Personal Protective Equipment: Wear a lab coat and gloves at all times when you are using radioactivity, an EHS requirement.

Radioactive Materials Inventory Record Form: Each shipment of radioactivity comes with an Inventory Record Form. Posted above the radioactivity bench, it must be filled out each time radioactivity is used. This is an EHS requirement.

Waste Disposal by the User: For each isotope, waste is disposed of in three forms: (a) liquid waste in small vials, (b) liquid waste not in vials, and (c) dry waste, e.g., diapers and gloves. Keep them separate because they must be disposed of separately. 

Determine which radioactive waste closet you should be using. In Genetic Medicine Building (GMB), Room 3083, used by the Cook, Kuhlman, and Strahl Labs, there are two 50 gallon drums and two cardboard boxes, one each for short-lived and long-lived isotopes. Please be careful to use the correct disposal container. Only scintillation vials go in the drums and only dry waste goes in the boxes. Consequently:

  1. After each experiment, dispose of the liquid waste in small vials in a Ziploc bag. Label each Ziploc bag of vials with a Sharpie including your name, the date, the kind of scintillation fluid, total volume, and your lab name. Completely fill out the log on the appropriate waste container in Room 3083, including the nuclide and activity in mCi. (So, obviously, do not put any waste in a container that lacks a UNC Radioactive Waste Disposal Record.)
  2. Liquid waste not in vials is disposed of in the radioactivity sink outside of  Room 3050 within posted limits. Record this on the Sewer Release Log above the sink. If you put any liquid in the storage container on our bench you must keep track of how much radioactivity you add, in mCi. Please empty this container after each use to eliminate possible confusion regarding what is in there. If your waste is too hot to go down the sink, dispose of it in an appropriate container in Room 3083.
  3. Similarly, after each experiment dispose of the dry waste, including appropriate diapers, in Room 3083. Completely fill out the log on the appropriate container, including nuclide, activity in mCi, and composition of the waste, e.g., gloves, diapers, etc.

Citizenship in the Shared Radioactive Waste Closet: 

When any container is approximately 75 percent full send an e-mail to the individual responsible for that container, i.e., the person who created the disposal record, as noted on it. Include your name, lab,  the waste room number and waste type (i.e., drum or box, short- or long-lived). He or she will then do the final paperwork for Environmental Health and Safety pickup and request delivery of a new empty container.

Wipes/Geiger Counter Sweeps:  After each experiment perform the appropriate monitoring test, depending on the isotope used, to verify that our lab is not contaminated. In the Strahl Lab, leave these records in the manila folder above our radioactivity bench.