Methodology and criteria for the estimation of operational levels in a radiopharmacy

The manipulation of radioactive material in a Radiopharmacy requires, among other things, the monitoring of the dose received by the staff to ensure that the limits established by the corresponding regulatory bodies are not exceeded and that the working conditions are safe for the personnel. This paper presents the methodology implemented for the estimation of the operational levels of the radio pharmacia service of the Valle del Lili Foundation, taking into account the workload, the amount of radioactive material to be handled, the protection elements that are used , good practices in the handling of radiopharmaceuticals and the time spent in the development of activities. The methodology takes into account different scenarios and assumptions that are taken from the EPR-D-Values 2006 - Dangerous quantities of radioactive materials (Values D) ‖ [1], for an expert type analysis. Scenarios are considered taking into account the handling of unshielded syringes, spill of radioactive materials, point source, uniform contamination or drops, internal exposure of workers and recommendations of maximum activities to be manipulated with radioactive sources, for different radionuclides. The scenario is taken where the person is supposed to be near a contained non-armored radioactive source in a room, resulting in an external exposure to penetrating whole-body ionizing radiation. The analysis of the personnel flow and the time of maximum permanence in the areas allowed or estimated from the results obtained with the methodology is also presented. (author)