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{{Adams | {{Adams | ||
| number = | | number = ML003739603 | ||
| issue date = | | issue date = 01/31/1981 | ||
| title = Radiation Safety Surveys at Medical Institutions | | title = Radiation Safety Surveys at Medical Institutions | ||
| author name = | | author name = | ||
| author affiliation = NRC/ | | author affiliation = NRC/RES | ||
| addressee name = | | addressee name = | ||
| addressee affiliation = | | addressee affiliation = | ||
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| license number = | | license number = | ||
| contact person = | | contact person = | ||
| document report number = RG-8. | | document report number = RG-8.23 Rev 1 | ||
| document type = Regulatory Guide | | document type = Regulatory Guide | ||
| page count = 14 | | page count = 14 | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{#Wiki_filter:U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY | {{#Wiki_filter:Revision 1 Jaonia1y 11 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION | ||
REGULATORY GUIDE | |||
OFFICE OF STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT | |||
DEVELOPMENT | REGULATORY GUIDE 8.23 RADIATION SAFETY SURVEYS AT MEDICAL INSTITUTION | ||
REGULATORY | |||
GUIDE 8.23 RADIATION | |||
SAFETY SURVEYS AT MEDICAL | |||
==A. INTRODUCTION== | ==A. INTRODUCTION== | ||
Paragraph | Surveyst are a necessary supplement to personnel monitoring, which measures individual radiation exposures Paragraph 20.201(b) of 10 CFR Part 20, "Standards for by the use of devices worn by the workers (Refs. 4, 6, 12, Protection Against Radiation," requires that each licensee 14. and 16. | ||
20.201(b) | |||
of 10 CFR Part 20, " | |||
make or cause to be made such surveys as may be necessary for that licensee to comply with the regulations in Part 20. | |||
==C. REGULATORY POSITION== | |||
As used in Part 20. the term "'survey" means an evaluation of the radiation hazards incident to the production, use. Methods and procedures in this guide are acceptable to release, disposal, or presence of. radioactive mate'rials or the NR( staff for establishing survey programs in accord other sources of radiation under a specific set of conditions. ance with the as low as is reasonably achievable (ALARA) | |||
This guide identifies the types and frequencies of surveys philosophy. Generally, medical institutions licensed by thc that are acceptable to the NRC staff for use in medical. NRC should have a health physics staff available for consul institutions licensed by the NRC to use radioactive materials ration to design a survey program appropriate to the for purposes of diagnosis, therapy, or human research institution's use of radioactive material. Nothing in this involving the administration of radioactive materials or guide should be construed to preclude or discourage the | |||
* radiation to patients or the use of radioactive materials for patient services. | |||
design of survey programs containing provisions other than those in this guide, when such programs are accepted by the NRC licensing staff as providing ALARA exposure conditions for a particular institution. | |||
==B. DISCUSSION== | ==B. DISCUSSION== | ||
1. Types of Surveys Surveys are considered to be part of a comprehensive 1.1 General Description protection program established by the licensee consistent with the philosophy and principles of Regulatory Guide 8.10, | |||
Surveys performed in compliance with §20.201 of | |||
"Operating Philosophy for Maintaining Occupational | |||
10 CFR Part 20 should include those necessary to evaluate Radiation Exposures As Low As Is Reasonably Achievable." | |||
external exposure to personnel, surface contamination (Ref. 1). Principles, methods, and instrumentation for levels, and concentrations of airborne radioactive materials carrying out radiation and contamination surveys were in the facility and in effluents from the facility. | |||
developed early in the atomic energy program and have been discussed in reports of the National Council on Environmental monitoring is beyond the scope of this Radiation Protection and Measurement (Refs. 2-9), the guide. However, the radiation safety program should International Atomic Energy Agency (Refs. 10-14), and the include surveys or records that indicate control of the International Commission on Radiological Protection quantities of radioactive material released in air and water (Refs. 15-17). Other publications (Refs. 17- 34) contain addi to unrestricted areas as required by Part 20. In miny tional information for use in establishing radiation survey medical institutions, surveys of effluents or calculations to programs and selecting methods and equipment for their ensure that permissible concentration limitsare not exceeded implementation. are included as a regular part of the health physics survey t | |||
The word "survey," often used synonymously with "survefl lance," "monitoring," or "area monitoring," is used in this guide to connote the jpes*oa inspection of vsulouS locations in a facility | |||
0 | |||
"Lines indicate substantive changes from the February 1979 ver using radioactive materials, with or without accompanying ments, to determine the effectiveness of measures to protectmeasure sion that was issued for public comment. against exposure to radiation. | |||
USNRC REGULATORY GUIDES | |||
Comments should be sent to the Secretary U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, of the Commission, Regulatory Guides are Issued to describe and make available public methods acceptable to the NRC staff of implementing to the Attention: Docketing and Service Branch. Washington, D.C. 20555, specific parts of the Commission's regulations, to delineate niques used by the staff in evaluating specific problems tech The guides are Issued in the following tan broad divisions: | |||
or postu lated accidents or to provide guidance to applicants. Regulatory Guides are noi substitutes for regulations, and compliance 1. Power Reactors 6. Products them Is not required. Methods and solutions different from with 2. Research and Test Reactors 7. Transportation out in the guides will be acceptable if they provide a basisthose set 3. Fuels and Materials Facilities 8. Occupational Health findings requisite to the issuance or continuance of a for the 4. Environmental and Siting 9. Antitrust license by the Commission. | |||
Permit or 5. Materials and Plant Protection 10. General and Financial Review Comments and suggestions for improvements in these guides Copies of issued guides may be purchased at the current Government are encouraged at all times, and guides will be revised, as appropriate, Printing Office price. A subscription service for future guides in spe to accommodate comments and to reflect new information cific divisions is available through the Government Printing Office. | |||
experience. This guide was revised as a result of substantive or Information on the subscription service and current GPO prices may ments received from the pu 'ic and additional staff review. com be obtained by writing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Washington, D.C- 20555. Attention: Publications Sales Commission, Manager. | |||
program. Often these calculations may he made by estimat Surveys are not acceptable for routine compliance with ing the amotints of radioactive material washed down the personnel monitoring requirements of §20.202. How designated sinks and dividing them by the quantities ever, in the event of accidental loss of personnel dosimetry of sewage released from the hospital, as indicated on the data. e.g., as a result of losing the dosimeter or chemical or hospital's water or sewage bills. This procedure normally physical damage to the dosimeter, the best alternative suffices to show compliance with the effluent limits of means of estimating the exposure may be to use survey dllat Part 20. Amounts of radioactive material released in air in conjunction with appropriate occupancy factors. In such within hospitals or exhausted to the outside from hospitals case, the estimate, including the survey data used. should bh are generally small, but these amounts may sometimes be documented and retained indefinitely (see para estimated by calculational techniques if not by air-monitoring graph 2 0. 4 01(c)(2)tii)). Survey results should be reviewed procedures.' Appendix A to this guide describes surveys to carefully by the Radiation Safety Officer to identify be made of radioactive xenon-I 33 releases. potentially hazardous situations and unfavorable trends. | |||
Radiation protection programs should include the types 1.3 Measurements of Radioactive Material Concentrations of surveys discussed belo | |||
====w. In Air==== | |||
1.2 Surveys of External Radiation Exposure Levels It may ofterr be sufficient in medical institutions to show by calculation, together with monitoring of ventilation Areas to he surveyed should include any locations where rates, that air concentrations are well below levels that individuals may be exposed to -radiation intensities that would require routine air sampling. However. concentrations might cause the occupational radiation dose to exceed of radioactive material in air should be measured at tre-, | |||
10 percent of the limits of paragraph 20.101(a) in any qucncics described in Section ('.2 and specified in Table 1 calendar quarter or where an individual is working with any for areas where operations could at any time expose workers radiation source that could produce radiation levels greater to 10 percent or more of the concentration values given in than 1.0 mR/h at 1 meter. These areas typically include Table 1. Column I. of Appendix B to 10 CFR Part 20. | |||
shipping and receiving areas: radionuclide laboratories Special requirements for such monitoring may also be made in nuclear medicine; diagnostic areas in nuclear medicine; a condition of the license. | |||
intracavilary .source preparation areas in radiation therapy; | |||
patients' rooms where treatments are given with intracavi Air samples obtained in accordance with §20.103 tary. interstitial, or radiopharmaceutical therapy sources; should be representative of the air in the workers' breathing operating rooms, control (console) areas for teletherapy zones. In cases where breathing zone sampling is not accom equipment rooms; waste packaging and disposal areas; plished, air samples taken outside the breathing zone | |||
.radiation instrument calibration areas; and any other areas closer to the source, where the concentration of radioactive where persons might be exposed (e.g., areas occupied by material can be or is expected to be equal to or greater than technologists, nursing staff, visitors. patients. or any other the concentration in the breathing zone. are acceptable. | |||
persons who may be exposed to radioactive materials When measuring the quantity of radioactive 'material handled by others). deposited on an air sample filter. corrections should he made for absorption of alpha or beta particles by the filter Preoperational, routine, and special surveys of these media and by material collected on the filter. [he quantity areas should be performed by the radiation protection staff of air that has passed through the filter should be accurately as described in Section C.2 of this guide. Results of these measured and corrections made for any loss of flow rate surveys should be recorded as described in Section (.3. In caLised by the accumulation of material on the filter. | |||
addition to thisý survey program, the Radiation Safety Officer should institute and maintain a program of surveys Continuous breathing zone or general air sampling performed by workers other than health physics personnel should be conducted while the work is in progress unless who may be exposed to external radiation levels that could experience with sample* results or calculations has demon exceed any of the limits of paragraph 20.101(a). Surveys by strated that the concentration of radioactive material in such workers may consist of no more than occasional the breathing zone is not likely to exceed 25 percent of the instrument. observations during work with radioactive' values given in Table I, Column 1, of Appendix B to materials. These personal surveys are particularly appropriate 10 CFR Part 20. The use of personal (lapel) samplers is in nuclear medicine activities. Personnel should he properly acceptable for breathing zone sampling. If the air sanipl instructed in conducting such surveys and should perform ing is not continuous, the frequency and the times selected the surveys each day during and after work with radioactive for the sampling should be based on the nature of the nmaterials, as necessary to determine the need to limit process involved and the probability that the airborne worktime and to use protective procedures to reduce expos radioactive material will be present. When assessing this ures as far below the paragraph 20.101(a) limits as is probability is difficult, frequencies based on information reasonably achievable. The survey results obtained by these given in Section ('.2 and Table I of this guide are accept workers need not be recorded. However, the Radiation able. | |||
Safety Officer should maintain records to show that the appropriate training for, and implementation of, the worker 1.4 Surface Contamination Surveys survey program has been provided and is a continuing part of the survey program. Workers should be instructed to report Regular surveys for radioactive contamination that could unusual survey findings to the Radiation Safety Officer. be present on surfaces of floors, Walls, furnishings. and | |||
8.23-2 | |||
equipment are a necessary part of the survey program. Any d. Sample, background, and test counts and times, surveys carried out in accordance with NRC license condi and tions will be considered consistent with the level of safety provided by recommendations in this guide. e. Signatures and dates at the bottom of each page. | |||
Control of surface contamination is necessary to limit Provision should also be made on the diagram for recording external dose rates and the resuspension in air of loose an instrument check with an appropriate check or calibra radioactive materials that may enter the body through tion source for each batch of smear samples counted. | |||
inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption. | |||
The surveys discussed above are regularly scheduled and | |||
1.4.1 Removable Contamination recorded on the survey diagrams. In addition, it may be necessary to conduct more frequent, informal, and unre For the purposes of this guide. removable contamination corded surveys in nuclear medicine areas or other areas means radioactivity that can be transferred from a surface where loose radioactive contamination may occur. Such to a snmear test paper by rubbing with moderate pressure. surveys can be made with a thin-end-window (less than Information is available on the selection and use of instru 2 mg/cm 2 ) detector held close to a dry smear sample ments for performing removable surface contamination immediately after it is taken in the work area. When ambient surveys appropriate to the radionuclides used in medlical external radiation levels in the laboratory are low enough to institutions (Refs. 2, 4-7, 10, and 13). Methods and instru maintain external radiation exposures below the limits of ments used in surface contamination surveys should be paragraph 20.101(a), any appreciable surface contamination sufficiently sensitive to detect the nuclides being monitored can be detected by simply holding the detector in a fixed (Refs. 22 and 25). For optimum detection of low-energy position and moving the smear sample close to and away beta emitters (e.g., 11-3 and C-14)as well as of alpha emitters from the detector several times. This method may be used and low-energy x- or gamma-ray emitters (e.g., 1-125), for the vast majority of radionuclides used in diagnostic and liquid scintillation counting or internal proportional count therapeutic medical practice. | |||
