Leaderboard

The Nuclear Regulatory Committee is rolling out in the near future even stricter security measures for Cesium 137 Blood Irradiators. The current security regulations are a bear to conform to, but the new regulations are even more onerous to conform to. My Radiation Safety Officer is pulling out his hair right now and with the recent press on the possibility that these irradiators are primary terroristic targets, having the most accessible source of dangerous radioactive material and the the extreme danger that the cesium 137 source material could cause if terrorists do obtain this source, he is recommending that we get rid of the cesium 137 blood irradiator ASAP. He is actually seeing terrorists coming into our hospital (six terrorists to be exact), kicking down the door, shooting everyone in the room or anyone that responds, pulling the irradiator apart, breaking into the bottom of the lead barrier and taking the actual source out. The article states that the Defense Science Board is recommending the removal as an overall strategy to reduce the threat to the united states from terroristic activities. It further states "Any one of these 1000 plus sources could shut down 25 square kilometers, anywhere in the United States, for 40 plus years". The article is "Terrorism: Hospitals a Hot Commodity" by Pamela Hess of the Associate Press, if anyone wants to read the whole article. Is anyone else, who has a cesium 137 blood irradiator, also getting pressure to remove this irradiator or replace it with an x-ray blood irradiator or other equipment that can do the same thing? Does anyone know what companies have this x-ray equipment or equivalent device. What the price tag for anyone of these devices and the differences in actual use of these devices as compared the the cesium blood irradiator. [Edit by site admin] I have included the article in our files section. A word of caution. The NRC through, my local Department of Public Health, has contacted me regarding posts related to irradiators. I will monitor all posts closely, and will need to edit them if necessary. Under no circumstances should you post any information related to your facility, the security of your irridiator, or irradiator security policies in general. Thank you for your understanding.

How often do you need to replace the "bulb" on the x-ray type irradiator? We irradiate approx 1,000 products per month and when we replaced our irradiator a few years ago, our biomed department calculated out the cost & frequency of replacing the "bulb" and determined that it would be cost prohibitive for us to be able to keep an X-ray based machine running with our volume. Are any other large volume facilities using this type of irradiator?

We are also looking to replace our iradiator with an X-ray type, hopefully to coincide with a move to a new laboratory at the end of 2009. I fear we may be compelled to do it sooner, though, judging from the press. Besides Nordion, does anyone know of any other vendors? Nordion is great, but Canada is a long way from here and the PM/service calls are expensive, even if infrequent.

We've been using the Raycell for over 5 years. The cabinet is approximately 4X5X2 ft. It's lead lined and sits on casters. You need a water line, a drain, and 220 electrical line. The canister will hold two AS-1 RBC or several pheresis platelets. Our cycle is 5 min. The maintenence is minimal and dosimetry checks are not complicated. We have a radiation physicist check for leakage one a year. I think they're going for about $180K, but you'd need to check the current pricing with Nordion.