Monographs: Radiopharmaceuticals: General monograph: ANNEX 2: SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS
Radiopharmaceuticals, owing to their detrimental effects on cellular structures, need to be monitored for their harmful effects on the personnel involved in handling them. Critical operations include manufacture, storage, transport, compounding, testing, dispensing and administration to the patients.
In order to minimize the harmful effects of radiopharmaceuticals ALARA principle should be implemented. A major consideration of the ALARA principle includes exposure time, distance and radiation shielding. These factors should be carefully considered while designing the safety protocols for radiopharmaceuticals.
Radiation signs
| Restricted area | < 0.02 mSv/h and 1 mSv/h |
| Caution, Radiation Area | may exceed 0.05 mSv/h at 30 cm from source |
| Caution, High Radioactive Area | may exceed 1 mSv/h at 30 cm from source |
| Danger, Very High Radiation Area | may reach 5 Sv/h at 1 m from source |
| Caution Radioactive Material | 37 GBq for Cs-137 and Sr-89 |
| 37 MBq for Mo-99, I-123 and Co-57 | |
| 370 MBq for Tc-99m, Ga-67 and Xe-133. |
Radiation safety instruments
| GM survey meters | Laboratory survey |
| Portable ion chambers (cutie pies) | High level exposure rate monitoring |
| Pocket dosimeter | Personnel exposure monitoring |
| Wipe test counters | GM counters to detect low level activity |
| Film badges | To detect and measure personnel exposure |
| Thermoluminescent dosimeters | More sensitive than film badges |
| Scintillation detectors |
Portable radiation contamination monitor for radioactive contamination survey of lab surfaces. Well-type scintillation detector with a single channel analyser for measurement of wipe tests. NaI detector with gamma ray spectrometer to identify and quantify gamma emitting radionuclides.
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