ing is normally necessary with the use of appropriate constancy checks on counter efficiency. Part 20 does not specify limits for surface contamination. | |||
Each applicant may propose and justify the levels of remov The collection of smear samples may be preceded by a able surface contamination that will be allowable before rapid survey with a portable thin-end-window detector in decontamination. must be performed. These limits should order (a) to ensure that gross contamination levels are not be based on the need to avoid transfer of significant already too high for counting with sensitive equipment, amounts of contamination to unrestricted areas and to (b) to minimize (in some cases) the chance for inadvertent maintain exposures as low as is reasonably achievable. The spread of con tainination by the contamination survey' or contamination limits for restricted areas presented on line 2 other activities to be performed in the meantime, and (c) to of Table 2 of this guide are acceptable to the NRC staff and determine which areas require greater attention in smear need not be justified by the licensee or applicant. | |||
testing. The instrument used for this purpose should (a) have a short enough time constant to facilitate detection or (b) be provided with a speaker for aural indication of 1.4.2 Fixed Contamination count-rate. | |||
For the purposes of this guide, fixed contamination A standardized method for smear testing of a relatively means radioactivity remaining on a surface after repeated uniform area should be used in order to allow comparison decontamination attempts fail to significantly reduce the of relative levels of contamination at different times and contamination level. A total contamination survey using places. A dry smear taken from an area of about 100 cm 2 is instruments suitable for the radionuclides involved should acceptable to indicate levels of removable contamination. be conducted simultaneously with each removable conthm ination survey. The applicant may propose and justify the A layout diagram for each laboratory routinely surveyed levels of total contamination that will be allowable for -both is helpful for recording survey results in a uniform manner restricted and unrestricted areas before decontamination to aid review and observation of trends and for satisfying must be performed. The limits appearing on lines I and 2 of regulatory requirements for availability of survey records. Table 2. multiplied by a factor of 5, are acceptable to the On these diagrams, it is helpful to specify key locations that NRC staff and need not be justified by the licensee or are smear tested at each survey and also to provide space applicant. | |||
reminding the recorder to include: | |||
1.5 Protective and Personal Clothing Contamination a. Contamination levels converted to radioactivity Surveys units specified in 10 ('FR Part 20, | |||
Individuals working in areas where a potential for skin or b. Make and model number of the instruments used in clothing contamination exists should be provided with the survey and in counting the smear samples, suitable protective clothing. Laboratory coats and protective gloves, as described in References 5 and 6, are usually c. Disintegration rate of each instrument test or calibra adequate for any procedures in medical institutions. Protec tion source. tive clothing should be surveyed by the wearer after use if | |||
8.23-3 | |||
significant contamination is possible. Contaminated protec direction of Radiation Safety Office personnel or a medical live clothing should be removed and placed in special consultant should be repeated until (a) such attempts cease laundry containers before leaving a restricted work area. to effect significant reductions or(b) such attempts threaten Disposable gloves should be discarded in radioactive waste to irritate or harm the skin. 2 When decontamination containers. After gloves are removed, hands should- he attempts are terminated, there should le no further concern washed and surveyed. if the residual contamination does not exceed preselected levels. Such levels may be proposed and justified by the When protective clothing contamination levels may be applicant or licensee. The limits given on line 5 of Table 2 expected to exceed preselecled limits, workers should be will be accepted without justification. If residual contani instructed to take care to avoid dispersal of contamination ination exceeds the selected limits, the affected individual and to report the situation to the Radiation Safety Office. may be released (since his contamination is now rela A member of the radiation safety staff should then make tively fixed and not likely to enier the body), but periodic surveys and supervise any necessary decontamination or surveys should be made until the limits are no longer clothing disposal. The applicant may propose and justify exceeded. The resulting dose should be determined and protective clothing contamination limits considered adequate entered in the individual's personnel dosimetry record. | |||
for use in each restricted area. The limits on line 4 of Complete records should be maintained of each incident of Table 2 are acceptable to the NRC staff and need not be this nature. | |||
justified by the licensee or applicant. | |||
Since medical personnel may often handle open vials or Contamination levels observed and procedures followed containers with millicurie or higher levels of volatile forms during the survey and decontamination of personal clothing of certain nuclides such as 1-125 or 1-131, which in certain should he recorded. The written record should include the forms may concentrate in the thyroid or other body organs, names of persons surveyed, a description of prior work bioassay monitoring is sometimes made a condition of the activities, the probable causes, steps taken to reduce further license. Acceptable criteria for such programs are published incidence of contamination, times and dates, and the in Regulatory Guides 8.20, "Applications of Bioassay for surveyor's signature. This information may be entered in a 1-125 and 1-131," and 8.26, "Applications of Bioassay for logbook. Workers' surveys of themselves need not be Fission and Activation Products." Additionally, guidance routinely recorded unless the limits on line 4 of T'able 2 on bioassay monitoring is available from the Material are exceeded. The radiation safety staff should conduct Licensing Branch, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and spot checks monthly to ensure that the workers continue Safeguards. In addition to these programs, placing the their own personal contamination surveys. detector against the neck close to the thyroid is often useful for monitoring for internal deposition of these In restricted areas with little potential for surface nuclides during surveys for skin contamination; however, contamination, personal clothing is often worn beneath for I-I 25, a thin-crystal scintillation probe would be needed protective clothing. Such personal clothing should be to obtain adequate sensitivity. In this way, appropriate surveyed by the wearer before he or she leaves the restrict personnel may be more frequently monitored for internal ed area. (Ilowever, this is neither practicable nor necessary exposure while they are also being monitored for external for employees working with only microcuric quantities of contamination. Any positive indications of exposure or tritium or carbon-14.) Workers should be instnrcted to contamination from these types of surveys should be report the situation to the Radiation Safety Office when recorded in the radiation safety logs. Indications of internal personal clothing contamination levels exceed preselected depositions should be reported to the Radiation Safety limits. A member of the radiation safety staff should then Office. | |||
make surveys and gupervise any necessary decontamination or clothing disposal. The applicant or licensee may propose 1.7 Surveys of Equipment Prior to Release to Unrestricted and justify personal clothing contamination limits; the Areas limits given on line 3 of Table 2 are acceptable to the NR(" | |||
staff and need not be justified by the applicant or licensee. Before the uncontrolled release of potentially contam Records should be maintained in the same manner as those inated medical instruments or equipment from restricted to for protective clothing contamination. unrestricted areas, surface contamination surveys should be conducted on such instruments and equipment for both | |||
1.6 Personal Surveys removable and fixed contamination. If contamination is detected, decontamination procedures should be instituted Alt.hough personal contamination in excess of the value and repeated until additional efforts do not significantly given on line 5 of Table 2 is unusual in medical institutions, reduce contamination levels. The applicant or licensee may individuals who work in restricted areas under conditions in propose and justify total and removable contamination which they may become contaminated should survey all limits below which uncontrolled release of equipment is exposed areas of the body before donning personal clothing permitted. The limits given in Table 3 of this guide, as | |||
2 or leaving (he restricted area. Particular attention should be Decontamination attempts without supervision or instruction paid to the hody, hair, bottoms of the shoes or feet, anti from the licensee's medical consultant should be restricted to washing with mild soap and water unless other safe procedures have the hands. Workers should be instructed to report the already been approved and personnel have been properly instructed dcleclion of contamination on the body to the Radiation in using them. If such attempts do not reduce the contamination to acceptable levels, the aid of the licensee's medical consultant should Safety Officer. l)econtamination attempts under the be obtained. | |||
8.23-4 | |||
I adapted from Table I of Regulatory Guide 1.86, "Termina on which these instruments depend for operation should tion of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Reactors," are also be tested to ensure that they will function reliably in acceptable to the NRC staff and need not he justified by normal operations or as expected under emergency condi the licensee or applicant. Decontamination guidelines are tions. Care should be taken to minimize exposure to available from the Material Licensing Branch. Office of personnel from the tests themselves. Any signs, labels, or Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. notices found to be missing should be promptly provided. | |||
Temporary signs, signals, or barriers, together with appro | |||
20 | 1.8 Ingestion priate worker notification and instruction, may be used in the interim when items specified in Parts 19 and 20 are not Surveillance should be included in the radiation safety available, but acceptable corrections should be provided as program to ensure that workers properly observe rules to soon as practicable. | ||
prevent ingestion of radionuclides, e.g., rules against eating, drinking, or smoking in work areas or while wearing poten 1.11 Leak Tests of Sources tially contaminated clothing. storing foods in work areas; | |||
pipetting by mouth; and wearing contaminated laboratory Sealed sources containing (a) more than 100 inicrocuries coats to the cafeteria or other unrestricted areas. Water of a byproduct material with a half-life of more than fountains close to work areas where radioactive materials 30 days (except iridium-192 seeds encased in nylon ribbon) | |||
are used should be smear tested regularly. (see paragraph 35.14(bX5)) or (b) more than 10 micro curies of an alpha emitter (see paragraph 31.5(cX2Xii)) | |||
1.9 Surveys of Packages Received and Packages Prepared must be leak tested for contamination or leakage at inter for Shipment vals not to exceed 6 months unless a different interval is specified for a particular manufactured source under the External radiation measurements and tests of external provisions of paragraph 32.74(b) of I OCFR Part 32, "Speci surfaces of packages received or packaged for shipment fic Domestic Licenses to Manufacture or Transfer Certain | |||
"should be carried out near the receiving or packaging point Items Containing Byproduct Material." Further provisions to avoid unwarranted radiation exposures and inadvertent and exceptions to leak-testing requirements are established contamination of personnel or the hospital. Surveys and in paragraphs 35.14(b) and 35.14(eXl) of 10 (FR Part 35. | |||
labeling must comply with the NRC's regulations (see Any specific license conditions must also be followed. | |||
§§20.203. 20.205. 32.19. and 32.70 through 32.74 of | |||
10CFR Parts 20 and 32) and with any specific license 1.12 Calibration and 3 Source Checks of Radiation Survey conditions. Delivery of packages within the hospital should Instruments also be monitored. Any delivered containers of radioactive material must be labeled as required by paragraph 20.203(f). An adequate calibration of survey instruments cannot be All packages bearing yellow II or yellow III Department of performed with built-in check sources. Electronic calibra Transportation (DOT) labels should be transported by cart. tions that do not involve a source of radiation are also not Only adequately shielded sources should be transported. adequate to determine the proper functioning and response Internal containers of packages containing significant of all components of an instrument. | |||
amounts of radioactive materials should not be ope-ned until the containers have been placed in the appropriate Daily constancy checks of survey instruments should be protective facility (e.g., hood). made before and after each use and should be supplemented at least every 12 months with a battery check and two-point All personnel, including security guards, should be i-alibration (at about 1/3 and 2/3 of full scale) on each scale adequately- instructed in performing at least an initial of the instrument to be used for radiation protection inspection survey for leakage or damage before transporting surveys. Survey instruments should also be calibrated after any packages of radioactive materials through hospital repair or maintenance that may affect the calibration of the areas. The written instructions should clearly indicate instrument. | |||
1. | which packages should be transported by cart rather than hand-carried. A survey instrument may be considered properly cali brated at one point when the exposure rate measured by | ||
1.10 Checks on Posting of Caution Signs, Labels, Signals, the instrument differs from the true exposure rate by less Controls, and Notices to Employees than 10 percent. | |||
T1he radiation safety staff should perform surveillance Each source used for calibration shouId be certified during the surveys described in Table 1 to ensure that (Ref. 25) in radioactivity content to within 5 percent by signs, labels, radiation alarm signals, other access controls. the supplier. Alternatively, each source may be calibrated and required Notices to Employees, copies of licenses, and | |||
3 other items are properly posted, legible, and operative, as in order to keep personnel exposures ALARA, high-range scales (e.g., above I R/h) should not be calibrated when they will not be required by 10 (FR Part 11), -Notices, Instructions and needed in a particular installation. Also, a sufficient variety of Reports to Workers- Inspections." and Part 20 or by license instruments should be available and calibrated on all scales as needed for the types of radiation and the ranges of intensity or conditions. Radiation alarm signals should be routinely exposure to be measured. Item 9 of Regulatory Guide 10.8 (Ref. 29) | |||
tested for operation by use of appropriate check sources specifies certain types of instruments generally required in a typical nuclear medicine laboratory and information on instrumenltation to to ensure proper functioning of the alarms. Microswitches be submitted with a license application. | |||
8.23-5 | |||
