Fall Ohio University Lab & Rad Safety Newsletter. Table of Contents

Transcription

1 Ohio University Lab & Rad Safety Newsletter Fall 2017 Table of Contents New Rad Office Staff/Rad Safety Rules... P.2 Why is 1mSv the Annual Dose Limit for the General Public?... P.3 What Was the Bikini Named After?... P.3 RADTown USA... P.4-5 = Required = Optional Alan Watts Director Radiation Safety Officer Editor: Maria Stroia 1

2 Lab & Rad Safety Department Welcomes New Employee Laboratory & Radiation Safety would like to welcome Ricardo Ricky Gaytan into the department. Having started on August 14, 2017, he is the new Radiation Safety Technician. Born and raised in Laredo, Texas, Ricky moved to Athens from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Ricky graduated from Texas A&M University with his Bachelor s degree in Nuclear Engineering. He will be coming to a lab near you soon (if he hasn t already) to perform monthly surveys, collect bioassay samples, check sealed sources, process and deliver packages containing radioactive material, and deal with radioactive waste, among many other duties to be handled. He will also help ensure your research is conducted safely and compliantly, per State and Federal regulations. Please help us welcome him into the Ohio University family. Ohio University Laboratory Safety Rules 1. Your personal safety is as important as the research results. Think Safely Work Safely. 2. No horseplay; act in a professional manner. 3. Always wear approved safety glasses, in compliance with Ohio state law. 4. No sandals or open-toed shoes in the laboratory. 5. Long hair and loose clothing must be restrained. 6. No eating, drinking, chewing gum or smoking in the laboratory. 7. Never pipette by mouth. Never taste any chemicals. 8. Do not store food, drinks, or any personal items in a lab chemical refrigerator. 9. Visitors must follow safety regulations; if necessary, visitors must be escorted. 10. Do not perform any unauthorized experiments. 11. Clean up after yourself. When you are finished for the day, return the area to a clean condition. 2

3 Why is 1mSv the annual dose limit for the general public? Joseph L Alvarez Alpha Beta Gamut Q: What is the basis of setting 1mSv as the annual dose limit for the general public while 50mSv has been set as the maximum dose a trained occupational worker can receive? A: There is no technical basis for the limit of 1mSv annually to a member of the public. The limit is political, not a matter of safety. The intent is to protect at a level where no benefit is derived from the dose. The worker dose limit was derived from the Japanese atomic bomb survivor studies. Early in the studies it was clear that no observable effects were found below 0.5 Sv. From that observation it was surmised that 10 times lower was surely safe. A worker limit of 0.05 annually was established. It was considered extra safe because the dose would be delivered over time rather than instantaneous as with the bomb dose. A risk-benefit argument was developed for the worker dose, assuming there were indeed a risk (the 0.5 Sv safe level might be in error) that risk would be small. A worker derived benefit (income) from exposure to the risk, but the public did not. A factor of 10 was introduced for the public and the limit set at 5 msv. This level was reduced to 1 msv since it was obvious that most public exposures were less than 1 msv. The linear, no-threshold model was introduced for a conservative and easily calculated risk model. The LNT assumption lead to no-safe-dose of radiation. No-safe-dose lead to As Low As Reasonably Achievable as a radiation protection policy. The limit of 1 msv/y is no longer defensible if one can claim that a lower dose is reasonable. In no case has the original observation of no effects below 0.5 Sv been demonstrated to be incorrect. What was the bikini named after? On July 5, 1946, French designer Louis Reard unvieled a two-piece swimsuit at the Piscine Molitor, a popular swimming pool in Paris. Parisian showgirl Micheline Bernardini modeled the new fashion, which Reard dubbed bikini, inspired by a news-making U.S. atomic test that took place off the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean earlier that week. Made out of a scant 30 inches of fabric, Reard promoted his creation as smaller than the world s smallest bathing suit. He called his creation the bikini, named after the Bikini Atoll. 3

