Radiation Safety Office
Clinical Building 159
Office 274-4797
Fax 274-2332
Waste 274-6746
E-mail: [email protected]
MAY 2000
~ Upcoming Events ~
Radiation Safety Orientation
(CL 126)
May 15, 2000
1:30 – 3:30
June 13, 2000
9:00 – 11:00
July 21, 2000
1:30 - 3:30
Radiation Safety Course
(FH 211B)
June 5 thru June 9, 2000
8:30 - 10:30
Radiation Safety
Newsletter
Radiation Safety
Training
Efficiency for Counting
Equipment
All new radioactive material users,
including temporary personnel (e.g.,
interns), are required to attend the
Radiation Safety Orientation. A
completed Radiation Safety A-3 Form,
Authorization to Use Radioactive
Material, should be submitted to the
RSO prior to the initial use of
radioactive materials. After receiving
this form, our office will send
notification/RSVP for the next
orientation. In addition to attending the
orientation, all new radioactive users
with inadequate training/experience
with radionuclides must attend the
Radiation Safety Course. Temporary
employees are required to complete the
orientation, but not the course.
Our office will begin to perform
efficiency calculations on counting
equipment (e.g., LSC, Gamma
Counters). If you have new equipment
or have moved equipment since last
year, please contact our office so you
may be put on our calibration list.
~ Radiation Safety Staff ~
Radiation Safety Officer
Mack Richard, M.S., C.H.P.
Assistant Radiation Safety Officer
Jeff Mason, B.S.
Alisha Mahin, B.S.
Health Physicist
Dusty Leppert, B.S.
Technician
Drew Wade, B.S.
Purchasing Agent
Judy Savage
Secretary
Debbie Phillips
Radiation Safety Web Site
http://www.iupui.edu/~radsafe
Holiday Schedule
The RSO will be closed on July 4th.
Please keep this in mind when placing
orders. Waste pick-ups will be made on
July 5th instead of the 4th.
Key for Surveys
When performing your radiation
surveys, you should attach a key (i.e.,
diagram and/or numbers which
correspond to the area which a wipe or
direct survey was taken). This will
allow anyone reviewing your records to
know where a wipe or measurement
was taken along with the results.
Waste Disposal
Inventory
Our office has recently determined
most labs are not listing very accurate
amounts for radionuclide activities
listed on their yellow waste tags. You
must list nominal activity on your
Radiation Safety A-9 Form, Shipping
Paper, for radionuclide disposal.
Activities listed on the waste tags
should be as accurate as possible. For
example, liquid samples may need to be
counted and/or radionuclides may need
to be decayed to determine the actual
activity. If you have any questions,
please contact our office.
Vial Disposal
There seems to be some confusion
regarding the disposal of scintillation
vials. If a large number of vials (> 50
vials) are accumulated through research
procedures, a double-lined, 1 foot waste
box must be used for disposal. If a
small number of vials (< 50 vials) are
PLEASE CIRCULATE AND FILE IN YOUR RADIONUCLIDE INVENTORY AND SURVEY BOOK
accumulated (e.g., through
contamination surveys), only the
contaminated ones (greater than 200
cpm above background) need to be
disposed of. Vials in this category may
be disposed of with your solid
radioactive waste. Vials found not to be
contaminated may either be disposed of
in the regular trash or through
Environmental Health and Safety,
depending on the type of scintillation
fluid utilized. These procedures are
outlined in the Radiation Safety
Procedures Manual.
Survey of Waste Boxes
Labs should take special care when
surveying their full waste containers
before pick-up by our office. As per the
Radiation Safety Procedures Manual,
the results of the contamination survey
on the waste containers must be less
than 200 cpm/100 cm2 above
background. The survey should be
taken over the whole container. If any
contamination is found, it must be
removed and the container resurveyed
before being released for pick-up.
Random checks will be done on these
full waste containers to confirm they are
clean at the time of pick-up.
Standing Orders for
Upcoming FY 00-01
The current standing orders will expire
on June 30, 2000. Permit Holders with
existing standing orders will be
receiving a Radioactive Materials
Requisition to complete for FY 00-01.
If you are interested in setting up a new
standing order, please contact Judy
Savage at 274-4797.
Survey Results
In the last newsletter, we asked Permit
Holders to indicate whether they wished
to be contacted when they had a
successful Radiation Safety audit.
Only one individual registered their
vote, which indicates a lack of interest
in initiating this program at this time.
Training Sheets
Permit Holders should have received
Radiation Safety Training sheets. This
is a new training program initiated by
our office. An Important Notice will be
sent in May to Permit Holders outlining
this program along with the first edition
of the Radiation Safety Training sheet.