for dose rates at given distances. Each source should also be Icorrected for decay as of the day on which the source is used for survey instrument calibration. All decay corrections | |||
1. 15 Surveys in In-Hospital Unrestricted Areas Unrestricted areas should be surveyed periodically to should he included in the radiation safety records system. A ensure that radiation and radioactive material are adequately posted graph for each source is convenient" helpful in confined in restricted areas, except in cases where these avoiding calculational errors, easily available forinspection. inaterials must he transported between areas. Recommenda and acceptable for obtaining source intensity within the tions in References 4, 5, I1. and 14 should be followed required accuracy. For automatic range-changing instru when transporting radioactive materials or patients emitting ments or instruments with more than one decade on a radiation from licensed radioactive materials through logarithmic scale, a calibration near the mid range of hallways or other unrestricted areas of the hospital. Such each decade should be adequate. except that a two-point transportation should be surveyed and planned with a check should be used on at least one of the decade ranges. member of the radiation safety staff. | |||
Readings obtained from the calibration verifications 1.15.1 Surface Contamination Surveys should be recorded, preferably by plotting the reading on the instrument calibration curve where applicable. Other Removable surface contamination surveys in unrestricted instruments should be calibrated at frequencies suggested areas in which linencapsulated radioactive materials are by Ihe manufacturer. Check sources should he used to used or where contamination may be likely to occur should check the continued accuracy of all instruments each time be performed and recorded at frequencies consistent they are used in the field, preferably before and after each with the potential for spreading contamination but no less series of measurements. (See also Regulatory Guide 10.8, frequently than quarterly. Random smear testing of floors | |||
"Guide for the Preparation of Applications for Medical alone is acceptable for most unrestricted areas. In cafeterias Programs" (Ref. 29).) and snack bars, furniture and equipment, as well as floors. | |||
should also be surveyed. If such surveys reveal that radio | |||
1.13 Surveys of Protective Clothing Before and After active contamination is being transferred out of restricted Laundry areas, immediate corrective action should be taken to eliminate such transfers. Decontamination efforts should be Surveys of protective garments and linens should be repeated until it is evident that subequent efforts would not performed prior to release to a conventional laundry. significantly reduce contamination levels. If contamination Garments and linens should be released to such a laundry is found, unrestricted areas should be surveyed more only if contamination levels do not exceed those given on frequently (e.g., daily or weekly) until a trend of negative line 3 of Table 2.. Items contaminated with short-half-life results is again established. The applicant or licensee may material that exceeds the levels given on line 3 of Table 2 propose and justify permissible contamination levels should be contained in leakproof bags and transported in following decontamination efforts described above for carts to controlled storage areas for decay. Items contami unrestricted areas. The limits given on line I of Table 2 arc nated with long-half-life material may be disposed of as acceptable to the NRC staff and need not le justified by radioactive waste or sent for decontamination to a laundry the licensee or applicant. | |||
licensed by the N RC or by an Agreement Start. | |||
1.15.2 Radiation Surveys | |||
1.14 Ventilation Surveys Radiation surveys in unrestricted areas adjacent to Where enclosures such as fume hoods are necessary to restricted areas should be performed and recorded at protect workers'from unencapsulated radioactive material. frequencies consistent with the types and quantities of measurements of the face velocity at the enclosure entrance material in use but no less frequently than quarterly. These should be made quarterly to ensure that the airflow is surveys should be made in areas adjacent to restricted areas adequate.4 Such measurements should be made by using a and, when exposures may occur, in all areas through which properly calibrated thermoanemometer or velometer to radioactive materials are transferred and temporarily stored determine whether the airflow has been reduced to unaccept before shipment. Radiation levels in these areas should be able levels by filter loading or by the malfunction of "evaluated to determine whether they comply with the blowers, fans, etc. The mninimum average face velocity for a requirements of § 20.105 of 10 CFR Part 20. | |||
1. | fume hood with the sash in the operating position or for an opening in a special enclosure should be 100 ft/min as 1.16 Surveillance determined from at least five different measurement points. Airflow monitoring devices such as inclined manom 1.16.1 Surveillance by Individual Performing Surveys eters should also be available for the user to check for proper airflow during each use. Corrective action should be The term "surveillance." as used in this section. refers to taken as soon as possible when the face velocity is found to observations of radiological working conditions in restricted be deficient. Records should be kept of airflow measure areas made by the person who performs the routine radia ments and any corrective actions. tion and contamination surveys. Such surveillance is one of | ||
4 Where filtered exhausts are employed, devices such as U-tube the more important aspects of a radiation protection pro manometers should be provided to indi~ate the pressure drop across gram. Through surveillance, radiation safety personnel the filters, thus affording an early indication of airflow loss at enclosures. acquire detailed knowledge of e:ich operation as necessary | |||
8.23-6 | |||
(a) to identify ways of preventing or minimizing occupa Although the frequencies of routine surveys depend on tional exposures, (b) to select appropriate times for making many factors, as stated above, and should be designed for radiation safety measurements, and (c) to adequately prepare the specific medical practices and facilities involved to for emergency conditions. Radiation safety personnel should maintain exposures as low as is reasonably achievable, be sufficiently familiar with each activity to explain it in minimum frequencies acceptable to the NRC staff for detail, to describe potential hazards and the precautions meeting the requirements of § 20.201 of 10 CFR Part 20 | |||
taken to minimize exposures, and to discuss how this are given in Table I of this guide. | |||
knowledge of procedures within each activity has influenced the selection of appropriate times for performing radiation safety measurement | |||
====s. ==== | |||
===3. Records of Surveys=== | |||
1.16.2 Regular Inventory of Radioactive Material, Audit of Procedures, and Instruction of Personnel. Reference should be made to § § 20.401 and 30.51 and to 10 CFR Parts 31-35 for recordkeeping requirements The surveillance program includes the following: regarding surveys related to the receipt, use, packaging, transfer, and disposal of byproduct material. Section 20.401 a. Regular inventory of radioactive materials and requires that licensees maintain records in the same units their locations, used in Part 20 (see Table 4). Thus, external exposure rates should be recorded in estimated maximum dose equivalent b. Frequent audits of radiation safety procedures and units to relevant parts of the body as specified in Part 20. | |||
the uses and amounts of material in process compared to Air concentration measurement results should be recorded licensed possession limits, and in units of pCi/ml, and surface contamination measurement results should be recorded in units of dpm/100cm 2 or c. Discussions with personnel to ensure their continued uJCi/100cm 2 (or as in §20.5). | |||
awareness of safety procedures and the appropriateness of their instruction and training for the tasks they are performing. Record retention requirements are specified in the regulations cited above. Paragraph 2 0.401(cX2) requires These surveillance activities may be performed during that survey records be preserved for 2 years, except that the performance of other survey measurements or tests. records of air monitoring and (in theabsence of personnel The surveillance should be performed at least annually by monitoring data) records of surveys to determine external the Radiation Safety Officer in the presence of a manage radiation dose (see paragraph 20.401(cX2Xii)) are to be ment representative as a management audit. The manage maintained until the NRC authorizes their disposition. | |||
ment audit should be comprehensive enough to provide management with an awareness of the nature and impor Records may be maintained in logbooks or on special tance of activities conducted for personnel protection and forms as long as they are clear, legible, understandable, and hospital safety. A sample checklist that can be useful in authenticated . by authorized personnel. Survey records auditing as well as in carrying out radiation surveys is should include the model and serial numbers of instruments presented in Appendix B. used and efficiencies of counting where appropriate. The signature of the person making the record and the date | |||
2. Frequency of Surveys should be on the same page as the record and should immediately follow each record entry. Either the original or The frequency of routine surveys depends on the nature, a reproduced copy or microform (duly authenticated) may quantity, and use of radioactive materials, as well as the be maintained to meet the storage requirements of § 20.401. | |||
specific protective facilities, equipment, and procedures that are designed to protect the worker from external and D.i IMPLEMENTATION | |||
internal exposure. | |||
The purpose of this section is to provide informnation to Generally, surveys should be performed before radioac applicants and licensees regarding the NRC staff's plan for tive materials are used in a new procedure and area in order using this regulatory guide. | |||
to establish a baseline of background radiation levels and radioactivity from natural sources, including structural com Except in those cases in which the applicant or licensee ponents of the facility, and any already existing operations proposes an acceptable alternative method for complying with radiation sources in nearby rooms or facilities. These with specified portions of the Commission's regulations, the baseline surveys should be performed under the various staff will use the methods described herein after April 1, conditions to be expected in routine hospital procedures. 1981, in evaluating applications for specific materials licenses for medical institutions or (in conjunction with Surveys should be repeated after routine procedures inspections of performance) for evaluating survey programs begin with normal levels of radioactive material and with established by licensees. | |||
potentially exposed persons present and carrying out their functions. Surveys should also be conducted after significant If an applicant or livensee wishes to use the method changes in the quantities of radioactive material handled, in described in this regulatory guide on or before June 1, 1981,1 the quantities present at any one time, or in protective the pertinent portions of the application or th. licensee's equipment or procedures. performance will be evaluated on the basis of this guide. | |||
8.23-7 | |||
Table 1 SURVEY FREQUENCIES | |||
I. All elution, preparation, and injection areas should be surveyed daily with a survey meter and decontaminated if necessary. | |||
2. Laboratory areas where only small quantities of radioactive material (less than 200 | |||
l.Ci at any one time) are used should be surveyed monthly. | |||
3. All other laboratory areas should be surveyed weekly. | |||
The | 4. The weekly and monthly surveys should consist of the following- a. A measurement of radiation levels with a survey meter sufficiently sensitive to detect | ||
0.1 mR/h. | |||
b. A series of smear tests to measure contamination levels. The method for performing smear tests should be suffi ciently sensitive to detect the limits in Table 2 to one significant digit. | |||
c. Any air sample measurements necessary to determine compliance with § 20.103 of 10 CFR Part 20 in cases where calculations alone are not sufficient. | |||
Table 2 RECOMMENDED ACTION LEVELS FOR REMOVABLE SURFACE CONTAMINATION | |||
IN MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS* | |||
Type of Radioactive Material** | |||
Low-Risk Beta or Alph Emitters Beta or X-Ray Emitters X-Ray Emitters Type of Surface (tICi/em2) (dpm/10Ocm 2 ) (tJCil/m 2 ) (dpm/100cm 2 ) (PjCi/cm 2 )1 (dpm/1iOcm2 I. Unrestricted areas 10"- 22 10-6 220 10-s 2,200 | |||
2. Restricted areas 10-6 220 10-1 2,200 10.4 22,000 | |||
3. Personal clothing worn 10"1 22 10-6 220 10"s 2,200 | |||
outside restricted areas | |||
4. Protective clothing worn 10-6 220 10"5 2,200 10"4 22.000 | |||
only in restricted areas | |||
5. Skin 106 220 10-6 220 10s 2,200 | |||
*OAsacapted from Table I of Reference 10. Averaging is acceptable over nonliving areas of up to 300 | |||
cm2 or, for floors, wall, and ceiling, O0cm'. Averaging is also acceptable over 0 cm forskin or, for the hands, over the whole area of the hand, nominally 300cm . | |||
**Beta- or x-ray emitter values are applicable for all beta- or x-ray emitters other than those considered low C-14, H-3, S-35, Tc-99m, and others whose beta energies are less than 0.2 risk. Low-risk nuctides include at I meter per curie, and whose permissible concentration in air (see to CFRMeV maximum, whose gamma-or x-ray emission iý le,.s than 0.1 R/h Part 20. Appendix B, Table I ) is greater than 10 IA.i/ml. | |||
8.23-8 | |||
Table 3* | |||
ACCEPTABLE SURFACE CONTAMINATION LEVELS FOR UNCONTROLLED RELEASE OF EQUIPMENT | |||
Nuclidea Averageb,e Maimumb,d Removablebc U-nat, U-235, U-238, and 5,000 dpm ct/l00 cm 2 15,000 dfpm cV'100 cm 2 1,000 dpm c1 0 0 cm 2 associated decay products Transuranics, Ra-226, Ra-228, 100 dpm/100 cm 2 300 dpm/100 cm 2 | |||
20 dpm/100 cm 2 Th-230, Th-228, Pa-23 1, Ac-227, | |||
1-125, 1-129 Th-nat, Th-232, Sr-90, Ra-223, 1,000 dpm/100 cm 2 3,000 dpm/100 cm 2 200 dpm/100 cm 2 Ra-224, U-232, 1-1.26, 1-131, | |||
1-133 Beta-gamma emitters (nuclides 5,000 dpm *100 cm 2 15,000 dpm BV1100 cm 2 1,000 dpm $V100 cm 2 with decay modes other than alpha emission or spontaneous fission) except Sr-90 and others noted above. | |||
1. | Adapted from Regulatory Guide 1.86 (Ref. 30). | ||
aWhere surface contamination by both alpha- and beta-gamma-emitting nuclides exists, the limits established for alpha- and beta-gamma-emitting nuclides should apply independently. | |||
bAs used in this table, dpm (disintegrations per minute) means the rate of emission by radioactive material as determined by correcting the counts per minute observed by an appropriate detector for background, efficiency, and geometric factors associated with the instrumentation. | |||
cMeasurements of average contaminant should not be averaged over more than I square meter. | |||
For objects of less surface area, the average should be derived for each such object. | |||
dThe maximum contamination level applies to an area of not more than 100 cm 2 . | |||
eaThe amount of removable radioactive material per 100 cm 2 of surface area should be determined by wiping that area with dry filter or soft absorbent paper, applying moderate pressure, and assessing the amount of radioactive material on the wipe with an appropriate instrument of known efficiency. When removable contamination on objects of less surface area is determined, the pertinent levels should be reduced pro portionately and the entire surface should be wiped. | |||
Table 4" | |||
