Radioisotope Journal

Each CRA group must maintain a Radioisotope Journal. Binders will be furnished by Health Physics to file and keep all required records. The Radioisotope Journal must be accessible to all persons who work with radiation sources and must be available for inspection at any time.

General considerations

The work area should provide sufficient space for supplies, work, and waste. Surfaces should be easily cleaned. Reduce contamination by keeping the work area free of unnecessary items. The area should be secured when not supervised.

Food and beverages in work areas

Do not consume, store, heat, or refrigerate food or beverages in radioactive materials work areas. This would provide a direct route for ingestion. Do not discard containers or wrappings in laboratory trash cans as it may be assumed food and beverages were consumed in the laboratory.

Stanford food and beverage policy

Storage or consumption of food or beverage in any laboratory work area is discouraged. However, the Stanford license allows consumption of food and beverages in desk areas within laboratory rooms. The desk area must either be free standing and at least one meter from the radioactive work area, or physically separated from contiguous work surfaces by a physical barrier. The desk area must be posted with a green notice reading “NO RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ARE PERMITTED IN THIS AREA”.

VAPAHCS food and beverage policy

The VAPAHCS radioactive materials license does not allow the consumption or storage of food or beverages in a laboratory room. The NRC considers empty food containers or wrappings to be evidence of use. Food and beverages may only be stored, refrigerated, heated, or consumed in hallways, offices, lounges, or conference rooms.

Records retention

  • All records generated over the preceding three years should be kept on hand for staff review.
  • Old records that were submitted to or received from Health Physics (Dosimeter reports, quarterly updates, Health Physics surveys, CRAs and amendments, waste logs, instrument calibrations done by Stanford, and information sheets or newsletters) can be discarded. Health Physics has the original records on file.
  • Old records that were created by the project staff or outside Stanford (daily use logs, user surveys, on‐the‐job training records, user incident reports, survey instrument calibrations by contractors) should be retained indefinitely in the lab. They can be transferred to Health Physics if storage space is not available. Health Physics will take custody of them when the CRA is terminated.
  • Contact Health Physics for a records review before transferring or discarding records.