[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
RE: saftey of being in the proximity of someone on RAI therapy
I don't know how many states require landfill operators to have portal
monitors but I know that New Jersey does not. Most landfills and
incinerators here have installed them but it has been at the urging of
their insurance carriers, not due to state regulation.
I wasn't clear on one of my previous points, I agree that states would
have to give upfront authorization to dispose of shortlived radioactive
materials in landfills. The point that I was trying to make is that
even with such an authorization, you would still have the problem of who
identifies an unknown radionuclide triggering a landfill monitor. If
the patient received waste packaging materials when leaving the
hospital, and the packaging materials identified the contents as
shortlived rad waste, and included contact information for verification,
it should not be necessary to identify the rad material with gamma
spectrometry.
Gerald Nicholls
NJDEP
>>> John Jacobus <crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM> 08/20/04 12:48PM >>>
If the states are requiring the landfill operators to
have portal monitors, then the states could require
them to have hand-held spectrometers.
--- "Flanigan, Floyd" <Floyd.Flanigan@nmcco.com>
wrote:
> I agree almost completely with one unfortunate point
> of contest: The expenditure of resources to identify
> the isotope once the alarm at the dump goes off. I'm
> sure there is a way of addressing it efficiently ...
> but who picks up the tab?
>
> Floyd W. Flanigan B.S.Nuc.H.P.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Jacobus [mailto:crispy_bird@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Friday, August 20, 2004 11:17 AM
> To: Gerald Nicholls; kb1ipd@HOTMAIL.COM;
> owner-radsafe@list.Vanderbilt.Edu;
> radsafe@list.Vanderbilt.Edu;
> Flanigan, Floyd; phil.egidi@state.co.us;
> crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM
> Subject: RE: saftey of being in the proximity of
> someone on RAI therapy
>
>
> Maybe it is about time that the regulators consider
> the cost outweigh the risk, and consider allowing
> landfills to receive and dispose of short-lived
> radioactive waste from medical treatments.
>
> --- Gerald Nicholls
> <Gerald.Nicholls@dep.state.nj.us>
> wrote:
>
> > The analogy with cheese isn't really applicable.
> > Some patients now
> > leave hositals following nuclear medicine
> procedures
> > with millicurie
> > levels of iodine. This is excreted in urine,
> feces
> > and perspiration.
> > Many of these patients are elderly and suffer from
> > incontinence and/or
> > bowel problems. Most home care givers aren't
> > equipped or trained to
> > hold wound dressing, diapers, etc. in the
> patient's
> > home for decay and
> > hence the materials wind up in municipal trash.
> >
> > Many landfills and incinerators now have radiation
> > monitors installed
> > and a soiled diaper contains more than enough
> > activity to activate the
> > alarm, even inside a filled garbage truck. The
> > alarms are typically set
> > at 2X to 3X background (20 to 50 microR/hour).
> Most
> > of these facilities
> > do not have gamma spectrometry equipment available
> > on site or staff
> > trained in its use. Hence, when the monitor
> alarms,
> > a visit from a
> > state regulatory program representative or a
> > consultant is necessary to
> > indentify the material and assure the landfill or
> > incerator operator
> > that the waste can be safely held for decay or
> > disposed of immediately.
> > As Phil Egidi pointed out, sometimes it is
> necessary
> > to dump a truckfull
> > of municipal waste and search through it to find
> and
> > identify the item
> > that triggered the alarm. That can be truly
> > problematic for a fully
> > loaded truck that has sat in the sun for several
> > days awaiting
> > evaluation.
> >
> > New Jersey's regulatory program typically receives
> > 80 to 100 calls per
> > year regarding radioactive materials and about one
> > half of them involve
> > I-131. Responding to these calls takes resources
> > away from more
> > important and relevant work. Also, the loss of
> the
> > truck (sometimes for
> > up to a week) and staff time to deal with the
> > problem are signifcant
> > costs to the waste hauler.
> >
> > It would be far better for the hospital or
> physician
> > to provide
> > instructions to the patient and home care givers
> on
> > how to deal properly
> > with contaminated materials, even if that
> ultimately
> > leads to the
> > materials being returned to the hospital and held
> > for decay.
> >
> > As far as a homeowner being billed for the costs
> of
> > this work, I'm not
> > aware of that ever happening but I know that it
> has
> > been threatened by
> > municipal waste haulers. I think the primary
> reason
> > it hasn't occurred
> > is the difficulty in identifying the source of the
> > contaminated waste.
> >
> > Gerald Nicholls
> > NJDEP
> >
> > >>> "Flanigan, Floyd" <Floyd.Flanigan@nmcco.com>
> > 08/20/04 09:52AM >>>
> > The radiological half life of I-131 is only about
> 8
> > days. It should be
> > at unnoticeable levels in a relatively short
> period
> > of time. Isotopes of
> > this nature are used for medical applications on a
> > regular basis and to
> > my knowledge, once a patient is released from the
> > hospital, there are no
> > regulations which place controls on the
> disposition
> > of the resultant
> > contaminated waste which the patient generates. As
> > an example of the low
> > level of concern for this particular isotope,
> cheese
> > made from milk
> > contaminated with I-131 may be sold at market
> > theoretically since the
> > aging process for cheese is longer than the time
> it
> > takes for the Iodine
> > to decay to a low enough level to fly under the
> > proverbial radar. I
> > would not be concerned in this case.
> >
> > Floyd W. Flanigan B.S.Nuc.H.P.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
> > [mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]On
> Behalf
> > Of John Jacobus
> > Sent: Friday, August 20, 2004 7:29 AM
> > To: Philip Egidi; kb1ipd@HOTMAIL.COM;
> > owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu;
> > radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu; crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM
>
> > Subject: Re: saftey of being in the proximity of
> > someone on RAI
> > therapy
> >
> >
> > Philip,
> > Unless there is a regulatory state requirement,
> > which
> > I doubt, there is no requirement to isolate
> > household
> > trash. It is a nice idea, but unless the hospital
> > or
> > local authorities are willing to pick it up,
> > patients
> > should not be required to do so. Does Colorado
> have
> > such a provision?
> >
> > I have never heard of a private citizen being
> asked
> > to
> > pay charges for contaminated waste.
> >
> > --- Philip Egidi <phil.egidi@state.co.us> wrote:
> >
> > > And PLEASE have your friend follow the
> > instructions
> > > given (hopefully) by
> > > the doctor/clinic/hospital as to disposal of
> > wastes
> > > that may contain the
> > > I-131 after she is released from patient care.
> Do
> > > NOT just throw paper
> > > towels or anything that may contain body fluid
> > > (feces, urine, sweat,
> > > vomit, etc), in the trash - it may set off
> alarms
> > at
> > > the local landfill.
> > > Your friendly state regulator (or less friendly
> > > hazmat response team)
>
=== message truncated ===
=====
+++++++++++++++++++
"Everyone is ignorant, only on different subjects."
Will Rogers
-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail: crispy_bird@yahoo.com
_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Win 1 of 4,000 free domain names from Yahoo! Enter now.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/goldrush
************************************************************************
You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To
unsubscribe, send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the
text "unsubscribe radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail,
with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/
************************************************************************
You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To
unsubscribe, send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the
text "unsubscribe radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail,
with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/