Gamma Cell 200 Ans Mike Williamson

[VERNIG.PETER@forum.va.gov]

{Original Msg: 'Gammacell model 200' from <root@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
{
{Anyone who's institution has a Gammacell 200 irradiator will probably know
{by now that the type B(U) transport certification expires on 30 April 1995
{and will not be renewed by the manufacturer.  This means that transport of
{a 200 for disposal after this date can only be done with a "special
{arrangement" certificate  - issued by the competent authority and possibly
{costing serious money ($10k to $15k is one estimate) just for the
{certificate alone!
{
{Has anyone else been through the process of weighing up the pros and cons
{of disposing of a useable piece of equipment now (while the certificate is
{still current) or getting a few more years out of it and paying for special
{arrangements - assuming that the Canadian authorities will be prepared to
{keep issuing such certificates?
{
{
{Mike Williamson
{Radiation Protection Adviser
{University of Queensland
{Brisbane
{Australia
{
 
 
My answer is probably not going to be real satisfactory to you but yes
we have, only with a gamma cell 220, which is in the same boat.  If I
remember the numbers it was going to cost us ~$40-50K US to get rid of
our gamma cell 220.  We no longer use it it is in a sub basement of our
research building gathering dust.  What got it in play so to speak is than
I revised and updated the emergency proceedures fo it.  "Walk quickly to
the stairs, call the RSO and evacuate the building."  This meant I had to
run it by our Emergency Preparedness Committee.  Someone on the Committee
was concerned that since we didn't use it and it could present a immediate
hazard it should be gotten rid of.  For a while we had a "live one", that
is someone that wanted it and found it would cost only marginally less
to ship it 1-2000 miles.  The facility that wanted it was another VA
so it would have been relatively easy to give it to them.  They decided
against it however, probably partly due to funding the move.
 
To make a long story a little shorter, I said the "worst cridible
accident" was a fire that would degrade the shielding and recommended
not getting rid of it.  It's down to about 700 Ci in 30 rods by now.
That's about 23 Ci/rod.  Don't know what else you might be interested in,
Basically we decided it represents only a minor hazard where it is
and we just felt we had better ways to spend the money.  By your estimate
well be looking at $55-65K US after April.  Regarding the fire risk, we
are about 1 mile (1.8 KM) from a fire station and their response time is
five minutes.  I did recommend putting in some fire sprinklers over the
unit and I think that proposal died when attention shifted away from the
disposal issue.  That would cost us only about $2K but with a five minute
response time from our fire Dept. I can't say I really feel it's necessary.
We didn't really do any dtailed cost benefit analysis.  Part of the
decision, I'm sure was that we felt unlikely to get the disposal funded
by higher headquarters.
Peter G. Vernig
 
 
************************************************************************
VA Medical Center, 1055 Clermont St. MS 115
Denver, CO 80220; 303-399-8020 x2447 FAX 393-4656
FAX 303-393-4656, vernig.peter@forum.va.gov
************************************************************************