CONVERSION FACTORS FROM OLD TO NEW RADIATION UNITS | |||
Quantity Old Unit Symbol New Unit Symbol Conversion Factor Activity curie Ci becquerel Bq 1 Ci= 3.7 x 1010 Bq Absorbed dose rad rad gray Gy I rad IlcGy = 10.2 Gy = 10-2 J/k Dose Equivalent rem rem sievert Sv I rem = I cSv = 10.2 Sv Exposure roentgen R I R = 2.58 x 10-4 C/kg Conversion to the new SI units provided in this table will now be considered in compliance with this guidance. | |||
&823-9 | |||
Radiation | REFERENCES* | ||
I. Regulatory Guide 8.10, "Operating Philosophy for 13, IAEA Technical Report Series No. 133, "Handbook Maintaining Occupational Radiation Exposures As on Calibration of Radiation Protection Monitoring Low As Is Reasonably Achievable," U.S. Nuclear Instruments," 1971. | |||
Regulatory Commission (NRC), Washington, D.C. | |||
20555. 14. IAEA Safety Series No. 25, "Medical Supervision of Radiation Workers," sponsored jointly by IAEA, | |||
2. National Commission on Radiological Protection WHO, and International Labor Organization, 1968. | |||
(NC-RP) Report No. 8, "Control and Removal of Radio active Contamination in Laboratories," December 15, 15. International Commission on Radiological Protection | |||
1951. (ICRP) Publication 5, "Handling and Disposal of Radioactive Materials in Hospitals and Medical | |||
3. NCRP Report No. 9, "Recommendations for Waste Research Establishments," 1964. | |||
Disposal of Phosphorus-32 and Iodine-131 for Medi cal Users," November 2, 195 I. 16. ICRP Publication 12, "General Principles of Moni toring for Radiation Protection of Workers," 1969. | |||
4. NCRP Report No. 10, "Radiological Monitoring Methods and Instruments," April 7, 1952 (revised 17. [CRP Publication 25, "The Handling, Storage, Use edition published in 1978). and Disposal of Unsealed Radionuclides in Hospitals and Medical Research Establishments," 1977. | |||
5. NCRP Report No. 37, "Precautions in the Manage ment of Patients Who Have Received Therapeutic. 18. American Association of Physicists in Medicine Amounts of Radionuclides," 1970. (AAPM) Monograph No. 1, "Biophysical Aspects of the Medical Use of Technetium-99m," J.G. Kereiakes | |||
6. NCRP Report No. 48, "Radiation Protection for and Karen R. Corey, Editors (available from AAPM, | |||
Medical and Allied Health Personnel," August 1, Dr. James G. Kereiakes, E555 Medical Sciences | |||
1976. Building, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio | |||
45267), 1976. | |||
7. NCRP Report No. 57, "Instrumentation and Moni toring Methods for Radiation. Protection," 1978. 19. Deigl, H., "Guidelines for Determining Frequency-of Wipe Samples," in Health Physics Operational Moni | |||
8. NCRP Report No. 58, "A Handbook of Radio toring, Vol. i, C.A. Willis and J.S. Handloser, Eds., | |||
activity Measurements Procedures," 1978. Gordon and Breach, New York, p. 385, 1972. | |||
9. NCRP Report No. 59, "Operational Radiation Safety 20. C. B. Meinhold, "Facility Monitoring Programs, Programs," 1978. Techniques, and Problem Solving," Health Physics Operational Monitoring, Vol. 1, C.A. Willis and | |||
10.' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Techni J.S. Handloser, Eds., Gordon and Breach, New York, cal Report Series No. 120, "Monitoring of Radioac p.363, 1972. | |||
tive Contamination on Surfaces," 1970. | |||
21. C.A. Willis, "Safe Specific Activity: A Useful Concept | |||
11. IAEA Safety Series No. 38, "Radiation Protection in Monitoring Areas Containing Activated Materials," | |||
Procedures," 1973. Health Physics Operational Monitoring, Vol. 1, C.A. Willis and J.S. Handloser, Eds., Gordon and | |||
12. IAEA Safety Series No. 1, "Safe Handling of Radio Breach, New York, p. 373, 1972. | |||
nuclides," 1973 Edition, Code of Practice Sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the 22. R.L. Kathren, "Instruments in thi Field: Use, Abuse, World Health Organization (WHO), 1-973. and Misuse," Health Physics Operational Monitoring, Vol. 2, C.A. Willis and J.S. Handloser, Eds., Gordon and Breach, New York, p. 811, 1972. | |||
23. W.P. Howell and R.L. Kathren, "Calibration and NCRP reports may be obtained from NCRP Publications, P.O. | |||
Box 30175, Washington, D.C. 20014. Field Use of Ionization Chamber Survey Instruments," | |||
IAEA reports may be obtained from UNIPUB, Inc.. P.O. Box 433, Health Physics Operational Monitoring, Vol. 2, New York, N.Y. 10016. | |||
ICRP reports may be obtained from Pergamon Press, Maxwell C.A. Willis and J.S. Handloser, Eds., Gordon and House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, New York 10523. Breach, New York, p. 925, 1972. | |||
ICRU reports may be obtained from ICRU Publications, P.O. | |||
Box 30165, Washington. D.C. 20014. | |||
NUREG-series documents may be obtained at current rates from the Distribution Services Section, Division of Technical Information 24. F.E. Gallagher, A.N. Tschaeche, C.A. Willis, J.C. | |||
and Document Control, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Evraets, and J.C. Rogers, "Progress on Surface Washington, D.C. 20555 or the National Technical Information Ser vice, Springfield, Virginia 22161. Contamination Standards," Health Physics Opera- | |||
8.23-11 | |||
tional Monitoring, Vol. 3, C.A. Willis and J.S. Hand 29. Regulatory Guide 10.8, "Guide for the Preparation of loser, Eds., Gordon and Breach, New York, p. 1767, Applications for Medical Programs," | |||
1972. NRC. | |||
30. Regulatory Guide 1.86, "Termination of Operating | |||
25. Sommers, J.F., "Sensitivity of G-M and Ion Chamber Licenses for Nuclear Reactors," NRC. | |||
Beta-Gamma Survey Instruments," Health Physics, Vol. 8, p. 755, 1975. 31. Regulatory Guide 8.18, "Information Relevant to Ensuring that Occupational Radiation Exposures | |||
26. International Commission on Radiation Units and at Medical Institutions Will Be As Low As Reasonably Measurements (ICRU) Report 12, "Certification of Achievable," NRC. | |||
Standardized Radioactive Sources," September 15, | |||
1969. 32. NUREG-0267, "Principles and Practices for Keeping Occupational Radiation Exposures at Medical Institu tions As Low As Reasonably Achievable," NRC, 1977. | |||
27. Regulatory Guide 8.20, "Applications of Bioassay for | |||
1-125 and 1-131," NRC. 33. Blatz, Hanson, "Radiation Hygiene Handbook," | |||
McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 22-27, 1959. | |||
28. Regulatory Guide 8.26, "Applications of Bioassay for | |||
34. Cember, Herman, "Introduction to Health Physics," | |||
Fission and Activation Products," NRC. | |||
Pergamon Press, New York, pp. 334-339, 1969. | |||
8.23-12 | |||
APPENDIX A | |||
SURVEYS OF RADIOACTIVE XENON-133 RELEASES | |||
Surveys associated with the use of xenon-133 should be 4. Emergency Procedures sufficient to show compliance with requirements for protection of persons in restricted and unrestricted areas Check to determine that all personnel using xenon-I 33 (see §§20.103 and 20.106) and with the terms and condi have been trained in the established emergency procedures tions of the N RC Materials License. Surveys may consist of to he followed in case of an accidental release of xenon-I133. | |||
either measuremcents of airborne radioactivity or of calcula tions supported by records of xenon-133 used and measure 5. Air Concentrations of Xenon-133 in Restricted Areas ments of pertinent ventilation and air effluent volumes. | |||
The procedures outlined below are acceptable for surveying Check to determine that air concentrations of xenon- 133 xenon-I 33 concentrations in medical institutions. in restricted areas meet the requirements of §20.103. This may be done by making physical measurements. Alterna Acccptable surveys would be indicated by records of the tively. this may be done by r'vicwing the use of xenon- 133 following information, procedures, or conditions: (Item L.a above), checking the ventilation rate in each area, and performing calculations sinuilar to those submitted with I. Quantities Used the license application (see Regulatory Guide 10.8, "Guide for the Preparation of Applications for Medical Programs"l. | |||
a. Verify that patient information records (Items 1-3 If the results of the calculations indicate that air concentra below) are in order; compare with similar information tions of xenon- 133 (as averaged over one calendar quarter I | |||
submitted to NRC in support of request for xenon-133. approach or exceed I x 10-" microcurie per milliliter, the licensee should consider and implement methods of increas (I ) Number of studies per week. ing ventilation rates or of reducing patient load. | |||
(2) Activity administered to each patient. 6. Methods of Xenon-133 Disposal | |||
(3) Comparison of numberofstudiesand average a. Dilution through exhaust systems activity administered to each patient with information submitted in application. Licensees who dispose of xenon-133 by release to the atmosphere through an air exhaust syslem are | |||
1h. Verify that possession limits are controlled and required to perform surveys (i.e.. measurements or calcula corrected for differences in calibration date anti date tions) to ensure that they are in compliance with para of use; compare with possession limits stated in license. graph 20.1(c) and §20.106 of 10 ('FR Part 20. Para graph 20.1(c) requires that the concentrations of xenon-13 | |||
2. Survey Records for Use and Storage Areas in effluents to unrestricted areas be as low as is reasonably achievable by the current state of technology, and § 20.106 | |||
('heck ventilation quarterly in all areas in which requires that the concentrations averaged over a period of xenon-133 is used anti stored to ensure that airflow rates I year should not exceed 3 x 10"7 microcurie per milliliter. | |||
are maintained in accordance with statements made in the license application. Make physical measurements to determine compli ance with §20.106 anti paragraph 20.1(c). Alternatively. | |||
3. Procedures for Routine Use measure ventilation rate and. using xenon-133 data from Item L.a above, perform calculations similar to those sLibmitted with the license application (See Regtilatory a. ('heck to determine that procedures being followed Guide 10.8). | |||
for routine use of xenon-133 are in accordance with pro cedures described in license application. ('heck to determine If the results indicate that air concentrations of that all personnel using xenon-133 have been trained in xenon-133 (as averaged over I year) approach or exceed these procedures for routine use of xenon- 133. 3 x 10i7 nicrocurie per milliliter. the licensee should consider and implement methods of increasing ventilation rates. reducing patient load, or decreasing amount of b. Check to determine that special apparatus for xenon-133 released (e.g., through use of a chaicoal trap). | |||
administration anti collection of xenon-133 is being used as specified in the license application. If tile exhaust is released to a restricted area. e.g.. a roof to which access is controlled, surveys should include c. ('heck to determine that special procedures are checks to determine the effectiveness and continued being usLd to reduce leakage (e.g.. use of nose clamps or implementation of provisions submitted with lith license special enclosures) as specified in the license application. application to do the following: control access to the | |||
in | 8.23-13 | ||
restricted area; post appropriate warriing signs; instruct persons who may enter the area in accordance with § 19.1 2 ing basis at the frequency specified in the license applica of 10 CFR Part 19; monitor personnel entering the area: tion. Include monitoring of traps to determine wheil saturation occurs and when the filter must be replaced. | |||
and survey the area. | |||
Check the procedures for handling saturated filters, including the provisions of adequate shielding b. Adsorption onto charcoal traps and ventilation. Calculations should be made of average concen trations of xenon-133 in air at the exhaust and compared Surveys should be made to check leakage from charcoal trapping devices. If the exhaust is vented to the to the allowable limit. | |||
outdoors or other unrestricted area, check to determine that air concentrations of xenon-] 33 averaged over 1 year USEFUL CONVERSIONS | |||
do not approach or exceed 3 x 00"7 microcurie per milli I mCi = 103 WCi liter. See Item 6.a above. | |||
1 ft 3 = 2.832 x 10 2 m 3 = 2.832 x 0 4 nul Record measurements to check the efficiency and lft 3 /min = 1.699 x 106 ml/h general performance of collection and trapping devices = 6.796 x 107 ml/40-h week according to specifications, both initially and on a continu- = .1.488 x 1010 ml/yr I week = 168h | |||
8.23-14 | |||
APPENDIX B | |||
SAMPLE CHECKLIST FOR RADIATION SURVEYOR | |||
g. 10 CFR Part 19 signs. | |||
Initiate contamination survey report for each lab. | |||
4. | 4. Observe general laboratory conditions: | ||
a. Check card for previous survey results, e.g., suc cessive red circles, nobody in. a. Food and drink preparation and use in radioactive b. Fill in name of Authorized User, Department, Build material areas? | |||
ing and' Room Number, and Survey Date. b. Waste container overfilled? | |||
c. Sketch floor plan. c. Dosimeters being worn? | |||
d. Mouth pipetting? | |||
t. Ask lab personnel (and record answers on report form): | |||
a. What isotopes are being used? (Compare with what 5. Conduct laboratory survey using portable survey meter. | |||
User is cleared for.) | |||
b. Where in the lab are they used? a. Record external dose rate from accessible storage c. Where are isotopes stored? surfaces. | |||
d. What was last order? (Compare with card record.) b. Record exposure rate from contaminated surfaces. | |||
If | e. Is Authorized User available if needed? If not, give reason, e.g., on leave, out of country, terminated | ||
6. Conduct smear survey: | |||
employment. | |||
f. In what other labs are isotopes used? (Compare a. Take first smear near or in lab entrance. | |||
with card record.) b. Take several smears from floor and benches and g. Where is waste stored and disposed of? equipment as indicated by answers to earlier ques tions. | |||
3. Check labeling. | |||
7. Discuss 10 CFR Part 19 (Instructions to Workers) | |||
a. Lab door-"Caution, Radioactive Material" (CRM) requirements. | |||
b. Liquid waste sink-"Contaminated Liquid Waste" | |||
(survey card should indicate radioactive sink-RS). 8. Complete results: | |||
Is sink log posted? Is it being used? | |||
c. Radioactive hood-"Caution, Radioactive Material" a. Count smears and list results on survey form. | |||
(survey card should indicate radioactive hood-RH). b. Notify lab personnel of contamination, and note on | |||
"Air Flow Check" white label with date no older than form who was called and date of notification. | |||
4 months required. c. Identify all abnormal radiation safety conditions d. Refrigerator and other storage areas-"CRM," includ on survey form. | |||
ing those in corridors. | |||
d. Complete survey card, replace in file, and mail survey e. Radioactive waste containers-"CRM" or "Contami form copy to User. | |||
nated Waste" should be lined with yellow plastic bag. e. If lab has contamination (significant), call User, f. Any area with external radiation over 2.5 mR/h request cleanup, and resmear. | |||
should be labeled with "Caution, Radiation Area" f. Resmear when notified or call User if no resmear (CRA) and should be noted on survey form. (See was called for. | |||
paragraph 20.202(bX2) and §20.203 of IOCFR g. File carbon copy of results form. | |||
Part 20.) | |||
8.23-15}} | |||
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Revision 1 Jaonia1y 11 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
REGULATORY GUIDE
OFFICE OF STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT
REGULATORY GUIDE 8.23 RADIATION SAFETY SURVEYS AT MEDICAL INSTITUTION
A. INTRODUCTION
Surveyst are a necessary supplement to personnel monitoring, which measures individual radiation exposures Paragraph 20.201(b) of 10 CFR Part 20, "Standards for by the use of devices worn by the workers (Refs. 4, 6, 12, Protection Against Radiation," requires that each licensee 14. and 16.
