License radioactive materials

When specific licensed radioactive material is used at the facility, employees are required to be trained on the hazards of the source(s), and an individual must be designated as the Radiation Safety Officer. Records are required to be kept on the specifics of the sources at each location (manufacturer, type, quantity, storage and use location, person the sources are assigned to, and leak testing/GM counter results) and a locked/secure location is recommended. 

The licensing process consists of two steps construction and operating license that must be completed before fuel loading. Licensing covers radiological safety, environmental protection, and antitru,st considerations. Activities not defined as production or utilization of special nuclear material (SNM), use simple one-step. Materials Licenses, for the possession of radioactive materials. Examples are uranium mills, solution recovery plants, UO fabrication plants, interim spent fuel storage, and isotopic separation plants. 

This rule varies from state to state. Some materials are exempt from Nuclear Regulatory Commission or State licensing requirements. Most institutions already have an institutional license which would specify the safety officer. It would be well for the clinical chemistry laboratory to check with this individual before beginning to use radioactive materials. If there is no license, many manufacturers of isotope materials will assist the laboratory in obtaining the proper license. 

The NRC issues licenses for the facilities noted and the operators of those facilities. Licenses may also be issued by individual state governments under NRC-approved regulatory programs. There are more than 8500 such licenses under the NRC s jurisdiction and approximately 15,000 under the jurisdiction of Agreement States, which regulate certain radioactive materials under agreements with the NRC. As of 1996, there are 109 licensed commercial nuclear power reactors in the United States, located at 71 sites in 33 states (see Nuclear REACTORS). However, several of these facilities are only partially constructed and further construction has been deferred. There are more than 5300 licensed nuclear power plant operators in the United States, each licensed for a specific reactor. Every operator must be requalified before renewal of a six-year license (14,15). 

In any case, and albeit the different regulation in different countries, as a general principle only licensed personnel working in an authorized facility are authorized to handle and use radiopharmaceuticals. Facilities and procedures are subject to periodic inspection by official radiation safety officers that control production and handling of radioactive material, its transportation, proper use, as well as personnel dosimetry and radioactive waste disposal. 

Exposure to strong radiofrequency or microwave fields can cook tissue and produce deep internal bums. Exposure to X rays and to the radiation from radioactive materials must be carefully guarded against in experiments dealing with them. Any such experiments should be done under the direct supervision of an experienced research worker, who will assume personal responsibility for all required safety measures, and under an appropriate license if radioactive materials are involved. 

Most immunoassays currently employed in the biomedical field are either radioimmunoassays, enzyme immunoassays, or luminescence immunoassays (including fluorescence immunoassays [FIA] and chemiluminescence immunoassays). Although radioimmunoassay is currently the most sensitive of these (10 -10 M concentrations are often detectable), due to the problems inherent to dealing with radioactive materials, such as licensing, radiation hazard, short shelf-life of expensive radioisotopes, the expense of the counting equipment, and the tedium associated with heterogeneous immunoassay, it has fallen, in popularity, behind the non-isotopic methods of analysis. 

Caution Radioactive Material or Danger Radioactive Material This sign is posted in areas or rooms in which ten times the quantity or more of any licensed material specified in Appendix C of 10CFR20 are used or stored. All containers with quantities of licensed materials exceeding those specified in Appendix C of 10CFR20 should be labeled with this sign. These labels must be removed or defaced prior to disposal of the container in the unrestricted areas. 

As with any construction project, a construction permit must be obtained from the local authority. All local construction codes must be adhered to regarding the electricity and water supply and fire safety. A health physicist or a medical physicist should be consulted to address the issues of shielding and personnel traffic in restricted areas. A radioactive material license from the appropriate authority must be in possession for the use of PET radiopharmaceuticals, before the PET center goes into operation. Authorized physicians must be included on the license. 

Before Yucca Mountain can become the nuclear waste repository for the nation, a license must be issued by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Evaluation of the site for safe storage of high-level nuclear wastes for at least 10 000 years requires abroad spectrum of scientific disciplines. Mathematical models are developed to calculate the amount and type of radioactive materials that could be released into the environment due to different processes and events. 

Since radiation may be hazardous, it is important that individuals who handle ionizing radiation follow certain rules to avoid accidents. The official rules to be followed by all persons licensed to handle radioactive materials have been studied and proposed by such bodies as the ICRP and the National Research Council (NRC), which is an arm of the National Academy of Sciences. The proposed standards are adopted and enforced by federal agencies such as the... 

Table 13.1 is merely a guide. Each laboratory should develop specific quantity limits. In some cases, the license under which the laboratory operates will specify the quantity limits. For instance, the NRC issues specific radioactive material licenses to facilities, and each license specifies the maximum quantity limit for a given radionuclide. At government owned and operated sites, the DOE facilities do... 

Commercial facilities are closely regulated in terms of release of facilities and equipment for unrestricted use. The radioactive materials license has specific requirements for disposal of radioactive sources and trace materials, even when the useful life of these radioactive materials has been exceeded. 

The DOE does not use the license concept, so there are no formal requirements to become a Radiological Control Manager (RCM)—the equivalent of an RSO. Regardless of title and regulatory mechanism, the RSO or RCM is responsible for implementing a safety program for the use and control of radioactive materials in the laboratory. The RSO/RCM is responsible for the following activities ... 

There are a number of other classes described in paragraphs 30.15-20 of 10 CFR, in which the persons purchasing certain items containing radioactive materials are exempt fiom having a license, although the original manufacturer must have had a specific hcense to allow production of the unit. Among these are self-luminous devices and gas and aerosol detectors. 

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