Feasibility of in-house sterilization of laboratory plastic consumables using 2 MeV electron beam facility

In-house sterilization by electron beam (EB) radiation of various plastic consumables (plastic petridishes, micro centrifugal tubes and screw-capped vials) used routinely in the lab was studied by use of three microbiological cultures (S. aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Candida albicans). Current international standards (ISO 11137-Part 2 -ISO, 2011) recommend an irradiation dose of 25 kGy as a reference dose for terminal sterilization. All containers were exposed in an ILU-6, 2 MeV, 20 kW, Pulse EB accelerator located in our complex. Sterility test (S.T.) was performed and results revealed that 106 and 107 population of all strains passed whereas 108 population failed S.T. for all micro-organisms indicating the potential of 2 MeV EB for commercial sterilization of plastic lab consumables for up to 107 population of these micro-organisms. (author)