Radioactive Isotopes

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

PRECAUTIONS FOR WORK PRACTICE WHEN USING RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPES

General Handling For Work With Radioisotopes

Preparation

  • Clearly label containers, equipment, and areas for the handling of radioisotopes with radioactive labeling tape. The labeling tape can be obtained from your institution stockroom or through an appropriate vendor (link to our list of vendors). Minimize radioactive material work-space.
  • Use absorbent material (benchcoat) and trays to confine spills and reduce the spread of potential contamination.
  • Wear protective clothing. The minimum requirements include a laboratory coat, safety glasses and close-toed shoes. Wear disposable gloves, either single or double pair, depending on the radionuclide you are working with.
  • Dedicate equipment such as pipettes and glassware to radioactivity work and avoid cross contamination.

Equipment / Supplies

  • A Liquid Scintillation Counter for low energy beta radiation.
  • Portable Survey Meter with appropriate probe(s).
  • Disposable latex or plastic gloves.
  • Lab coat, safety glasses, and close-toed shoes.
  • Containers for radioactive waste.
  • Pipettes dedicated to the use of your radionuclide.
  • Safety glasses (to protect from splash and shield from beta radiation).

Work Practices

  • Change your gloves often. Assume gloves are contaminated until proven otherwise. Do not leave the laboratory or touch things outside of the work space with potentially contaminated gloves. Remove gloves carefully from the inside out. Ensure that gloves are disposed of properly and wash hands immediately.
  • Do not eat, drink, smoke, chew gum, or touch exposed areas of skin while working in a room where radioisotopes are handled. Be careful not to rub your eyes, scratch exposed areas of skin, or touch your hair when working with radioactive material.
  • Use automatic or remote pipetting devices. NEVER pipette by mouth.

Contamination / Spill

  • If skin contamination is detected, wash with mild soap and lukewarm water. Do not abrade the skin. If the contamination is not removed after two washings call the Radiation Protection Office.


Post-Work

  • Promptly dispose of radioactive waste properly. Make a reasonable estimate of the amount of radioactivity in the waste and record on a radioactive waste tag.
  • Lock-up and secure your radioactive stock solutions immediately after use.
  • Survey yourself and work area for contamination with an appropriate survey meter. Decontaminate if necessary. Remove protective clothing and wash hands thoroughly with warm water and soap before leaving the laboratory.
  • Participate in the bioassay program as requested by the Radiation Protection Office.

Important Precaution


Protection of Hands

Every precaution should be taken to avoid getting radioactive isotopes on the hands. The hands should be kept at a safe distance from sources because even small sources will cause burns. Wear rubber gloves or paper when handling radioactive materials. After working with radioactive materials, the hands should be washed thoroughly for two or three minutes using plenty of soap. A check of the hands should be made with a monitoring instrument after washing and the hands should be washed again if necessary.

Cleaning of Glassware

Care in the cleaning of glassware is necessary. All vessels should be marked after use and placed apart from other equipment so that it can be given special attention in cleaning. Even after cleaning, glassware should be kept separate from other equipment.

Special Laboratory Clothing

In a biological laboratory where routine work is done with radioactive materials, it is good practice to have special laboratory coats or coveralls, rubbers or special shoes, and even special trousers and shirts, which are kept for use in the laboratories only. Rubber gloves should be worn while handling active materials which may give rise to contamination of the hands.

Posted by at

1 comment:

  1. UnknownMarch 1, 2016 at 2:48 AM

    Commercial Cleaners Melbourne - Orbit Cleaning Company provides professional Cost-effective and managed commercial cleaning services Melbourne. I am very pleased to see this article, thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Types of radioactive isotopes by origin


1) Long-lived radioactive nuclides

Some radioactive nuclides that have very long half lives were created during the formation of the solar system (~4.6 billion years ago) and are still present in the earth. These include 40K (t½ = 1.28 billion years), 87Rb (t½ = 48.8 billion years), 238U (t½ = 447 billion years), and 186Os (t½ = 2 x 106 billion years, or 2 million billion years).

2) Cosmogenic

Cosmogenic isotopes are a result of cosmic ray activity in the atmosphere. Cosmic rays are atomic particles that are ejected from stars at a rate of speed sufficient to shatter other atoms when they collide. This process of transformation is called spallation. Some of the resulting fragments produced are unstable atoms having a different atomic structure (and atomic number), and so are isotopes of another element. The resulting atoms are considered to have cosmogenic radioactivity. Cosmogenic isotopes are also produced at the surface of the earth by direct cosmic ray irradiation of atoms in solid geologic materials.

Examples of cosmogenic nuclides include 14C, 36Cl, 3H, 32Si, and 10Be. Cosmogenic nuclides, since they are produced in the atmosphere or on the surface of the earth and have relatively short half-lives (10 to 30,000 years), are often used for age dating of waters.

3) Anthropogenic

Anthropogenic isotopes result from human activities, such as the processing of nuclear fuels, reactor accidents, and nuclear weapons testing. Such testing in the 1950s and 1960s greatly increased the amounts of tritium (3H) and 14C in the atmosphere; tracking these isotopes in the deep ocean, for instance, allows oceanographers to study ocean flow, currents, and rates of sedimentation. Likewise, in hydrology it allows for the tracking of recent groundwater recharge and flow rates in the vadose zone. Examples of hydrologically useful anthropogenic isotopes include many of the cosmogenic isotopes mentioned above: 3H, 14C, 36Cl, and 85Kr.

4) Radiogenic

Radiogenic isotopes are typically stable daughter isotopes produced from radioactive decay. In the geosciences, radiogenic isotopes help to determine the nature and timing of geological events and processes. Isotopic systems useful in this research are primarily K-Ar, Rb-Sr, Re-Os, Sm-Nd, U-Th-Pb, and the noble gases (4H, 3H-3He, 40Ar).

Because of their stable evolution in groundwater, such naturally occurring isotopes are useful hydrologic tracers, allowing evaluation of large geographic areas to determine flowpaths and flow rates. Consequently, they are helpful in building models that predict fracturing, aquifer thickness, and other subterranean features.


http://www.sahra.arizona.edu/