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12.00 General Procedures for Radiation Safety

12.01 Radioactive Materials    
12.02 Machines that Generate Ionizing Radiation

12.01 Radioactive Materials

1. High standards of cleanliness and good housekeeping must be maintained in all laboratories and areas where radioactive material is present.  Eating, drinking, and smoking in such work areas is to be prohibited.
   

2. Extreme personal cleanliness is urged.  Hands and fingernails should be washed carefully and monitored after working with radioactive materials.  Always use rubber gloves and laboratory coats when handling more than ten microcuries of material.
   

3. Personnel shall monitor themselves with a suitable instrument (GM Type for beta/gamma emitters and/or sensitive alpha meter for alpha emitters) before leaving the laboratory or work area.  No person or object shall leave the laboratory without being monitored and properly decontaminated, if necessary, to assure no spread of contamination or personnel radiation exposure.
   

4. Surveys should always be made with a suitable meter before and during work with beta and gamma and/or neutron emitting materials or sources and appropriate time limits set for personnel to assure the maximum permissible dose limits are not exceeded.  Beta, gamma, and alpha surveys shall be obtained with a suitable meter during the course of such work to assure acceptable contamination control.
   

5. No radioactive solution is ever to be pipetted by mouth.  Suitable pipetting devices must be available and used.
   

6. Whenever practicable, operations wtih radioactive materials should be conducted in a hood, dry box, or other type of closed system.  Operations with materials susceptible to atmospheric contamination, such as boiling, evaporating, distilling, or ashing must be done in hoods approved by the RSO.  An air flow of approdxiamgtely 100 linear feet per minute is necessary.  Work with powders shoud be done in a dry box.  Work with unsealed radioactive materials should be done over a tray.
   

7. It is recommended that working surfaces be covered with absorbent paper.
   

8. Each container in which radioactive materials are transported, stored, or used shall be labeled "Caution Radioactive Materials."
   

9. Any contamination of the body or clothing by radioisotopes must be immediately reported to the RSO.  Accidental contamination of any working area must be clearly marked as to the radioisotope, the area, and the survey meter reading.  Decontamination shall proceed as soon as practicable.
   

10. When work is completed, each person must assure that his or her work area and apparatus is surveyed, cleaned up and arrange for disposal of, or proper storage of, all radioactive material and equipment.
    

11. All radioactive materials should be stored, as far as possible, in locked, or otherwise secure areas, behind sufficient shielding to reduce the radiation below 2 mRem/hr at the surface of the shield.  The area must be properly posted.
    

12. All radioactive samples, including calibration sources and sealed sources, regardless of strength, should be clearly labeled or tagged at all times with the activity, isotope, date of measurement, and the name of the responsible person.
    

13. Sealed sources or other material  and/or devices generating radiation must be used in a manner such that exposure to oneself and other is minimized.  Consideration must be given to other persons in the room, behind walls or obstructions, and in other rooms.
    

14. A high radiation area (greater than 100 mRem/hour) must never be left unattended in such a manner that persons may unintentionally enter said area.  If a high radiation area is such that persons can enter, the person responsible for said area must maintain continuous surveillance to prevent such entry, remove the radiation source, or lock the area to prevent any access.
    

15. Whenever air concentrations exceed, or are expected to exceed, 10% of the values specified in Appendix A (New York State Sanitary Code, Chapter 1, Part 16,. Appendix 1, Table 4), suitable respiratory protection must be worn.
    

16. The following rule should be kept in mind: Work Safely and Use Good Judgment.
    

17. Proper containers shall be used for storage of radioactive waste.  Liquid waste shall be stored separately from solid waste.  Similarly, short-lived and long-lived waste shall be separately stored.  Additional precautions shall be taken in the storage of radioactive waste that is also toxic and/or flammable, e.g., waste from liquid scintillation counting. 
    

18. Rooms and work areas shall be properly posted with warning signs and apparatus shall be properly labeled with warning labels or tags.  The telephone number of the RSO shall also be posted.

12.02 Machines that Generate Ionizing Radiation

1. In the x-ray, EM, and accelerator facilities, a visual check must be made to assure that accelerator, x-ray room, etc. are cleared of all personnel before the equipment is energized.
   

2. Entrance to the accelerator room, x-ray room, etc. must be equipped with a functional interlock which deenergizes the unit if the door to the facility is accidentally opened, or if failure of the interlock occurs ("Fail Safe").
   

3. The interlock must not be bypassed without the explicit approval of the Installation Supervisor.  A sign must be posted indicating the bypass condition in an appropriate location.
   

4. An appropriate radiation survey must be made when entering an accelerator or x-ray room after operation of the accelerator, if it can induce radioactivity.
   

5. When possible, x-ray installations shall be operated remotely, i.e., behind specifically designed barriers. 
   

6. When the unit or the type of equipment necessitates occupancy of the room containing the x-ray equipment, radiation surveys shall be obtained during all operating conditions at all personnel stations.  Time limits for personnel must be set to assure that personnel exposure is a minimum and in no case exceeds legal maximum permissible limits.  Shielding must be used, where necessary, to assure conformance with said limits.
   

7. Rooms and work areas where ionizing radiation is generated must be properly posted with warning signs.  The telephone number of the RSO should also be posted.
   

8. All machines that produce ionizing radiation shall have posted a listing of the interlocks.  These interlocks shall be checked at a frequency not to exceed three months and shall be entered into the operation log.

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