Radiation Safety

State and federal regulations require surveys of public areas and areas where radioactive materials are used to detect contamination and measure radiation levels.

EH&S’s Radiation Safety team issues Radiation Use Authorizations (RUAs) to principal investigators who use radioactive material.

Principal Investigators (PIs) and researchers who work with radioactive material must be properly trained, and must conduct the work under a Radiation Use Authorization (RUA) issued by EH&S’s Radiation Safety team.

EH&S’s Radioactive Waste Management Program oversees radioactive material use and disposal under the requirements set by federal and state rules and regulations, and the UW Radioactive Materials License issued by the State of Washington Department of Health.

EH&S’s Radioactive Waste Management Program provides training, consultation and resources to ensure safe and compliant storage, packaging, labeling, collection, sampling and disposal of radioactive waste.

Radioactive waste generators are required to:

EH&S operates a radiation detection instrument repair and calibration facility that can accommodate a wide variety of equipment.

Routine calibration of radiation detection instruments is a required condition of regulatory and radioactive material licensing. All portable count rate meters (commonly referred to as GM Survey meters or “Geiger “ counters) and exposure rate meters (commonly referred to as ion chambers) require annual calibration.

All radiation producing devices (RPD) are regulated by the Washington State Department of Health and must be registered with the state prior to use. The University possesses one registration managed by EH&S’s Radiation Safety team. Depending on the type of device and its intended use, there are requirements for facility design, worker training and protection, and device operation.