Re: release of patient based on NRCREG 35.75

["Ronald Frick" <RFRICK@gammacorp.com>]

>The problem is that when the truck alarms, until someone digs through the >load
>of trash, no one knows whether it's patient contaminated waste or >something
>more sinister.  Of course now with the more widespread use of MCA's, we >can
>generally identify the isotope without dumping the truck, but it still means a
>trip to the dump for the identification.

That is the problem.  There is no way to know what isotope is involved until you make an ID with your portable MCA.  However, even if you do identify the isotope, you still do not know if it is a diaper, capsule, or vial, or something else.  When I get called to the landfill after an alarm, I ID the isotope (99% of the time it is I-131) but always retrieve the bag (s) from the truck.  The main reason is because the landfill will not accept it, regardless of its source.  The second reason is to determine if it is patient waste, or material that was inadvertently released from one of the area nuclear medicine departments and managed to get by their own portal monitors.

Ron Frick
rfrick@gammacorp.com

************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html