make or cause to be made such surveys as may be necessary for that licensee to comply with the regulations in Part 20.
C. REGULATORY POSITION
As used in Part 20. the term "'survey" means an evaluation of the radiation hazards incident to the production, use. Methods and procedures in this guide are acceptable to release, disposal, or presence of. radioactive mate'rials or the NR( staff for establishing survey programs in accord other sources of radiation under a specific set of conditions. ance with the as low as is reasonably achievable (ALARA)
This guide identifies the types and frequencies of surveys philosophy. Generally, medical institutions licensed by thc that are acceptable to the NRC staff for use in medical. NRC should have a health physics staff available for consul institutions licensed by the NRC to use radioactive materials ration to design a survey program appropriate to the for purposes of diagnosis, therapy, or human research institution's use of radioactive material. Nothing in this involving the administration of radioactive materials or guide should be construed to preclude or discourage the
- radiation to patients or the use of radioactive materials for patient services.
design of survey programs containing provisions other than those in this guide, when such programs are accepted by the NRC licensing staff as providing ALARA exposure conditions for a particular institution.
B. DISCUSSION
1. Types of Surveys Surveys are considered to be part of a comprehensive 1.1 General Description protection program established by the licensee consistent with the philosophy and principles of Regulatory Guide 8.10,
Surveys performed in compliance with §20.201 of
"Operating Philosophy for Maintaining Occupational
10 CFR Part 20 should include those necessary to evaluate Radiation Exposures As Low As Is Reasonably Achievable."
external exposure to personnel, surface contamination (Ref. 1). Principles, methods, and instrumentation for levels, and concentrations of airborne radioactive materials carrying out radiation and contamination surveys were in the facility and in effluents from the facility.
developed early in the atomic energy program and have been discussed in reports of the National Council on Environmental monitoring is beyond the scope of this Radiation Protection and Measurement (Refs. 2-9), the guide. However, the radiation safety program should International Atomic Energy Agency (Refs. 10-14), and the include surveys or records that indicate control of the International Commission on Radiological Protection quantities of radioactive material released in air and water (Refs. 15-17). Other publications (Refs. 17- 34) contain addi to unrestricted areas as required by Part 20. In miny tional information for use in establishing radiation survey medical institutions, surveys of effluents or calculations to programs and selecting methods and equipment for their ensure that permissible concentration limitsare not exceeded implementation. are included as a regular part of the health physics survey t
The word "survey," often used synonymously with "survefl lance," "monitoring," or "area monitoring," is used in this guide to connote the jpes*oa inspection of vsulouS locations in a facility
0
"Lines indicate substantive changes from the February 1979 ver using radioactive materials, with or without accompanying ments, to determine the effectiveness of measures to protectmeasure sion that was issued for public comment. against exposure to radiation.
USNRC REGULATORY GUIDES
Comments should be sent to the Secretary U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, of the Commission, Regulatory Guides are Issued to describe and make available public methods acceptable to the NRC staff of implementing to the Attention: Docketing and Service Branch. Washington, D.C. 20555, specific parts of the Commission's regulations, to delineate niques used by the staff in evaluating specific problems tech The guides are Issued in the following tan broad divisions:
or postu lated accidents or to provide guidance to applicants. Regulatory Guides are noi substitutes for regulations, and compliance 1. Power Reactors 6. Products them Is not required. Methods and solutions different from with 2. Research and Test Reactors 7. Transportation out in the guides will be acceptable if they provide a basisthose set 3. Fuels and Materials Facilities 8. Occupational Health findings requisite to the issuance or continuance of a for the 4. Environmental and Siting 9. Antitrust license by the Commission.
Permit or 5. Materials and Plant Protection 10. General and Financial Review Comments and suggestions for improvements in these guides Copies of issued guides may be purchased at the current Government are encouraged at all times, and guides will be revised, as appropriate, Printing Office price. A subscription service for future guides in spe to accommodate comments and to reflect new information cific divisions is available through the Government Printing Office.
experience. This guide was revised as a result of substantive or Information on the subscription service and current GPO prices may ments received from the pu 'ic and additional staff review. com be obtained by writing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Washington, D.C- 20555. Attention: Publications Sales Commission, Manager.
program. Often these calculations may he made by estimat Surveys are not acceptable for routine compliance with ing the amotints of radioactive material washed down the personnel monitoring requirements of §20.202. How designated sinks and dividing them by the quantities ever, in the event of accidental loss of personnel dosimetry of sewage released from the hospital, as indicated on the data. e.g., as a result of losing the dosimeter or chemical or hospital's water or sewage bills. This procedure normally physical damage to the dosimeter, the best alternative suffices to show compliance with the effluent limits of means of estimating the exposure may be to use survey dllat Part 20. Amounts of radioactive material released in air in conjunction with appropriate occupancy factors. In such within hospitals or exhausted to the outside from hospitals case, the estimate, including the survey data used. should bh are generally small, but these amounts may sometimes be documented and retained indefinitely (see para estimated by calculational techniques if not by air-monitoring graph 2 0. 4 01(c)(2)tii)). Survey results should be reviewed procedures.' Appendix A to this guide describes surveys to carefully by the Radiation Safety Officer to identify be made of radioactive xenon-I 33 releases. potentially hazardous situations and unfavorable trends.
Radiation protection programs should include the types 1.3 Measurements of Radioactive Material Concentrations of surveys discussed belo
w. In Air
1.2 Surveys of External Radiation Exposure Levels It may ofterr be sufficient in medical institutions to show by calculation, together with monitoring of ventilation Areas to he surveyed should include any locations where rates, that air concentrations are well below levels that individuals may be exposed to -radiation intensities that would require routine air sampling. However. concentrations might cause the occupational radiation dose to exceed of radioactive material in air should be measured at tre-,
10 percent of the limits of paragraph 20.101(a) in any qucncics described in Section ('.2 and specified in Table 1 calendar quarter or where an individual is working with any for areas where operations could at any time expose workers radiation source that could produce radiation levels greater to 10 percent or more of the concentration values given in than 1.0 mR/h at 1 meter. These areas typically include Table 1. Column I. of Appendix B to 10 CFR Part 20.
shipping and receiving areas: radionuclide laboratories Special requirements for such monitoring may also be made in nuclear medicine; diagnostic areas in nuclear medicine; a condition of the license.
intracavilary .source preparation areas in radiation therapy;
patients' rooms where treatments are given with intracavi Air samples obtained in accordance with §20.103 tary. interstitial, or radiopharmaceutical therapy sources; should be representative of the air in the workers' breathing operating rooms, control (console) areas for teletherapy zones. In cases where breathing zone sampling is not accom equipment rooms; waste packaging and disposal areas; plished, air samples taken outside the breathing zone
.radiation instrument calibration areas; and any other areas closer to the source, where the concentration of radioactive where persons might be exposed (e.g., areas occupied by material can be or is expected to be equal to or greater than technologists, nursing staff, visitors. patients. or any other the concentration in the breathing zone. are acceptable.
persons who may be exposed to radioactive materials When measuring the quantity of radioactive 'material handled by others). deposited on an air sample filter. corrections should he made for absorption of alpha or beta particles by the filter Preoperational, routine, and special surveys of these media and by material collected on the filter. [he quantity areas should be performed by the radiation protection staff of air that has passed through the filter should be accurately as described in Section C.2 of this guide. Results of these measured and corrections made for any loss of flow rate surveys should be recorded as described in Section (.3. In caLised by the accumulation of material on the filter.
addition to thisý survey program, the Radiation Safety Officer should institute and maintain a program of surveys Continuous breathing zone or general air sampling performed by workers other than health physics personnel should be conducted while the work is in progress unless who may be exposed to external radiation levels that could experience with sample* results or calculations has demon exceed any of the limits of paragraph 20.101(a). Surveys by strated that the concentration of radioactive material in such workers may consist of no more than occasional the breathing zone is not likely to exceed 25 percent of the instrument. observations during work with radioactive' values given in Table I, Column 1, of Appendix B to materials. These personal surveys are particularly appropriate 10 CFR Part 20. The use of personal (lapel) samplers is in nuclear medicine activities. Personnel should he properly acceptable for breathing zone sampling. If the air sanipl instructed in conducting such surveys and should perform ing is not continuous, the frequency and the times selected the surveys each day during and after work with radioactive for the sampling should be based on the nature of the nmaterials, as necessary to determine the need to limit process involved and the probability that the airborne worktime and to use protective procedures to reduce expos radioactive material will be present. When assessing this ures as far below the paragraph 20.101(a) limits as is probability is difficult, frequencies based on information reasonably achievable. The survey results obtained by these given in Section ('.2 and Table I of this guide are accept workers need not be recorded. However, the Radiation able.
Safety Officer should maintain records to show that the appropriate training for, and implementation of, the worker 1.4 Surface Contamination Surveys survey program has been provided and is a continuing part of the survey program. Workers should be instructed to report Regular surveys for radioactive contamination that could unusual survey findings to the Radiation Safety Officer. be present on surfaces of floors, Walls, furnishings. and
8.23-2
equipment are a necessary part of the survey program. Any d. Sample, background, and test counts and times, surveys carried out in accordance with NRC license condi and tions will be considered consistent with the level of safety provided by recommendations in this guide. e. Signatures and dates at the bottom of each page.
Control of surface contamination is necessary to limit Provision should also be made on the diagram for recording external dose rates and the resuspension in air of loose an instrument check with an appropriate check or calibra radioactive materials that may enter the body through tion source for each batch of smear samples counted.
inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption.
The surveys discussed above are regularly scheduled and
1.4.1 Removable Contamination recorded on the survey diagrams. In addition, it may be necessary to conduct more frequent, informal, and unre For the purposes of this guide. removable contamination corded surveys in nuclear medicine areas or other areas means radioactivity that can be transferred from a surface where loose radioactive contamination may occur. Such to a snmear test paper by rubbing with moderate pressure. surveys can be made with a thin-end-window (less than Information is available on the selection and use of instru 2 mg/cm 2 ) detector held close to a dry smear sample ments for performing removable surface contamination immediately after it is taken in the work area. When ambient surveys appropriate to the radionuclides used in medlical external radiation levels in the laboratory are low enough to institutions (Refs. 2, 4-7, 10, and 13). Methods and instru maintain external radiation exposures below the limits of ments used in surface contamination surveys should be paragraph 20.101(a), any appreciable surface contamination sufficiently sensitive to detect the nuclides being monitored can be detected by simply holding the detector in a fixed (Refs. 22 and 25). For optimum detection of low-energy position and moving the smear sample close to and away beta emitters (e.g., 11-3 and C-14)as well as of alpha emitters from the detector several times. This method may be used and low-energy x- or gamma-ray emitters (e.g., 1-125), for the vast majority of radionuclides used in diagnostic and liquid scintillation counting or internal proportional count therapeutic medical practice.
ing is normally necessary with the use of appropriate constancy checks on counter efficiency. Part 20 does not specify limits for surface contamination.
