SEDL / STP / STP698-EB / STP35089S

Assessment of Radiopharmaceutical Usage Release Practices by Eleven Western Hospitals

Leventhal, L
Vice president and technical director, and operations manager, LFE Enrivonmental Analysis Laboratories, Richmond, Calif

Melgard, R
Vice president and technical director, and operations manager, LFE Enrivonmental Analysis Laboratories, Richmond, Calif

Claridge, DE
Financial technology analyst, Hambrecht and Quist, Investment Bankers, San Francisco, Calif

Kendricks, H
Senior scientist, Department of Energy, Germantown, Md

Pages: 15    Published: Jan 1980

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Abstract

A survey of radiopharmaceutical usage and releases to the environment by eleven western hospitals located in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Berkeley, California, was completed under U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (USAEC) Contract No. AT(043)-907. A simplified hospital radioisotope cycle which starts with production and ends with return to man was developed. Procedures in which radioisotopes are used can generally be classified as diagnostic, therapeutic, or research, and may be in vivo or in vitro. These procedures relate to the dose, form of isotope used, and frequency of employment of these procedures and directly impacts on the type and quantitiy of waste produced. A survey of the medical uses of radiopharmaceuticals was conducted to obtain a general picture of the nature of current radioactivity uses and the routes and quantities that might be involved in release to the environment. Field studies were made of the quantity of ^99mTc and ¹³¹I released to hospital sewage systems and arriving at a sewage treatment plant tributary to several of the hospitals.