4 Welcome to RADtown USA! - The Burbs Each day, we are exposed to radiation from various sources, regardless of where we live or our fields of work. RADtown USA explains radiation in our towns, and how it is used. Explore these sources of radiation in The Burbs, Downtown, Countryside, or Waterfront. In this issue of the RAD Safety Newsletter, we ll explore The Burbs. Radioactive material can be used in classroom experiments. Chemistry, physics, and earth science labs are some of the places radioactive materials can be used in schools. Schools are responsible for protecting students when radioactive materials are present in classrooms or labs. Be sure to correctly label radioactive materials and seal them away in appropriate containers depending on the type of radiation. Many exit signs contain tritium to light the sign without batteries or energy. Exit signs are located in nearly every building we enter. Tritium emits beta particles, which are most harmful when inhaled or swallowed, but must be ingested in large amount to pose a significant health risk. If an exit sign becomes damaged or broken, you should leave the area and call for help. Also, do not throw away exit signs in the ordinary trash. They must be properly disposed of. Electromagnetic fields (EMF) are a combination of electric and magnetic fields of energy that surround any electrical device that is plugged in and turned on. EMF are found near power lines. Electromagnetic radiation consists of waves of electric and magnetic energy moving together through space. EMF s are found near power lines and other electronic devices, but become weaker as you move away from them. EMF from power lines is considered to be extremely low frequency. Although many myths state that living near power lines can increase cancer risk, scientific studies have not clearly shown a correlation between long-term exposure to EMF and increased cancer rates. To be safe, you should limit your exposure to strong EMF. Microwaves use electromagnetic waves that penetrate food to heat it quickly. Leaks from microwaves are hard to detect, so be sure that the doors are sealed correctly and that you are not standing directly in front or against the appliance while it is operating. Ionization smoke detectors use a small amount of radioactive material, americium-241, that detects smoke. If you use the smoke detector as directed and do not tamper with it, there is no radiation health risk. Wireless technology (WiFi, cell phones, etc.) emit radio frequency (RF) energy waves. RF energy is non-ionizing radiation. In wireless technology, it s not strong enough to affect the structure of atoms or damage DNA. However, at high levels, RF energy waves can be dangerous. 4

5 Medical x-rays are used to see what is happening inside the body. Different imaging procedures expose patients to various amounts of radiation. Conventional and dental x-ray procedures and mammography use relatively low amounts of radiation. CT scans and fluoroscopic procedures involve multiple exposures and/or a longer exposure to radiation resulting in higher doses. The information gained from an x-ray procedure should outweigh the risk from radiation. Radiation therapy uses high-energy (ionizing) radiation to shrink or kill tumors. Because radiation damages cells and destroys their ability to divide, external beam radiation therapy uses focused radiation beams produced by a machine outside the body to target tumor cells inside the body. These machines are called linear accelerators. Radiation therapy does not make the patient radioactive. Because radiation can also increase the risk of cancer, there is a small chance that the cancer treatment itself will produce another cancer years later. Cancer therapy patients are therefore screened frequently for cancer after successful treatment of their primary tumor. Radiation emergencies can be intentional acts designed to hurt others, like a terrorist attack, or they can be accidents that occur when handling radioactive material. A nuclear power plant accident, nuclear explosion or a dirty bomb are examples of radiation emergencies. Intentional acts that use radioactive materials include Improvised Nuclear Devices (IND) and Nuclear Weapons, Dirty Bomb or Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD). All these weapons are used for the intent to harm others with radioactive material. Unintentional acts, or radiation accidents, can include a Nuclear Power Plant Accident or a Transportation Accident. Federal, state and local governments have plans and trained teams of people prepared to respond to radiation emergencies. The role of each Federal agency is defined in the National Response Framework s Nuclear/Radiological Incident Annex Stay tuned for the Winter Newsletter, where we ll visit RADtown s Countryside! Laboratory and Radiation Safety There for you, at your service Who you gonna call? Radiation Safety Contacts Name Office Cell OUPD Alan Watts Ricardo Gaytan David Schleter David Ingram