Each applicant may propose and justify the levels of remov The collection of smear samples may be preceded by a able surface contamination that will be allowable before rapid survey with a portable thin-end-window detector in decontamination. must be performed. These limits should order (a) to ensure that gross contamination levels are not be based on the need to avoid transfer of significant already too high for counting with sensitive equipment, amounts of contamination to unrestricted areas and to (b) to minimize (in some cases) the chance for inadvertent maintain exposures as low as is reasonably achievable. The spread of con tainination by the contamination survey' or contamination limits for restricted areas presented on line 2 other activities to be performed in the meantime, and (c) to of Table 2 of this guide are acceptable to the NRC staff and determine which areas require greater attention in smear need not be justified by the licensee or applicant.
testing. The instrument used for this purpose should (a) have a short enough time constant to facilitate detection or (b) be provided with a speaker for aural indication of 1.4.2 Fixed Contamination count-rate.
For the purposes of this guide, fixed contamination A standardized method for smear testing of a relatively means radioactivity remaining on a surface after repeated uniform area should be used in order to allow comparison decontamination attempts fail to significantly reduce the of relative levels of contamination at different times and contamination level. A total contamination survey using places. A dry smear taken from an area of about 100 cm 2 is instruments suitable for the radionuclides involved should acceptable to indicate levels of removable contamination. be conducted simultaneously with each removable conthm ination survey. The applicant may propose and justify the A layout diagram for each laboratory routinely surveyed levels of total contamination that will be allowable for -both is helpful for recording survey results in a uniform manner restricted and unrestricted areas before decontamination to aid review and observation of trends and for satisfying must be performed. The limits appearing on lines I and 2 of regulatory requirements for availability of survey records. Table 2. multiplied by a factor of 5, are acceptable to the On these diagrams, it is helpful to specify key locations that NRC staff and need not be justified by the licensee or are smear tested at each survey and also to provide space applicant.
reminding the recorder to include:
1.5 Protective and Personal Clothing Contamination a. Contamination levels converted to radioactivity Surveys units specified in 10 ('FR Part 20,
Individuals working in areas where a potential for skin or b. Make and model number of the instruments used in clothing contamination exists should be provided with the survey and in counting the smear samples, suitable protective clothing. Laboratory coats and protective gloves, as described in References 5 and 6, are usually c. Disintegration rate of each instrument test or calibra adequate for any procedures in medical institutions. Protec tion source. tive clothing should be surveyed by the wearer after use if
8.23-3
significant contamination is possible. Contaminated protec direction of Radiation Safety Office personnel or a medical live clothing should be removed and placed in special consultant should be repeated until (a) such attempts cease laundry containers before leaving a restricted work area. to effect significant reductions or(b) such attempts threaten Disposable gloves should be discarded in radioactive waste to irritate or harm the skin. 2 When decontamination containers. After gloves are removed, hands should- he attempts are terminated, there should le no further concern washed and surveyed. if the residual contamination does not exceed preselected levels. Such levels may be proposed and justified by the When protective clothing contamination levels may be applicant or licensee. The limits given on line 5 of Table 2 expected to exceed preselecled limits, workers should be will be accepted without justification. If residual contani instructed to take care to avoid dispersal of contamination ination exceeds the selected limits, the affected individual and to report the situation to the Radiation Safety Office. may be released (since his contamination is now rela A member of the radiation safety staff should then make tively fixed and not likely to enier the body), but periodic surveys and supervise any necessary decontamination or surveys should be made until the limits are no longer clothing disposal. The applicant may propose and justify exceeded. The resulting dose should be determined and protective clothing contamination limits considered adequate entered in the individual's personnel dosimetry record.
for use in each restricted area. The limits on line 4 of Complete records should be maintained of each incident of Table 2 are acceptable to the NRC staff and need not be this nature.
justified by the licensee or applicant.
Since medical personnel may often handle open vials or Contamination levels observed and procedures followed containers with millicurie or higher levels of volatile forms during the survey and decontamination of personal clothing of certain nuclides such as 1-125 or 1-131, which in certain should he recorded. The written record should include the forms may concentrate in the thyroid or other body organs, names of persons surveyed, a description of prior work bioassay monitoring is sometimes made a condition of the activities, the probable causes, steps taken to reduce further license. Acceptable criteria for such programs are published incidence of contamination, times and dates, and the in Regulatory Guides 8.20, "Applications of Bioassay for surveyor's signature. This information may be entered in a 1-125 and 1-131," and 8.26, "Applications of Bioassay for logbook. Workers' surveys of themselves need not be Fission and Activation Products." Additionally, guidance routinely recorded unless the limits on line 4 of T'able 2 on bioassay monitoring is available from the Material are exceeded. The radiation safety staff should conduct Licensing Branch, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and spot checks monthly to ensure that the workers continue Safeguards. In addition to these programs, placing the their own personal contamination surveys. detector against the neck close to the thyroid is often useful for monitoring for internal deposition of these In restricted areas with little potential for surface nuclides during surveys for skin contamination; however, contamination, personal clothing is often worn beneath for I-I 25, a thin-crystal scintillation probe would be needed protective clothing. Such personal clothing should be to obtain adequate sensitivity. In this way, appropriate surveyed by the wearer before he or she leaves the restrict personnel may be more frequently monitored for internal ed area. (Ilowever, this is neither practicable nor necessary exposure while they are also being monitored for external for employees working with only microcuric quantities of contamination. Any positive indications of exposure or tritium or carbon-14.) Workers should be instnrcted to contamination from these types of surveys should be report the situation to the Radiation Safety Office when recorded in the radiation safety logs. Indications of internal personal clothing contamination levels exceed preselected depositions should be reported to the Radiation Safety limits. A member of the radiation safety staff should then Office.
make surveys and gupervise any necessary decontamination or clothing disposal. The applicant or licensee may propose 1.7 Surveys of Equipment Prior to Release to Unrestricted and justify personal clothing contamination limits; the Areas limits given on line 3 of Table 2 are acceptable to the NR("
staff and need not be justified by the applicant or licensee. Before the uncontrolled release of potentially contam Records should be maintained in the same manner as those inated medical instruments or equipment from restricted to for protective clothing contamination. unrestricted areas, surface contamination surveys should be conducted on such instruments and equipment for both
1.6 Personal Surveys removable and fixed contamination. If contamination is detected, decontamination procedures should be instituted Alt.hough personal contamination in excess of the value and repeated until additional efforts do not significantly given on line 5 of Table 2 is unusual in medical institutions, reduce contamination levels. The applicant or licensee may individuals who work in restricted areas under conditions in propose and justify total and removable contamination which they may become contaminated should survey all limits below which uncontrolled release of equipment is exposed areas of the body before donning personal clothing permitted. The limits given in Table 3 of this guide, as
2 or leaving (he restricted area. Particular attention should be Decontamination attempts without supervision or instruction paid to the hody, hair, bottoms of the shoes or feet, anti from the licensee's medical consultant should be restricted to washing with mild soap and water unless other safe procedures have the hands. Workers should be instructed to report the already been approved and personnel have been properly instructed dcleclion of contamination on the body to the Radiation in using them. If such attempts do not reduce the contamination to acceptable levels, the aid of the licensee's medical consultant should Safety Officer. l)econtamination attempts under the be obtained.
8.23-4
I adapted from Table I of Regulatory Guide 1.86, "Termina on which these instruments depend for operation should tion of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Reactors," are also be tested to ensure that they will function reliably in acceptable to the NRC staff and need not he justified by normal operations or as expected under emergency condi the licensee or applicant. Decontamination guidelines are tions. Care should be taken to minimize exposure to available from the Material Licensing Branch. Office of personnel from the tests themselves. Any signs, labels, or Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. notices found to be missing should be promptly provided.
Temporary signs, signals, or barriers, together with appro
1.8 Ingestion priate worker notification and instruction, may be used in the interim when items specified in Parts 19 and 20 are not Surveillance should be included in the radiation safety available, but acceptable corrections should be provided as program to ensure that workers properly observe rules to soon as practicable.
prevent ingestion of radionuclides, e.g., rules against eating, drinking, or smoking in work areas or while wearing poten 1.11 Leak Tests of Sources tially contaminated clothing. storing foods in work areas;
pipetting by mouth; and wearing contaminated laboratory Sealed sources containing (a) more than 100 inicrocuries coats to the cafeteria or other unrestricted areas. Water of a byproduct material with a half-life of more than fountains close to work areas where radioactive materials 30 days (except iridium-192 seeds encased in nylon ribbon)
are used should be smear tested regularly. (see paragraph 35.14(bX5)) or (b) more than 10 micro curies of an alpha emitter (see paragraph 31.5(cX2Xii))
1.9 Surveys of Packages Received and Packages Prepared must be leak tested for contamination or leakage at inter for Shipment vals not to exceed 6 months unless a different interval is specified for a particular manufactured source under the External radiation measurements and tests of external provisions of paragraph 32.74(b) of I OCFR Part 32, "Speci surfaces of packages received or packaged for shipment fic Domestic Licenses to Manufacture or Transfer Certain
"should be carried out near the receiving or packaging point Items Containing Byproduct Material." Further provisions to avoid unwarranted radiation exposures and inadvertent and exceptions to leak-testing requirements are established contamination of personnel or the hospital. Surveys and in paragraphs 35.14(b) and 35.14(eXl) of 10 (FR Part 35.
labeling must comply with the NRC's regulations (see Any specific license conditions must also be followed.
§§20.203. 20.205. 32.19. and 32.70 through 32.74 of
10CFR Parts 20 and 32) and with any specific license 1.12 Calibration and 3 Source Checks of Radiation Survey conditions. Delivery of packages within the hospital should Instruments also be monitored. Any delivered containers of radioactive material must be labeled as required by paragraph 20.203(f). An adequate calibration of survey instruments cannot be All packages bearing yellow II or yellow III Department of performed with built-in check sources. Electronic calibra Transportation (DOT) labels should be transported by cart. tions that do not involve a source of radiation are also not Only adequately shielded sources should be transported. adequate to determine the proper functioning and response Internal containers of packages containing significant of all components of an instrument.
amounts of radioactive materials should not be ope-ned until the containers have been placed in the appropriate Daily constancy checks of survey instruments should be protective facility (e.g., hood). made before and after each use and should be supplemented at least every 12 months with a battery check and two-point All personnel, including security guards, should be i-alibration (at about 1/3 and 2/3 of full scale) on each scale adequately- instructed in performing at least an initial of the instrument to be used for radiation protection inspection survey for leakage or damage before transporting surveys. Survey instruments should also be calibrated after any packages of radioactive materials through hospital repair or maintenance that may affect the calibration of the areas. The written instructions should clearly indicate instrument.
which packages should be transported by cart rather than hand-carried. A survey instrument may be considered properly cali brated at one point when the exposure rate measured by
1.10 Checks on Posting of Caution Signs, Labels, Signals, the instrument differs from the true exposure rate by less Controls, and Notices to Employees than 10 percent.
T1he radiation safety staff should perform surveillance Each source used for calibration shouId be certified during the surveys described in Table 1 to ensure that (Ref. 25) in radioactivity content to within 5 percent by signs, labels, radiation alarm signals, other access controls. the supplier. Alternatively, each source may be calibrated and required Notices to Employees, copies of licenses, and
3 other items are properly posted, legible, and operative, as in order to keep personnel exposures ALARA, high-range scales (e.g., above I R/h) should not be calibrated when they will not be required by 10 (FR Part 11), -Notices, Instructions and needed in a particular installation. Also, a sufficient variety of Reports to Workers- Inspections." and Part 20 or by license instruments should be available and calibrated on all scales as needed for the types of radiation and the ranges of intensity or conditions. Radiation alarm signals should be routinely exposure to be measured. Item 9 of Regulatory Guide 10.8 (Ref. 29)
tested for operation by use of appropriate check sources specifies certain types of instruments generally required in a typical nuclear medicine laboratory and information on instrumenltation to to ensure proper functioning of the alarms. Microswitches be submitted with a license application.
8.23-5
for dose rates at given distances. Each source should also be Icorrected for decay as of the day on which the source is used for survey instrument calibration. All decay corrections
1. 15 Surveys in In-Hospital Unrestricted Areas Unrestricted areas should be surveyed periodically to should he included in the radiation safety records system. A ensure that radiation and radioactive material are adequately posted graph for each source is convenient" helpful in confined in restricted areas, except in cases where these avoiding calculational errors, easily available forinspection. inaterials must he transported between areas. Recommenda and acceptable for obtaining source intensity within the tions in References 4, 5, I1. and 14 should be followed required accuracy. For automatic range-changing instru when transporting radioactive materials or patients emitting ments or instruments with more than one decade on a radiation from licensed radioactive materials through logarithmic scale, a calibration near the mid range of hallways or other unrestricted areas of the hospital. Such each decade should be adequate. except that a two-point transportation should be surveyed and planned with a check should be used on at least one of the decade ranges. member of the radiation safety staff.
