Radioactive glassware washing

Radioactive materials should not be washed by glassware washing personnel. Laboratory research personnel should decontaminate ware first. 

Contaminated glassware should be kept separated from uncontaminated. Contaminated beakers and flasks are placed in the special sink or other container for washing. Clean and wash all equipment with soap and water immediately after the experiment has been completed. If water-insoluble materials are being used, the first washing should be done with an organic solvent such as acetone. Soak contaminated pipets in a container filled with water. All broken glassware is disposed of in the Solid Radioactive Waste container. 

As only a few per cent of the total activity in a BOD bottle will be taken up by plants the contamination of planchettes, etc., by only a trace of radioactive seawater sample will cause serious errors. The inoculation of BOD bottles from ampules and the filtration of samples should preferably be carried out in a part of the laboratory away from where planchettes are mounted and counted. BOD bottles and filtration equipment must be rinsed thoroughly with distilled water after use. From time to time all glassware and planchette holders should be rinsed in nitric acid wash solution and then water. Copper planchettes, with adhering membrane filters, should be discarded when counting is completed but pillboxes may be used again. 

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