Radiation Safety

• Part 19: Notices, instructions and reports to workers: inspection and investigations
  
  
• Part 20 -- Standards for protection against radiation
  This section of the NRC Regulations is a must read for all laboratory personnel for proper use of and protection from the hazards of radioactive materials.

The selected sub-sections (listed below) of the Standards for protection against radiation are most pertinent to the day-to-day operation of a laboratory using radioactive materials. The radiation safety officer and principal investigator of the laboratory need to be familiar with certain other sub-sections of the Standards for protection against radiation to apply for license, comply with rules and deal with paperwork to use radioactive materials. Other sections NRC Regulations: Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations. that are usually dealt with by the central Radiation Safety Office of the institution are also not included.]


• Basic sections:
  definitions of common terms, units of radiation dose & radioactivity, etc.
  
  
• Occupational dose limits:
  For adults, minors & embryo/fetus, summation of external and internal doses , etc.
  Dose limits for individual members of the public & compliance.
  
  
• Surveys and Monitoring:
  General guidelines and Conditions requiring individual monitoring of external and internal occupational dose.
  
  
• Control of Exposure From External Sources in Restricted Areas:
  Control of access to high & very high radiation areas.
  
  
• Respiratory Protection and Controls to Restrict Internal Exposure in Restricted Areas:
  engineering & other controls, use of individual respiratory protection equipment, further restrictions on the use of respiratory protection equipment
  
  
• Storage and Control of Licensed Material:
  Security of stored material & control of material not in storage.
  
  
• Precautionary Procedures:
  Caution signs, posting requirements (exemptions), labeling containers (exemptions) and procedures for receiving and opening packages.
  
  
• Waste Disposal:
  General requirements, method for obtaining approval of proposed disposal procedures, disposal by release into sanitary sewerage, treatment or disposal by incineration, disposal of specific wastes as if they were not radioactive, transfer for disposal and manifests, and compliance with environmental and health protection regulations
  
  
• Records:
  General provisions. Determination of prior occupational dose. Records of radiation protection programs, surveys, planned special exposure, individual monitoring results, dose to individual members of the public and waste disposal. Form of records.
  
  
• Reports:
  Reports of theft or loss of licensed material. Notification of incidents. Reports of exposures, radiation levels, and concentrations of radioactive material exceeding the constraints or limits, planned special exposure, individuals of exceeding dose limits, and individual monitoring.

• Federal Guidance Technical Reports
• Cancer Risk Coefficients for Environmental Exposure to Radionuclides (pdf, 335 pp)
  Federal Guidance Report No. 13 (Final) EPA 402-R-99-001, September 1999.
• External Exposure to Radionuclides in Air, Water, and Soil: pdf or html (DOE)
  Report No. 12, Environmental Protection Agency, 402-R-93-81, September 1993.
• Limiting Values of Radionuclide Intake and Air Concentration and Dose Conversion Factors for Inhalation, Submersion, and Ingestion: pdf or view html (DOE)
  Report No. 11, Environmental Protection Agency, 520/1-88-020, September 1988.
• Radiation Protection Guidance for Diagnostic X Rays (pdf)
  Report No. 9, Environmental Protection Agency, 520/4-76-019, October 1976.
• Background Report: Recommendations on Guidance for Diagnostic X-Ray Studies in Federal Health Care Facilities (pdf)
  Environmental Protection Agency, 520/4-76-002, March 1976.

Selected Radiation Safety Pages

• Caltech Radiation Safety Manual
• Harvard Environmental Health and Safety (Radiation Safety)
• UPenn Environmental Health and Radiation Safety
• Rutgers Environmental Health and Safety