Effectively displaying broad scope sub-licensee radioactive material inventory allocations and possession quantities.

Abstract

As part of its annual broad scope license radiation protection program review, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston radiation safety program discovered that although inventory control and monitoring mechanisms were being effectively implemented at the sublicensee level, a method did not exist to demonstrate compliance with collective broad scope license possession limits at the institutional level. To address this shortcoming, the radiation safety program data warehouse system was modified, and an automatic summary report showing collective sub-licensee maximum possession authorizations was created. But this report did not effectively present the summary information in a manner that key stakeholders could readily comprehend, as the data was not referenced to collective institutional possession limits. So a graphic version of the summary report was created wherein, for each isotope possessed, the collective institutional limit was displayed, along with the totals of all the individual sub-licensee maximum possession limits and current amounts on hand. This simple graphic served to effectively communicate the current status of the institution's radiation source inventory to the radiation safety committee, executive management, and state regulatory officials. The effort has served to simplify the sometimes-complicated source inventory control process and has facilitated subsequent program reviews. In the future, the method is expected to assist the radiation protection program in anticipating when broad license amendments may be needed to accommodate operational changes.