AGENDA UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE RADIATION SAFETY COMMITTEE 4th Quarter Meeting 2016 December 8, 2016 1:30-2:30 pm Rudman G04 1. Old Business: 2. Approval of 3rd Quarter 2016 Meeting Minutes 3. Radiation Safety & Annual Report 4. Dosimetry Results 5. Laser Safety 6. X-Ray Safety 7. Training Report 8. Survey Frequency Recommendation-Third Party Audit 9. Gross Laser System 10. Laser Safety Program 11. Radon Monitoring Update 12. Beta and Gamma Sealed Sources
MINUTES UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE RADIATION SAFETY COMMITTEE Fourth Quarter Meeting Rudman Hall G04 December 8, 2016 1:30-2:30 pm The UNH Radiation Safety Committee (RSC) held the Fourth Quarterly meeting for 2016 on December 8, 2016. Attachments: Radiation Protection Program Compliance Audit Summary Laser Safety Program Gross SOP Gross SOP- Alignment The following members were in attendance: Voting Dr. Olof Echt, Physics, Chair Non-Voting Michele Arista, RSO Dr. Thomas Foxall, Biological Sciences Dr. Martin Wosnik, Mechanical Engineering Dr. James Connell, Physics and Space Science, Vice Chair Bradford Manning, Director of EHS The following members were not in attendance: Dr. Stacia Sower, MCBS Julie Simpson, Research Integrity Services
Chair Olof Echt brought the meeting to order at 1:35 pm. 1. Old Business: none 2. Approval of Third Quarter 2016 Minutes: Committee Member Foxall made a motion to accept the revised Third Quarter 2016 Minutes. Committee member Connell seconded the motion, and the motion was unanimously approved. 3. Radiation Safety: Renewal permit applications are being processed for 2017. The 6 month leak tests came back within regulatory limits. The Radiation Safety Survey Reports were sent out. There was one item of noncompliance for overdue training. An email went out to collect the 6 month unsealed source inventory. Kendall 405 was decommissioned and taken off the Radioactive Broad Scope License. There is a new lab space in Morse 329, the Dwyer lab. They are working under Prof. Echt s permit for radioactive materials. An SOP was written for transporting sources between buildings. Clym Environmental audited the radiation safety Program for 2016. We will talk about their recommendation in item 8. 4. Dosimetry Results: The dosimetry report for Aug. and Sept. was received. Unusually high doses were found on an area badge outside the Cf-252 room. The door reading for Morse 438A was 85 mrem for deep dose and 67 mrem for neutron. The deep dose for the year to date is 95 mrem and the neutron dose 67 mrem. The deep dose is a combination of the gamma and neutron dose. We are only allowed 100 mrem per year deep dose in areas where the general public would potentially be exposed. A survey was performed at the doorway with a GM for gamma and a rem ball for neutron, and the readings were background. I have asked for this badge to be re-read by Mirion. Mirion recalculated the dose at 45 deep dose and 28 neutron. I moved the dosimeter to the side of the door. Committee member Brad Manning suggested getting a proposal from RSCS to do their own survey and dose investigation of room 438A. Committee member Foxall suggested putting three more badges near the door of 438A to see if it is a faulty dosimeter. The results will not come in for a few months though.
5. Laser Safety: The Laser Safety survey Reports were sent out. There were five items of noncompliance. One was for training, and it has been resolved. The other four were for the Gross lab, which we will talk about later. The laser inventory was updated in CEMS. Each Authorized User and some graduate students were given authorization to see their own inventory. If AUs learn to use CEMS they can relocate lasers or make changes to their own inventory in CEMS. Committee member Wosnik suggested sending e-mail instructions on how to make changes to the graduate students. 6. X-ray Safety: The Veterinary Medicine x-ray machine is temporary under locked storage, while Barton 119 is under construction. 7. Training Report: The Dwyer lab personnel in Morse were trained as Radiation Workers. All of the interns in OEHS have been trained as Radiation Workers. Prof. Whistler received an item of non-compliance for not taking her training on-time. She has since taken her training, so the Radiation Worker Refresher training is complete. A training reminder went out to Prof. Gross for Laser Operator training. He received an item of non-compliance for not having training completed on-time. His training is now complete. 8. Survey Frequency Recommendation-Third Party Audit: Clym Environmental recommended a decreased frequency for lab surveys. The RSO would like to propose doing semi-annual audits for inactive labs rather than quarterly audits. After discussion the committee decided to perform inactive unsealed source labs twice per year and active unsealed source labs four times per year. New labs will be surveyed four times per year. Sealed source labs would be surveyed twice per year with the exception of labs containing over 1 mci of activity. Labs containing over 1 mci of activity would be surveyed 4 times per year. Committee member Connell made a motion to accept this survey frequency. Committee member Foxall seconded the motion and the motion passed 3 out of 4. Committee member Wosnik abstained. 9. Gross Laser System: Prof. Gross was made an Authorized User for Kingsbury S211. He received an item of non-compliance for not having proper engineering controls, not taking training, not wearing goggles when operating a 3B laser, and not having SOPs. The laser is still under a Stop Work order until the Radiation Safety Committee approves its use. He has
made a barrier, taken laser operator training, and obtained goggles for his class 3B laser. The committee reviewed his SOPs and laser system photos. The committee voted to reinstate the use of the Gross laser system provided the googles are labeled as belonging to the Gross laser and the Kinsey laser, since Prof. Kinsey also has googles in the room for his laser. Another condition of use was to state in the SOP that a top barrier would be used to enclose the laser. It was recommended, but not mandated, to paint the interior of the barrier black. 10. Laser Safety Program: Committee member Foxall had a couple of edits to the Laser Safety Program. Committee member Foxall made a motion to accept the document as edited. Committee member Connell seconded the motion and the vote was unanimously approved. 11. Radon Monitoring Update The West Stadium and the Hamel Recreation Center were tested for radon. All readings were within EPA guidelines. 12. Beta and Gamma Sealed Sources: There is a new regulation in The Rules for the Control of Radiation. It states that beta and gamma sources do not need to be leak tested if the activity is under 100 mci. The RSO would like to stop leak testing these sources. We have many years of data that show these sources have not leaked. The beta sources we have been leak testing every 6 months are usually 10 mci Ni-63 sources that are housed inside a gas chromatograph. The gamma sources can all be potentially used by students. There was some discussion about continuing to leak test the beta sources, but the frequency was not determined. More information was requested in order to vote on the frequency of these leak tests. 13. Committee Member Foxall made a motion to adjourn the meeting, and Committee Member Connell seconded the motion. Committee members voted for the motion to adjourn, and the motion passed unanimously at 2:58 pm.