to detect excessive radiation levels or BoMT
3
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contamination as quickly as possible.
The following table summarizes proper actions for detected levels.
Equipment and materials, including laboratory coats, must be checked carefully for contamination by survey-meter probe and by smear tests before being released from the University to the general public, or before being transferred from one location to another, even though the second location is a restricted area.
No removable contamination is allowable on any item to be transferred +o the public. Removable contamination must be below 30 counts per minute for transfer to another restricted area, and must be undetectable for transfer to an unrestrict-ed area.
Permissible Releases of Radioactive Materials to the Environment Louisiana Radiation Regulations establish specific criteria for radioactivity in effluents to unrestricted areas. Part C, section C.106, and Appendix A, Table II of Part C of the regulations discuss and enumerate these limits.
Because of the desire of the University to comply with "as-low-as-practicable" radiation standards. Only minor contaminated liquids (as discussed under Waste Handling ~ Procedures) are permitted uncontrolled disposal to the sewer through laboratory sinks. All other radioactive releases to the environment are restricted to controlled actions taken by the Radiation Safety Office.
Releases will be-limited to one tenth (0.1) of the values tabulated in the Louisiana Radiation Regulations.
RULES OF THUMB Beta Radiation Beta particles of at least 70 kev are required to penetrate the nominal 7-mg/cm2 (0.07 -mm) protective layer of the skin.
The average beta-particle energy is approximately one-third of the maximum emission energy.
The maximum range of beta particles is approximately 500Emax 2
mg/cm, with E expressed in MeV.
This also gives the Approximate max linear range in millimeters of tissue.
The maximum linear range of beta particles in air is approximately 4E meters, with E expressed in MeV.
max max For skin, the basal-cell dose rate is approximately 9000 mrads/hr 2
for contact with a surface uniformly contaminated at I uCi/cm for beta radiation more energetic than 0.6 MeV. At lower energies, the approxi-mate dose rate is 5000 (E
- 0.6) mrads/hr, with E expressed in max max MeV.
32 Bremsstrahlung from one curie of P in aqueous solution in a small glass bottle yields an exposure rate of approximately 30 mR/hr at 30 cm.
The dose rate from internal beta radiation in an organ uniformly 3
contaminated at I uCi/cm is approximately 6400 E mrads/hr, with'E max max expressed in MeV.
Beta emitters with E less than 40 kev can'not be detected with a max 2
1.4-mg/cm end-window GM tube, and with E less than 0.16 MeV cannot max 2
be detected with a 30-mg/cm side-window tube.
14 Approximately 25% of C beta particles can pass through a 2
1.4-mg/cm GM tube window.
I I
k Gamma and X Radiation The tenth-value thickness for gamma-radiation attenuation by water is approximately seven times greater than that of iron, and very approx-imately two times greater than that of concrete, over the energy range from 0.1 to 3 MeV.
The tenth-value thickness for attenuation of ganina radiation by water is approximately 14.5E + 16.8 cm, with E in MeV, from 0.4 to 3 MeV.
The gamma exposure rate at 30 cm from a gamma-emitting source is 4
approximately 5.8 CE R/hr, with C in curies and E being the average total ganna energy emitted per disintegration, expressed in MeV.
" Sky shine" (air scatter) from a 100-Ci 60Co source located 30 cm behind a 120-cm high shield is approximately 100 mR/hr at 180 cm from the outside surface of the shield.
For diagnostic X rays, the effective energy of a beam filtered with 2.5-nrn of aluminum is approximately two-thirds of the accelerating potential.
The energy of scattered diagnostic X rays is approximately the same as the energy of the primary radiation.
X-ray scattering from a patient yields and exposure rate at 30 cm approximately equal to 1/1000 of the primary-beam exposure rate at the patient's skin.
The intensity of X radiation from a properly filtered (2.5-mm A1) diagnostic machine is given approximately by 1.37 x 10-4 (V.3) R/ min at 2
A 30 cm, with A in milliamperes and V in kilovolts.
The current average exposure from a standard chest X-ray in the United States is 200 mR.
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