Re: clarification re unknowm waste

[chatho@lanl.gov (Charles Thomas)]

>A question for Charles and Mike,
>
>>>     When I worked at the Naval Medical Research Institute, any and all 
>    ...
>>>     with each micorcurie.  It worked for me.  Accountability.  That is the 
>>>     key....mike coogen  
>>
>>This is the method we used at SUNY/Buffalo when I was there in the
>>'70s....Charles Thomas
>
>What if the "accountable" researcher retires, leaves, etc.?  Who ends up
>holding the bag then?
>
>Albert Lee Vest           The Ohio State University
>Health Physicist    Room 103 1314 Kinnear Road Bldg
>(614)292-1284                     1314 Kinnear Road
>avest@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu   Columbus OH 43212
>My employer did not review or approve this message.
>
>
I don't remember that this occurred while I was there.  Usually you would
have some warning that he/she was retiring and could do something about it
before he/she left.  We required that each PI be "liscensed" and that all
radiation workers ( faculty and students) take a training course or
demonstrate an adequate knowledge of rad safety before they could use or
purchase radionuclides.  Also all radionuclides that were purchased required
Radiation Protection Department approval of the PO and the radionuclides
were delivered to the Radiation Protection Dept. which did the required
surveys and logged the material in before it went to the researcher.  Each
PI's lab(s) had limits on the total quantity of each radionuclide they could
possess and, if RPD did not have statement of disposal, and the PI was over
his possession limit then his order would not be approved.  Hope this is of
some help.  I believe that Mark Pierro is the current head of the RPD.  I
don't recall his phone number but the snail mail address would be Rsdiation
Protection Department, State University of New York at Buffalo, Main Street
Campus, Buffalo, NY 14215, at least that was what it was a year or so ago.
If you belong to HPS then you could look him up in the Mebership Handbook.
I don't have my copy here at the office.  Mar and A. K. Bruce have developed
some of training manuals for radionuclide use and radiation producing
equipment use.

Charles (Tommy) Thomas
Los Alamos National Laboratory
TSA-11 MS k557
Los Alamos, NM  87545
505-665-1185
chatho@lanl.gov