Alarms at Borders

["Mccormick, Luke I" <luke.mccormick@dhs.gov>]

Please spread the word. Our Operating Directive states that each radiation

detection at a border will be investigated and resolved. Most all Customs

Officers wear pagers and we use a huge number of passive radiation

detectors in the form of portal monitors, cargo scanning devices, etc.

Everyone who sets off an alarm crossing the border is sent to secondary

until the Officers have determined if they are ligitimate.

Many, but not all nuclear medicine departments are providing patients with

letters explaining that the patients have received a radiopharmaceutical

and if we have questions to call the doctor/clinic/hospital.For those

carrying the documents we simpy verify that the office is ligitimate and

call to verify that the person was a patient there. We can identify many of

the radiopharmaceuticals by thier spectrum on site. These people pass

through pretty quickly. The people who don't have the documentation are

asked for the doctor/clinic name and we do the same thing but  most do not

know the phone number of the clinic so they may be detained for quite a

while until we get everything straightened out. If you are a patient or

work at a nuc. med. facility, please make sure that the paperwork is given

to the patients and travel restrictions may cause them some delays.

Luke McCormick



____________________Reply Separator____________________

Subject:    RE: question concerning stress tests

Author:     owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Date:       1/12/2005 12:28 PM











       Hal  & Phil,



       Patients ARE setting off alarms NOW.  Happens a lot at the

       NY/Canadian border, day trippers coming back.  I heard one

       instance on the  Mexican California border near San Diego.  So

       far it seems the detectors  are set up at borders and customs

       stations in airports.





       Any opinions in this e-mail are solely those of the author, and

       are not represented as those of the VA Eastern Colorado HCS,

       the Dept. of  Veterans Affairs, or the US Government.



       Peter G. Vernig, Radiation Safety  Officer, MS-115, VA Eastern

       Colorado Health Care System, 1055 Clermont St.  Denver, CO

       80220, peter.vernig@med.va.gov, Phone= 303.399.8020 x2447; Fax

       =  303.393.5026, alternate fax, 303.393.5248



       "...whatever is true, whatever  is noble, whatever is lovely,

       whatever is admirable, if anything is found to be  excellent or

       praiseworthy, let your mind dwell on these things."



       Paul of  Tarsus



       -----Original Message-----

       From:  owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

       [mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]On Behalf Of Careway,

       Harold  A. (GE Energy)

       Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 9:30  AM

       To: Radsafe (E-mail)

       Subject: FW: question concerning  stress tests





       Phil sent:



       Exposures from nuclear stress tests can be  considerable, at

       least to those of us who have to explain and justify every

       last millirem to regulators and activists.



       Several years ago I had a stress  test and made some post

       treatment measurements with a Bicron MicroR  meter.



       Injections of 30 mCi of Tc-99m and  4 mCi of Tl-201 result in a

       cumulative dose of ~600 mrem.  Seven (7)  hours after

       treatment, the exposure rate was 17 mR/hr in contact with the

       stomach and 20 microR/hr (twice background) at 30 feet.

       Exposure rate  at stomach level after 2 days was ~2 mR/hr, and

       after 7 days was ~0.5  mR/hr.   After 3 weeks, exposure rates

       were indistinquishable from  background.



       Yes, at those levels, a lot of  patients are going to be

       setting of the increasing number of post 9/11  radiation

       monitors in airports, borders, etc.



       See http://www.philrutherford.com/Stress_Test_2003.pdf for

       charts of exposure vs. distance and time.



       Interestingly enough, when I asked the nuclear  technician who

       administered the radiopharmaceuticals, how much exposure I

       would receive, he said "Oh, about the same as a chest X-ray

       (~10 mrem)."   I do not know whether that was simple ignorance

       or deliberate  misinformation.



       Phil



       ---------------------------------------------------------------

       ------------------



       I  had the same experience when I went for my Cardolite test -

       the technician was  able to tell me the activity dose I was

       receiving (30 mCi of Tc-99m) but not  my whole body or

       effective dose in mR or mSv.  It was like he never heard  of

       such a thing and really made me angry.   Latter I estimated

       that  between the two doses I received (1PM in the afternoon

       and a second dose at  8AM the next morning) I picked up

       somewhere between 1600-1800 mR  integrated.



       I  continued to register above background on my Xetex 308A

       until three days after  the procedure and the first day I could

       set the detector off from 15 feet  outside my office, what fun.





       Hal  Careway







.





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