engleski

Radiation protection and security of therapy radiation sources

Radiation oncology and nuclear medicine are two very propulsive branches of modern therapy medicine. Regular use of ionizing radiation therapy sources imposes continuous need for monitoring of their safety including both, every day clinical use, storage and final disposal. Special attention should be focused on, not only of unsealed sources for diagnostic and therapy in nuclear medicine, but also for management of used sealed sources, especially those with activities that are still high but are not useful for medical purposes. Security of unsealed and sealed sources, regarding possible illicit trafficking from unauthorized persons independent of their intentions, is very important issue on global level. IMI conducted a survey on security of therapy radiation sources in several clinical hospitals according to Croatian legislation and international recommendations. For the purpose of performing complete Quality Assurance procedures in radiotherapy and trough the Radiation Protection requirements in given therapy facility, the security of therapy sealed, and especially unsealed sources is foreseen. As the Quality control of the existing sealed and unsealed sources did meet the basic safety and radiation protection requirements, there is a need only for upgrading physical security. Additional actions ensuring physical surveillance of the source storage should be upgraded in order to prevent any unauthorized entrance into the therapy facility. The overall security is dependent on the security measures provided for the whole clinical complex. Technical support and maintenance personnel are to be supervised during performing necessary activities in controlled areas. A detector of ionizing radiation should be located at the main entrance, and other entrances are to be closed with exception of accidental situation (fire or else).

therapy radiation sources; radiation protection; radiation safety

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