The Gap in Insurance Liability for Blood and Research Gamma Irradiators.

In 2019, a federal contractor accidently breached a 2,900 Ci 137 Cs sealed source while decommissioning it from a University of Washington research building, releasing a single digit curie of its contents. This event contaminated 13 people as well as all seven floors of the research building, which housed the radiation source. Estimates for clean-up costs and lost revenue exceeded $150 million.

Analysis of Long-Term Quality Control Data for a 137Cs Dosimetry Calibration Source.

Strict quality assurance programs are required for many radiological applications, but these seldom exist for verifying dosimetry calibration sources. After initial characterization of a dosimetry calibration facility, quality control procedures are recommended to ensure the early detection of any changes or malfunctions. These also result in refined knowledge about average dose rate and experimental variations in dose delivery.

Use of an Imaging Spectrometer for Characterization of a Cesium Dosimeter Calibration Facility.

Past investigations into the characterization of a space-constrained Cs dosimetry calibration facility did not provide detailed positional measurements of gamma ray spectra. In this paper, a commercially available Compton imaging system, or imaging spectrometer, was used to accomplish this. This resulted in both spectral information and point of origin information for the measured gamma rays.

Calibration and Statistical Performance of Al2O3: C Optically Stimulated Luminescent Dosimeters With and Without Annealing Using a 137Cs Source.

A series of experiments were conducted using commercially available Al2O3:C optically stimulated luminescent dosimeters to provide a technical basis for their precise calibration and statistical performance at irradiated air kerma doses between 0.02 mGy and 5 mGy using Cs. This study examines the dose response linearity, studies the background signal for annealed dosimeters, and compares the statistical performance of dosimeters that were annealed and not annealed prior to their irradiation and readout.