There are many diverse uses of radioactive materials licensed or registered
by the Radioactive Materials Section. All licensees or registrants fall
into the following categories:
General
License
Many industrial facilities
and laboratories use relatively small or well shielded sealed sources in
equipment designed to be used safely by persons untrained with respect
to radiation safety. We maintain records of where these devices are
located which have been sold under general license. Some sources are of
sufficient quantity to require registration.
Industrial
Industrial Radiography - Large sealed sources are
used to non-destructively test welds, castings and structural material for cracks and flaws which could render
the product or construction unsafe. These radiography sources are extremely hazardous if mishandled
and can cause skin burns, loss of fingers and other tissue damage, and potentially death.
Contamination is not a problem.
Fixed Gauges - Various sizes of sealed sources are
used to measure thickness of material, density, fill level, or flow rate in pipes, tanks or other vessels in
numerous industries. The sources and their housings are manufactured to stringent
specifications to ensure their safety no matter where the gauge is used. In the worst
instance in this state, molten steel poured over a gauge destroying the electronics but
had no effect on the sealed source.
Portable Gauges - Small sealed sources are used in
portable test equipment to measure moisture and/or density of road beds, roofing, or
agricultural land. The gauges are susceptible to theft and damage. Even the most severely damaged gauges have been
easily picked up for return to the manufacturer. No contamination has occurred.
Laboratory
Unsealed radioactive
materials may be used to study living systems and to improve or test products or
materials. Users include biotechnology firms, colleges, and testing labs. Small sources in
gas chromatographs are included in this category. Some of these labs may be licensed for
sufficient quantity of material to be subject to our decommissioning funding plan
requirement.
Medical
Radiopharmaceuticals (unsealed
material for diagnostic or therapeutic use) and the radiation from sealed sources
for therapeutic use are administered to patients. Most hospitals and some major clinics have nuclear
medicine departments. Some clinics and certain private physicians are licensed for
diagnostic use and/or therapy treatments of out-patients.
In-Vitro - Medical labs, hospitals,
private physicians, and veterinarians using extremely limited amounts of
radioactive material for in-vitro clinical testing are only required to
register with the department. Test kits are limited in quantity and the
hazard is low enough to allow any waste to be discarded in the sewerage
system or regular trash collection.
Other Uses
Both sealed and unsealed radioactive
materials can be used in a number of ways not easily categorized. Some are essentially
unique uses. Other users include broad scope licensees, manufacturers, decontamination and
waste brokering, nuclear laundry, calibration of instruments, leak testing services, and
product irradiators. Many of these licensees will be required to have a decommissioning
funding plan.