Readings obtained from the calibration verifications 1.15.1 Surface Contamination Surveys should be recorded, preferably by plotting the reading on the instrument calibration curve where applicable. Other Removable surface contamination surveys in unrestricted instruments should be calibrated at frequencies suggested areas in which linencapsulated radioactive materials are by Ihe manufacturer. Check sources should he used to used or where contamination may be likely to occur should check the continued accuracy of all instruments each time be performed and recorded at frequencies consistent they are used in the field, preferably before and after each with the potential for spreading contamination but no less series of measurements. (See also Regulatory Guide 10.8, frequently than quarterly. Random smear testing of floors
"Guide for the Preparation of Applications for Medical alone is acceptable for most unrestricted areas. In cafeterias Programs" (Ref. 29).) and snack bars, furniture and equipment, as well as floors.
should also be surveyed. If such surveys reveal that radio
1.13 Surveys of Protective Clothing Before and After active contamination is being transferred out of restricted Laundry areas, immediate corrective action should be taken to eliminate such transfers. Decontamination efforts should be Surveys of protective garments and linens should be repeated until it is evident that subequent efforts would not performed prior to release to a conventional laundry. significantly reduce contamination levels. If contamination Garments and linens should be released to such a laundry is found, unrestricted areas should be surveyed more only if contamination levels do not exceed those given on frequently (e.g., daily or weekly) until a trend of negative line 3 of Table 2.. Items contaminated with short-half-life results is again established. The applicant or licensee may material that exceeds the levels given on line 3 of Table 2 propose and justify permissible contamination levels should be contained in leakproof bags and transported in following decontamination efforts described above for carts to controlled storage areas for decay. Items contami unrestricted areas. The limits given on line I of Table 2 arc nated with long-half-life material may be disposed of as acceptable to the NRC staff and need not le justified by radioactive waste or sent for decontamination to a laundry the licensee or applicant.
licensed by the N RC or by an Agreement Start.
1.15.2 Radiation Surveys
1.14 Ventilation Surveys Radiation surveys in unrestricted areas adjacent to Where enclosures such as fume hoods are necessary to restricted areas should be performed and recorded at protect workers'from unencapsulated radioactive material. frequencies consistent with the types and quantities of measurements of the face velocity at the enclosure entrance material in use but no less frequently than quarterly. These should be made quarterly to ensure that the airflow is surveys should be made in areas adjacent to restricted areas adequate.4 Such measurements should be made by using a and, when exposures may occur, in all areas through which properly calibrated thermoanemometer or velometer to radioactive materials are transferred and temporarily stored determine whether the airflow has been reduced to unaccept before shipment. Radiation levels in these areas should be able levels by filter loading or by the malfunction of "evaluated to determine whether they comply with the blowers, fans, etc. The mninimum average face velocity for a requirements of § 20.105 of 10 CFR Part 20.
fume hood with the sash in the operating position or for an opening in a special enclosure should be 100 ft/min as 1.16 Surveillance determined from at least five different measurement points. Airflow monitoring devices such as inclined manom 1.16.1 Surveillance by Individual Performing Surveys eters should also be available for the user to check for proper airflow during each use. Corrective action should be The term "surveillance." as used in this section. refers to taken as soon as possible when the face velocity is found to observations of radiological working conditions in restricted be deficient. Records should be kept of airflow measure areas made by the person who performs the routine radia ments and any corrective actions. tion and contamination surveys. Such surveillance is one of
4 Where filtered exhausts are employed, devices such as U-tube the more important aspects of a radiation protection pro manometers should be provided to indi~ate the pressure drop across gram. Through surveillance, radiation safety personnel the filters, thus affording an early indication of airflow loss at enclosures. acquire detailed knowledge of e:ich operation as necessary
8.23-6
(a) to identify ways of preventing or minimizing occupa Although the frequencies of routine surveys depend on tional exposures, (b) to select appropriate times for making many factors, as stated above, and should be designed for radiation safety measurements, and (c) to adequately prepare the specific medical practices and facilities involved to for emergency conditions. Radiation safety personnel should maintain exposures as low as is reasonably achievable, be sufficiently familiar with each activity to explain it in minimum frequencies acceptable to the NRC staff for detail, to describe potential hazards and the precautions meeting the requirements of § 20.201 of 10 CFR Part 20
taken to minimize exposures, and to discuss how this are given in Table I of this guide.
knowledge of procedures within each activity has influenced the selection of appropriate times for performing radiation safety measurement
s.
3. Records of Surveys
1.16.2 Regular Inventory of Radioactive Material, Audit of Procedures, and Instruction of Personnel. Reference should be made to § § 20.401 and 30.51 and to 10 CFR Parts 31-35 for recordkeeping requirements The surveillance program includes the following: regarding surveys related to the receipt, use, packaging, transfer, and disposal of byproduct material. Section 20.401 a. Regular inventory of radioactive materials and requires that licensees maintain records in the same units their locations, used in Part 20 (see Table 4). Thus, external exposure rates should be recorded in estimated maximum dose equivalent b. Frequent audits of radiation safety procedures and units to relevant parts of the body as specified in Part 20.
the uses and amounts of material in process compared to Air concentration measurement results should be recorded licensed possession limits, and in units of pCi/ml, and surface contamination measurement results should be recorded in units of dpm/100cm 2 or c. Discussions with personnel to ensure their continued uJCi/100cm 2 (or as in §20.5).
awareness of safety procedures and the appropriateness of their instruction and training for the tasks they are performing. Record retention requirements are specified in the regulations cited above. Paragraph 2 0.401(cX2) requires These surveillance activities may be performed during that survey records be preserved for 2 years, except that the performance of other survey measurements or tests. records of air monitoring and (in theabsence of personnel The surveillance should be performed at least annually by monitoring data) records of surveys to determine external the Radiation Safety Officer in the presence of a manage radiation dose (see paragraph 20.401(cX2Xii)) are to be ment representative as a management audit. The manage maintained until the NRC authorizes their disposition.
ment audit should be comprehensive enough to provide management with an awareness of the nature and impor Records may be maintained in logbooks or on special tance of activities conducted for personnel protection and forms as long as they are clear, legible, understandable, and hospital safety. A sample checklist that can be useful in authenticated . by authorized personnel. Survey records auditing as well as in carrying out radiation surveys is should include the model and serial numbers of instruments presented in Appendix B. used and efficiencies of counting where appropriate. The signature of the person making the record and the date
2. Frequency of Surveys should be on the same page as the record and should immediately follow each record entry. Either the original or The frequency of routine surveys depends on the nature, a reproduced copy or microform (duly authenticated) may quantity, and use of radioactive materials, as well as the be maintained to meet the storage requirements of § 20.401.
specific protective facilities, equipment, and procedures that are designed to protect the worker from external and D.i IMPLEMENTATION
internal exposure.
The purpose of this section is to provide informnation to Generally, surveys should be performed before radioac applicants and licensees regarding the NRC staff's plan for tive materials are used in a new procedure and area in order using this regulatory guide.
to establish a baseline of background radiation levels and radioactivity from natural sources, including structural com Except in those cases in which the applicant or licensee ponents of the facility, and any already existing operations proposes an acceptable alternative method for complying with radiation sources in nearby rooms or facilities. These with specified portions of the Commission's regulations, the baseline surveys should be performed under the various staff will use the methods described herein after April 1, conditions to be expected in routine hospital procedures. 1981, in evaluating applications for specific materials licenses for medical institutions or (in conjunction with Surveys should be repeated after routine procedures inspections of performance) for evaluating survey programs begin with normal levels of radioactive material and with established by licensees.
potentially exposed persons present and carrying out their functions. Surveys should also be conducted after significant If an applicant or livensee wishes to use the method changes in the quantities of radioactive material handled, in described in this regulatory guide on or before June 1, 1981,1 the quantities present at any one time, or in protective the pertinent portions of the application or th. licensee's equipment or procedures. performance will be evaluated on the basis of this guide.
8.23-7
Table 1 SURVEY FREQUENCIES
I. All elution, preparation, and injection areas should be surveyed daily with a survey meter and decontaminated if necessary.
2. Laboratory areas where only small quantities of radioactive material (less than 200
l.Ci at any one time) are used should be surveyed monthly.
3. All other laboratory areas should be surveyed weekly.
4. The weekly and monthly surveys should consist of the following- a. A measurement of radiation levels with a survey meter sufficiently sensitive to detect
0.1 mR/h.
b. A series of smear tests to measure contamination levels. The method for performing smear tests should be suffi ciently sensitive to detect the limits in Table 2 to one significant digit.
c. Any air sample measurements necessary to determine compliance with § 20.103 of 10 CFR Part 20 in cases where calculations alone are not sufficient.
Table 2 RECOMMENDED ACTION LEVELS FOR REMOVABLE SURFACE CONTAMINATION
IN MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS*
Type of Radioactive Material**
Low-Risk Beta or Alph Emitters Beta or X-Ray Emitters X-Ray Emitters Type of Surface (tICi/em2) (dpm/10Ocm 2 ) (tJCil/m 2 ) (dpm/100cm 2 ) (PjCi/cm 2 )1 (dpm/1iOcm2 I. Unrestricted areas 10"- 22 10-6 220 10-s 2,200
2. Restricted areas 10-6 220 10-1 2,200 10.4 22,000
3. Personal clothing worn 10"1 22 10-6 220 10"s 2,200
outside restricted areas
4. Protective clothing worn 10-6 220 10"5 2,200 10"4 22.000
only in restricted areas
5. Skin 106 220 10-6 220 10s 2,200
- OAsacapted from Table I of Reference 10. Averaging is acceptable over nonliving areas of up to 300
cm2 or, for floors, wall, and ceiling, O0cm'. Averaging is also acceptable over 0 cm forskin or, for the hands, over the whole area of the hand, nominally 300cm .
- Beta- or x-ray emitter values are applicable for all beta- or x-ray emitters other than those considered low C-14, H-3, S-35, Tc-99m, and others whose beta energies are less than 0.2 risk. Low-risk nuctides include at I meter per curie, and whose permissible concentration in air (see to CFRMeV maximum, whose gamma-or x-ray emission iý le,.s than 0.1 R/h Part 20. Appendix B, Table I ) is greater than 10 IA.i/ml.
8.23-8
Table 3*
ACCEPTABLE SURFACE CONTAMINATION LEVELS FOR UNCONTROLLED RELEASE OF EQUIPMENT
Nuclidea Averageb,e Maimumb,d Removablebc U-nat, U-235, U-238, and 5,000 dpm ct/l00 cm 2 15,000 dfpm cV'100 cm 2 1,000 dpm c1 0 0 cm 2 associated decay products Transuranics, Ra-226, Ra-228, 100 dpm/100 cm 2 300 dpm/100 cm 2
20 dpm/100 cm 2 Th-230, Th-228, Pa-23 1, Ac-227,
1-125, 1-129 Th-nat, Th-232, Sr-90, Ra-223, 1,000 dpm/100 cm 2 3,000 dpm/100 cm 2 200 dpm/100 cm 2 Ra-224, U-232, 1-1.26, 1-131,
1-133 Beta-gamma emitters (nuclides 5,000 dpm *100 cm 2 15,000 dpm BV1100 cm 2 1,000 dpm $V100 cm 2 with decay modes other than alpha emission or spontaneous fission) except Sr-90 and others noted above.
Adapted from Regulatory Guide 1.86 (Ref. 30).
aWhere surface contamination by both alpha- and beta-gamma-emitting nuclides exists, the limits established for alpha- and beta-gamma-emitting nuclides should apply independently.
bAs used in this table, dpm (disintegrations per minute) means the rate of emission by radioactive material as determined by correcting the counts per minute observed by an appropriate detector for background, efficiency, and geometric factors associated with the instrumentation.
cMeasurements of average contaminant should not be averaged over more than I square meter.
For objects of less surface area, the average should be derived for each such object.
dThe maximum contamination level applies to an area of not more than 100 cm 2 .
eaThe amount of removable radioactive material per 100 cm 2 of surface area should be determined by wiping that area with dry filter or soft absorbent paper, applying moderate pressure, and assessing the amount of radioactive material on the wipe with an appropriate instrument of known efficiency. When removable contamination on objects of less surface area is determined, the pertinent levels should be reduced pro portionately and the entire surface should be wiped.
Table 4"
CONVERSION FACTORS FROM OLD TO NEW RADIATION UNITS
Quantity Old Unit Symbol New Unit Symbol Conversion Factor Activity curie Ci becquerel Bq 1 Ci= 3.7 x 1010 Bq Absorbed dose rad rad gray Gy I rad IlcGy = 10.2 Gy = 10-2 J/k Dose Equivalent rem rem sievert Sv I rem = I cSv = 10.2 Sv Exposure roentgen R I R = 2.58 x 10-4 C/kg Conversion to the new SI units provided in this table will now be considered in compliance with this guidance.
&823-9
REFERENCES*
I. Regulatory Guide 8.10, "Operating Philosophy for 13, IAEA Technical Report Series No. 133, "Handbook Maintaining Occupational Radiation Exposures As on Calibration of Radiation Protection Monitoring Low As Is Reasonably Achievable," U.S. Nuclear Instruments," 1971.
Regulatory Commission (NRC), Washington, D.C.
