If you have no near-term plans to use radioactive materials, you can eliminate unnecessary work by deactivating your radiation permit.
- Perform and document a final contamination survey. Decontaminate and resurvey as appropriate.
- Remove/cover over with a marker all internal radiation signs. Radiation signs must be completely destroyed/defaced before placing in ordinary trash.
- Remove all radioactive materials from the lab. Either prepare any remaining radioactive materials for disposal or transfer them to another principal investigator (PI) willing to store them for you. Package up all radioactive waste, tag it with a waste tag and submit a final waste pick up indicating your close out actions are complete.
- Once all radioactive materials have been removed, the Division of Research Safety (DRS) personnel will perform a close-out survey of your lab and remove the Radioactive Materials” postings from the lab doors.
- Your radiation permit will then be placed in a deactivated status.
- Radiation lab records should be retained by PI for possible reactivation.
This means that you are no longer required to perform monthly surveys in the lab, and DRS personnel will no longer perform radiation surveys and audits of your lab.
If you wish to resume work with radioactive materials, order them as you have in the past. DRS personnel will reactivate your permit, and when they deliver the radioactive materials to your lab, they will re-post the “Radioactive Materials” signs on the lab doors.
Depending on the length of deactivation (> 1 year), DRS personnel may request a lab visit to review any new changes in procedures.