RE: shipping violation?

[Glen.Vickers@ucm.com]

	<<This is true, but keep in mind that even if the contaminated area
were 1 
	square centimeter, they could average over 300 square centimeters
(and would 
have gotten15 dpm/cm^2, for the 4440 dpm they found)>>

I must disagree, to average a contamination reading over 300 cm^2 if the
package were only 1 cm^2 just to get a lower mathematical value, should be
incorrect.  I don't see how you can take credit for an area you did not
assess.  I believe 49CFR says "the radioactivity is averaged over the
surface wiped", not just divide by 300 cm^2.

How would others handle items less than 300 cm^2?

Sincerely,
Glen
glen.vickers@ucm.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	BLHamrick@aol.com [SMTP:BLHamrick@aol.com]
> Sent:	Thursday, June 08, 2000 10:01 AM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	Re: shipping violation?
> 
> In a message dated 06/08/2000 7:23:53 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
> Glen.Vickers@ucm.com writes:
> 
> << This is indeed a quandry.  If the person wiped the entire package with
> one
>  smear, they'd have no way of knowing what the size of the contaminated
> area
>  was. >>
> 
> This is true, but keep in mind that even if the contaminated area were 1 
> square centimeter, they could average over 300 square centimeters (and
> would 
> have gotten15 dpm/cm^2, for the 4440 dpm they found)...Given that they 
> reportedly wiped 2990 square centimeters, the entire external surface area
> of 
> the package, it is likely they actually wiped more than 300 cm^2...
> 
> This is one of those cases where it is conceivable that someone else
> taking 
> the wipe using the best possible procedures could have found 300 cm^2 with
> 
> more than 6600 dpm, but weighing the available information, it appears 
> unlikely.  Keep in mind as well, this was a package containing Tc-99m...I 
> realize, the regulations don't distinguish on the basis of hazard per 
> isotope, nevertheless, this is a consideration in response to an incident.
> 
> Barbara L. Hamrick
> BLHamrick@aol.com
> ************************************************************************
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> information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html


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