20555. 14. IAEA Safety Series No. 25, "Medical Supervision of Radiation Workers," sponsored jointly by IAEA,
2. National Commission on Radiological Protection WHO, and International Labor Organization, 1968.
(NC-RP) Report No. 8, "Control and Removal of Radio active Contamination in Laboratories," December 15, 15. International Commission on Radiological Protection
1951. (ICRP) Publication 5, "Handling and Disposal of Radioactive Materials in Hospitals and Medical
3. NCRP Report No. 9, "Recommendations for Waste Research Establishments," 1964.
Disposal of Phosphorus-32 and Iodine-131 for Medi cal Users," November 2, 195 I. 16. ICRP Publication 12, "General Principles of Moni toring for Radiation Protection of Workers," 1969.
4. NCRP Report No. 10, "Radiological Monitoring Methods and Instruments," April 7, 1952 (revised 17. [CRP Publication 25, "The Handling, Storage, Use edition published in 1978). and Disposal of Unsealed Radionuclides in Hospitals and Medical Research Establishments," 1977.
5. NCRP Report No. 37, "Precautions in the Manage ment of Patients Who Have Received Therapeutic. 18. American Association of Physicists in Medicine Amounts of Radionuclides," 1970. (AAPM) Monograph No. 1, "Biophysical Aspects of the Medical Use of Technetium-99m," J.G. Kereiakes
6. NCRP Report No. 48, "Radiation Protection for and Karen R. Corey, Editors (available from AAPM,
Medical and Allied Health Personnel," August 1, Dr. James G. Kereiakes, E555 Medical Sciences
1976. Building, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
45267), 1976.
7. NCRP Report No. 57, "Instrumentation and Moni toring Methods for Radiation. Protection," 1978. 19. Deigl, H., "Guidelines for Determining Frequency-of Wipe Samples," in Health Physics Operational Moni
8. NCRP Report No. 58, "A Handbook of Radio toring, Vol. i, C.A. Willis and J.S. Handloser, Eds.,
activity Measurements Procedures," 1978. Gordon and Breach, New York, p. 385, 1972.
9. NCRP Report No. 59, "Operational Radiation Safety 20. C. B. Meinhold, "Facility Monitoring Programs, Programs," 1978. Techniques, and Problem Solving," Health Physics Operational Monitoring, Vol. 1, C.A. Willis and
10.' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Techni J.S. Handloser, Eds., Gordon and Breach, New York, cal Report Series No. 120, "Monitoring of Radioac p.363, 1972.
tive Contamination on Surfaces," 1970.
21. C.A. Willis, "Safe Specific Activity: A Useful Concept
11. IAEA Safety Series No. 38, "Radiation Protection in Monitoring Areas Containing Activated Materials,"
Procedures," 1973. Health Physics Operational Monitoring, Vol. 1, C.A. Willis and J.S. Handloser, Eds., Gordon and
12. IAEA Safety Series No. 1, "Safe Handling of Radio Breach, New York, p. 373, 1972.
nuclides," 1973 Edition, Code of Practice Sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the 22. R.L. Kathren, "Instruments in thi Field: Use, Abuse, World Health Organization (WHO), 1-973. and Misuse," Health Physics Operational Monitoring, Vol. 2, C.A. Willis and J.S. Handloser, Eds., Gordon and Breach, New York, p. 811, 1972.
23. W.P. Howell and R.L. Kathren, "Calibration and NCRP reports may be obtained from NCRP Publications, P.O.
Box 30175, Washington, D.C. 20014. Field Use of Ionization Chamber Survey Instruments,"
IAEA reports may be obtained from UNIPUB, Inc.. P.O. Box 433, Health Physics Operational Monitoring, Vol. 2, New York, N.Y. 10016.
ICRP reports may be obtained from Pergamon Press, Maxwell C.A. Willis and J.S. Handloser, Eds., Gordon and House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, New York 10523. Breach, New York, p. 925, 1972.
ICRU reports may be obtained from ICRU Publications, P.O.
Box 30165, Washington. D.C. 20014.
NUREG-series documents may be obtained at current rates from the Distribution Services Section, Division of Technical Information 24. F.E. Gallagher, A.N. Tschaeche, C.A. Willis, J.C.
and Document Control, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Evraets, and J.C. Rogers, "Progress on Surface Washington, D.C. 20555 or the National Technical Information Ser vice, Springfield, Virginia 22161. Contamination Standards," Health Physics Opera-
8.23-11
tional Monitoring, Vol. 3, C.A. Willis and J.S. Hand 29. Regulatory Guide 10.8, "Guide for the Preparation of loser, Eds., Gordon and Breach, New York, p. 1767, Applications for Medical Programs,"
1972. NRC.
30. Regulatory Guide 1.86, "Termination of Operating
25. Sommers, J.F., "Sensitivity of G-M and Ion Chamber Licenses for Nuclear Reactors," NRC.
Beta-Gamma Survey Instruments," Health Physics, Vol. 8, p. 755, 1975. 31. Regulatory Guide 8.18, "Information Relevant to Ensuring that Occupational Radiation Exposures
26. International Commission on Radiation Units and at Medical Institutions Will Be As Low As Reasonably Measurements (ICRU) Report 12, "Certification of Achievable," NRC.
Standardized Radioactive Sources," September 15,
1969. 32. NUREG-0267, "Principles and Practices for Keeping Occupational Radiation Exposures at Medical Institu tions As Low As Reasonably Achievable," NRC, 1977.
27. Regulatory Guide 8.20, "Applications of Bioassay for
1-125 and 1-131," NRC. 33. Blatz, Hanson, "Radiation Hygiene Handbook,"
McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 22-27, 1959.
28. Regulatory Guide 8.26, "Applications of Bioassay for
34. Cember, Herman, "Introduction to Health Physics,"
Fission and Activation Products," NRC.
Pergamon Press, New York, pp. 334-339, 1969.
8.23-12
APPENDIX A
SURVEYS OF RADIOACTIVE XENON-133 RELEASES
Surveys associated with the use of xenon-133 should be 4. Emergency Procedures sufficient to show compliance with requirements for protection of persons in restricted and unrestricted areas Check to determine that all personnel using xenon-I 33 (see §§20.103 and 20.106) and with the terms and condi have been trained in the established emergency procedures tions of the N RC Materials License. Surveys may consist of to he followed in case of an accidental release of xenon-I133.
either measuremcents of airborne radioactivity or of calcula tions supported by records of xenon-133 used and measure 5. Air Concentrations of Xenon-133 in Restricted Areas ments of pertinent ventilation and air effluent volumes.
The procedures outlined below are acceptable for surveying Check to determine that air concentrations of xenon- 133 xenon-I 33 concentrations in medical institutions. in restricted areas meet the requirements of §20.103. This may be done by making physical measurements. Alterna Acccptable surveys would be indicated by records of the tively. this may be done by r'vicwing the use of xenon- 133 following information, procedures, or conditions: (Item L.a above), checking the ventilation rate in each area, and performing calculations sinuilar to those submitted with I. Quantities Used the license application (see Regulatory Guide 10.8, "Guide for the Preparation of Applications for Medical Programs"l.
a. Verify that patient information records (Items 1-3 If the results of the calculations indicate that air concentra below) are in order; compare with similar information tions of xenon- 133 (as averaged over one calendar quarter I
submitted to NRC in support of request for xenon-133. approach or exceed I x 10-" microcurie per milliliter, the licensee should consider and implement methods of increas (I ) Number of studies per week. ing ventilation rates or of reducing patient load.
(2) Activity administered to each patient. 6. Methods of Xenon-133 Disposal
(3) Comparison of numberofstudiesand average a. Dilution through exhaust systems activity administered to each patient with information submitted in application. Licensees who dispose of xenon-133 by release to the atmosphere through an air exhaust syslem are
1h. Verify that possession limits are controlled and required to perform surveys (i.e.. measurements or calcula corrected for differences in calibration date anti date tions) to ensure that they are in compliance with para of use; compare with possession limits stated in license. graph 20.1(c) and §20.106 of 10 ('FR Part 20. Para graph 20.1(c) requires that the concentrations of xenon-13
2. Survey Records for Use and Storage Areas in effluents to unrestricted areas be as low as is reasonably achievable by the current state of technology, and § 20.106
('heck ventilation quarterly in all areas in which requires that the concentrations averaged over a period of xenon-133 is used anti stored to ensure that airflow rates I year should not exceed 3 x 10"7 microcurie per milliliter.
are maintained in accordance with statements made in the license application. Make physical measurements to determine compli ance with §20.106 anti paragraph 20.1(c). Alternatively.
3. Procedures for Routine Use measure ventilation rate and. using xenon-133 data from Item L.a above, perform calculations similar to those sLibmitted with the license application (See Regtilatory a. ('heck to determine that procedures being followed Guide 10.8).
for routine use of xenon-133 are in accordance with pro cedures described in license application. ('heck to determine If the results indicate that air concentrations of that all personnel using xenon-133 have been trained in xenon-133 (as averaged over I year) approach or exceed these procedures for routine use of xenon- 133. 3 x 10i7 nicrocurie per milliliter. the licensee should consider and implement methods of increasing ventilation rates. reducing patient load, or decreasing amount of b. Check to determine that special apparatus for xenon-133 released (e.g., through use of a chaicoal trap).
administration anti collection of xenon-133 is being used as specified in the license application. If tile exhaust is released to a restricted area. e.g.. a roof to which access is controlled, surveys should include c. ('heck to determine that special procedures are checks to determine the effectiveness and continued being usLd to reduce leakage (e.g.. use of nose clamps or implementation of provisions submitted with lith license special enclosures) as specified in the license application. application to do the following: control access to the
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restricted area; post appropriate warriing signs; instruct persons who may enter the area in accordance with § 19.1 2 ing basis at the frequency specified in the license applica of 10 CFR Part 19; monitor personnel entering the area: tion. Include monitoring of traps to determine wheil saturation occurs and when the filter must be replaced.
and survey the area.
Check the procedures for handling saturated filters, including the provisions of adequate shielding b. Adsorption onto charcoal traps and ventilation. Calculations should be made of average concen trations of xenon-133 in air at the exhaust and compared Surveys should be made to check leakage from charcoal trapping devices. If the exhaust is vented to the to the allowable limit.
outdoors or other unrestricted area, check to determine that air concentrations of xenon-] 33 averaged over 1 year USEFUL CONVERSIONS
do not approach or exceed 3 x 00"7 microcurie per milli I mCi = 103 WCi liter. See Item 6.a above.
1 ft 3 = 2.832 x 10 2 m 3 = 2.832 x 0 4 nul Record measurements to check the efficiency and lft 3 /min = 1.699 x 106 ml/h general performance of collection and trapping devices = 6.796 x 107 ml/40-h week according to specifications, both initially and on a continu- = .1.488 x 1010 ml/yr I week = 168h
8.23-14
APPENDIX B
SAMPLE CHECKLIST FOR RADIATION SURVEYOR
g. 10 CFR Part 19 signs.
Initiate contamination survey report for each lab.
4. Observe general laboratory conditions:
a. Check card for previous survey results, e.g., suc cessive red circles, nobody in. a. Food and drink preparation and use in radioactive b. Fill in name of Authorized User, Department, Build material areas?
ing and' Room Number, and Survey Date. b. Waste container overfilled?
c. Sketch floor plan. c. Dosimeters being worn?
d. Mouth pipetting?
t. Ask lab personnel (and record answers on report form):
a. What isotopes are being used? (Compare with what 5. Conduct laboratory survey using portable survey meter.
User is cleared for.)
b. Where in the lab are they used? a. Record external dose rate from accessible storage c. Where are isotopes stored? surfaces.
d. What was last order? (Compare with card record.) b. Record exposure rate from contaminated surfaces.
e. Is Authorized User available if needed? If not, give reason, e.g., on leave, out of country, terminated
6. Conduct smear survey:
employment.
f. In what other labs are isotopes used? (Compare a. Take first smear near or in lab entrance.
with card record.) b. Take several smears from floor and benches and g. Where is waste stored and disposed of? equipment as indicated by answers to earlier ques tions.
3. Check labeling.
7. Discuss 10 CFR Part 19 (Instructions to Workers)
a. Lab door-"Caution, Radioactive Material" (CRM) requirements.
b. Liquid waste sink-"Contaminated Liquid Waste"
(survey card should indicate radioactive sink-RS). 8. Complete results:
Is sink log posted? Is it being used?
c. Radioactive hood-"Caution, Radioactive Material" a. Count smears and list results on survey form.
(survey card should indicate radioactive hood-RH). b. Notify lab personnel of contamination, and note on
"Air Flow Check" white label with date no older than form who was called and date of notification.
4 months required. c. Identify all abnormal radiation safety conditions d. Refrigerator and other storage areas-"CRM," includ on survey form.
ing those in corridors.
d. Complete survey card, replace in file, and mail survey e. Radioactive waste containers-"CRM" or "Contami form copy to User.
nated Waste" should be lined with yellow plastic bag. e. If lab has contamination (significant), call User, f. Any area with external radiation over 2.5 mR/h request cleanup, and resmear.
should be labeled with "Caution, Radiation Area" f. Resmear when notified or call User if no resmear (CRA) and should be noted on survey form. (See was called for.
paragraph 20.202(bX2) and §20.203 of IOCFR g. File carbon copy of results form.
Part 20.)
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