Re: Radioisotope Inventories

["Patrick D. Beyer" <pbeyer@post.its.mcw.edu>]

Sue, 

what we do here at MCW.....

1) Each order is approved by radiation safety when placed to central 
purchasing. A copy is retained by radiation safety and entered into our 
inventory system. An approval sheet listing activities on hand, order 
limits and possession limits for each user is printed every monday.

2) All radioactive material packages (except nuclear medicine materials or
sealed sources) are shipped to the same address regardless of what
institution they will be used in ( we have multiple institutions on our
license).  Each package is checked in by radiation safety, logged into the
computer as recieved (where it is assigned a control number) and an
inventory sheet is printed. We then deliver it to the labs. If a package
is recieved that was not approved by radiation safety, we contact the
Authorized user and take appropriate action. Once they use the material 
and place it into the radiaoctive trash, they return the use sheet and we 
take the itme off thier inventory. 

3) Each Authorized user requests a specific possession limit and order 
limit for each nuclide he requires. If an order will place them over thier 
authorized limit, the order is held until they either dispose of some 
material or demonstrate that thier inventory has decreased to a point 
that they can order more.

4) Each quarter we send them an inventory of all thier radioactive 
materials that must be returned within 2 weeks or all orders are held.
Along with this we are now including a sheet for recording thier aqueous 
disposals by nuclide and month to comply with the new part 20. 

5) As for our waste inventory, a majority of our material is disposed of 
through DIS and incineration. Each item of waste we collect has to be 
labeled with a radioactive waste tag that has the nuclide, activity and 
chemical form. If the item is not properly labeled we don't take it. Also 
if after we collect it, we find that it was improperly labeled (Labeled 
as plastic when it contains glass) it is returned to the lab for 
repackaging.....


Hope this helps, Sounds like your users have it pretty good....

Pat Beyer
Radiation Safety Specialist
Medical College of Wisconsin