Hi, Dr. Zoomie – I’m working on a radioactive materials license application and it says I need to have a procedure for receiving radioactive materials. What are they looking for?
Virtually every radioactive materials license is going to require you to tell the regulators how you plan to receive radioactive materials at your facility – what precautions you plan to take, what checks you’re going to perform, and so forth. You might only receive radioactive materials once a month – maybe only once a year. Or, on the other hand, if you are at a nuclear pharmacy, a large hospital, or a large research university then you might be receiving multiple packages daily. However frequently you receive shipments, though, you’ve got to have a procedure to make sure it’s done correctly.
The easy way to do it is to commit to using the model procedure that your regulator has almost certainly developed. For example, one of my consulting clients (they had what’s called a broadscope radioactive materials license) had a line in their license application that simply stated “For receipt of radioactive materials we commit to using the model procedure found in Appendix I of NUREG 1556 vol. 11 (Consolidated Guidance About Licenses of Broad Scope).” And that’s all you really need. You can certainly draft your own receipt procedure, but if you do so then you have to be able to show that your procedure is at least as good as the model procedure.
There are a couple of things that have to be part of your procedure – whether you write your own or use the model procedure.
- All radioactive packages should be delivered directly to the RSO if at all possible.
- If the RSO is not available (vacation, illness, travel, restroom, etc.) then the package should be placed in a secure location until the RSO can retrieve it.
- Alternately, the RSO may designate qualified radiation workers to receive radioactive packages in his/her absence.
- Each package needs to be visually inspected for damage or evidence of leaking contents, surveyed for radiation dose rates (and possibly contamination), and the contents checked against the shipping papers. Most of these checks are required to be performed within three working hours of the package delivery.
- All of these checks and surveys must be documented and you are required to maintain these records.
- And if any contamination limits or radiation dose rates are excessive, you need to let the carrier and your regulators know as soon as possible.
With regards to the first point (delivery directly to the RSO), this is important. I worked in radiation safety at one university where a radioactive package was somehow lost between being signed for by University Receiving and delivery to Radiation Safety. In another, a man was ordering radioactive materials to be delivered to him personally, then sending them out to colleagues of his overseas. In both cases, the problems was solved by requiring all radioactive materials to be delivered only to Radiation Safety (and in the latter case, the man was arrested).
Finally, one last thing to consider….
If you regularly receive packages of radioactive materials you should consider having a dedicated location for this purpose. For example, perhaps you can take a corner of a workbench to cover with a benchpad (e.g. plastic-backed absorbent paper). In addition, you should have a secure storage location where the packages can be stored until you can perform the receipt inspection and surveys – and where you can store the materials until they’re moved to their permanent storage or use location.