Radioactive materials specific requirements

Items 1, 3, and 10 below specifically deal primarily with external radiation hazards, while the remaining items deal with contamination and ingestion of radioactive materials. Safety requires that both aspects be considered in all operations. 

When specifically labelled compounds are required, direct chemical synthesis may be necessary. The standard techniques of preparative chemistry are used, suitably modified for small-scale work with radioactive materials. The starting material is tritium gas which can be obtained at greater than 98% isotopic abundance. Tritiated water can be made either by catalytic oxidation over palladium or by reduction of a metal oxide ... 

This paper is the only one in the liquid chromatography portion of this symposium which will attempt to deal with chromatography specifically from the viewpoint of the pesticide metabolism chemist. A residue analyst knows what compound he must analyze for, and develops his method with the properties of that substance in mind. On the other hand, the pesticide metabolism chemist has a different problem. At the conclusion of the treatment, exposure, and harvest phases of a radiolabeled metabolism study, he divides his material into appropriate samples, and extracts each sample with selected solvents to obtain the radioactive materials in soluble form. Typically these extracts consist of low levels (ppm) of carbon-14 labeled metabolites in a complicated mixture of normal natural products from the plant, animal, or soil source. The identity of each metabolite is unknown, and each must be isolated from the natural background and from other labeled metabolites in sufficient quantity and in adequate purity for identification studies, usually by mass spectrometry. The situation is rather like looking for the proverbial "needle in the haystack" when one does not know the size, shape,or composition of the needle, or even how many needles there are in the stack. At this point a separation technique must be selected with certain important requirements in mind. 

Apart from specific exceptions, all chemical substances or preparations manufactured in, or imported into, the Community are included within the scope of the Directive, Preparations or mixtures of chemical substances are covered by a sister Directive, 88/379/EEC [2]. Specifically excluded are human or veterinary medicines, waste streams, food and animal feedstuffs, pesticides, radioactive materials, and any other products which are covered by equivalent Community requirements. 

The RMA have been shown to be simple, sensitive, and specific for the measurement of vitamin B12, folate, and niacin in the blood and for the measurement of vitamin B12 and folate in food. Further work will be carried out for the measurement of niacin in food. For the determination of the biologically active forms of niacin, the RMA is more specific than the TMA. The RMA is also more specific than the CPBA for the measurement of vitamin B12. The advantages of the RMA over the TMA are (i) it is sensitive and simple (ii) the colored or turbid materials do not interfere with the assay (iii) only small amounts of material are required and most important, (iv) RMA combines the biological specificity of the microorganisms with the precision of measuring radioactive decay as the endpoint. 

Several terms are used to express the intensity of radiation (see Figure 9.8). Radiation level is a term often substituted for dose rate or exposure rate. It is generally referred to as the effect of radiation on matter i.e., the amount of radiation that is imparted from the source and absorbed by matter due to emitted radiation per unit of time. The curie is a radiological term for the physical amount of a radioactive material. A curie consists of 37 billion disintegrations per second. It is a physical amount of material that is required to produce a specific amount of ionizing radiation ... 

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. 

For the purposes of transport, any material with a specific activity greater than 70 kBq/kg (0.002 M-Ci/g) must be declared as a radioactive material. Nevertheless, a material coming within that definition may be present in such small quantity or incorporated in another material to such an extent that its hazardous nature is very much reduced and it may be excepted from certain packing and labelling requirements (see schedule 1, 2, 3 or 4 as appropriate). IMO Class 7, 1.1.5... 

Travel on designated routes — or in the absence of routes, avoid tunnels, narrow roads, narrow bridges, heavily populated areas, and places where people gather. (Specific routing requirements — including the requirement for written route plans — are designated for carriers of Class 7 (radioactive) materials.)... 

Records must be maintained by the licensee of disposal of radioactive wastes. Material transferred to a disposal firm is subject to requirements very smularto those covering chemical wastes. The manifesthas specific requirements for the description of the physicaland chemical form of the radioactive materials and the radiation characteristics of the wastes. There are specialists in transporting radioactive waste who normally serve as the intermediary or broker for the generator and disposal facility. 

UN numbers for radioactive material are now used to relate requirements in the Schedules to the Regulations. This has proven to be an advantage in terms of identifying the requirements applicable to specific package or material types. UN numbers can also be used for compliance situations, performance checks and controls, data collection and other statistical purposes, should the competent authority find merit in this application. 

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