Radioisotope Inventories

[Sue Dupre <DUPRE%PUCC.bitnet@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu>]

I am interested in hearing about other approaches to maintaining radioisotope
inventories.  What we do now:  we require each Authorized User (aka principal
investigator/permit holder, etc.) to provide us with two monthly reports.  One
report states the User's total inventory by isotope (including waste materials
still in the lab) while the other report is a waste report which itemizes the
total amounts, by isotope, which have gone into the sewer, up the hood, or have
left the lab in waste cans.  In our own inventory program we then enter what
the User has reported to us as his/her inventory amounts for the current month
and during the course of the month we add to the User's inital inventory what
he/she orders during that month. We then compare the inventory + orders to the
User's possession limit.  At the start of the next month we start over again
with the User's next reported inventory.

There is pressure here (from the User's, who else) to consider different inven-
tory methods, to go to something that doesn't require them to submit monthly
reports, that doesn't require them to make guesses about how much activity is
going into waste cans.  For instance, they have proposed that a departmental
rep keep track of incoming orders for each User and that when waste is picked
up from a lab, the rep will automatically assume all activity ordered during
the period of time that the waste containers were in the lab is now in the
waste.  What kind of inventory efforts do you expect from your Users?  Are
there places where Users don't need to estimate the actual amount of activity
present in the lab or present in the waste?  If your Users provide inventory
reports, how often?

By the way, we don't have a centralized radioisotope receiving area so my
office doesn't necessarily know what packages arrived when and how much they
actually contained (unless the package requires a survey - then we're called
and actually see the package and its papers).

I'd be delighted to hear from you, especially about what you think is the mini-
mum regulatorily required information we need to have concerning inventories.
If it's more convenient to call me, I can be reached at (609)258-5294 or via
e-mail directly at dupre@pucc.princeton.edu.

Thanks for your advice, information and insight.

Sue Dupre/Health Physicist/Office of Occupational Health & Safety/Princeton
University