The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently published guidance for workplace exposure to radiation at veterinary clinics and other medical institutions designed to help keep employees and others as safe as possible.
The guide, "Information Relevant to Ensuring that Occupational Radiation Exposures at Medical Institutions will be As Low As is Reasonably Achievable," is tailored for medical licensees. It is a series of recommendations that staff of the NRC consider acceptable for maintaining occupational exposures as low as is reasonably achievable in medical institutions.
In many medical institutions, certain persons other than employees are exposed to radiation from licensed radioactive material. This includes visitors and patients other than those being treated with radioactive material. This guide addresses their protection.
The content of this guide is also applicable to veterinary medical institutions where specific diagnostic or therapeutic procedures involving radioactive materials are performed. Similar protective practices are applicable for keeping employee and visitor exposures as low as is reasonably achievable, whether the patients are animal or human.
The guide is available on the AVMA website www.avma.org in the Scientific section under "Issues"; click on "Environment," then "Waste Disposal by Veterinary Practices," and finally "Federal Regulations." |