RE: Survey of decayed waste

["Quang Le" <qmle@icnpharm.com>]

Andy:

You wrote:
"With S-35 we should be able to show that we can survey all of the waste
reasonably well, meaning we may have to smash the bag flat or open it up
(although this is not preferred).  We must verify that the waste has
decayed to background levels prior to disposal as non-radioactive."

I have heard other people say that they, too, survey decayed S-35 waste
without opening the bags (for obvious reasons. It's not very pleasant!). I
am always curious about whether this practice is adequate though. After
all, it does not take much to shield most of the betas from S-35 (<0.3 mm
of unit density material, I believe). Has this issue ever been raised? And
how was it addressed?

Quang Le
ICN Biomedicals
<qmle@icnpharm.com>


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