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19 March 2010

Answer to Question #1635 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Category: Policy, Guidelines, and Regulations — ALARA

The following question was answered by an expert in the appropriate field:

My facility uses small capsule-sealed sources of ⁵⁷Co (3-10 mCi), and ⁹⁹mTc sources from 400 µCi to 25 mCi. We also have an americium sealed source of 5 mCi. All are handled with the usual ALARA principles and according to standard radiation protection procedures. I have now been told that americium is "special" and requires extra precautions to prevent corneal damage. This doesn't make sense to me; is it true? Is americium really so different from other gamma emitters?

You are correct in that handling americium is no different from handling any other potential internal contaminant, and would be subject to similar precautions, except for the fact that the quantities involved for a given level of hazard are much smaller for americium than for most other radionuclides. Although ²⁴¹Am contains alphas, electrons (betas), and gammas, for the most part it is used for its very low-energy gammas, at around 60 keV for calibration and industrial uses.

As with any type of sealed radiation source, the common health physics practices of time, distance, and shielding, coupled with your ALARA principles, should be all that you need.

Ronald Kathren, CHP

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