Determination of actual radiation doses to the fingers when handling Kilo and Mega Becquerel radioactive point sources using VARSKIN

Point sources are used for different activities in a laboratory and for other applications. Some of these activities could involve the calibration of radiation detectors, radiation attenuation measurements etc. During the use of these sources, the laboratory workers use their bare fingers to manipulate these sources or use unsuitable devices to handle these sources. This study aims to estimate the likely radiation doses incurred during the use of Am-241, Cs-137, Co-60, Na-22, and Sr-90 point-sources using VARSKIN computer code. The result of this study shows that handling point sources very close to the hand or skin and holding these point sources with bare hands could give rise to a dose significantly greater than the recommended limit of 500 mSv per cm² of the skin area meanwhile the use of tong with adequate length can reduce potential radiation doses from point sources to acceptable limit