Re: Medical waste held for decay

[Paul Lavely <lavelyp@uclink2.berkeley.edu>]

We use 10 halflives and then check to make sure it is less than twice
background. If less then we consider it not radioactive. If more than twice
background we decay for another few halflives or find if there is a longer
lived material. An example is a gallon bottle of 32-P waste that decays for
6 months but still has positive LSC counts. We determine if it is H-3 or
S-35. If S-35, we decay longer. We also resolve the labeling problem.


Paul Lavely
UC Berkeley
lavelyp@uclink2.berkeley.edu

>Dear RadSafe,
>
>My apologies if this question has been asked recently but my interest in
>this question has only come about in the last few days.
>
>When a medical or research facility holds short-lived nuclides for 10
>half-lives to decay, how much can still be left and still consider the
>material "gone."  I would think that it should be completely gone to be
>gone but isn't this impracticle?  Is this nuclide specific?
>
>I'd appreciate answers from different facilities if they differ.  If this
>question has been asked on RadSafe already maybe you can just tell me
>the subject line and I can look through the archives that way.
>
>Thanks
>
>Joelle Key
>TN-DRH
>jkey@mail.state.tn.us
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