Radioactive Material - Laboratory Classification
Laboratories (or any area where more than one exemption
quantity of unsealed radioactive material is used) are classified as basic
level, intermediate level and high level laboratories. CNSC has defined
these three levels based upon the amount of activity to be used, and in
association with each radionuclide's annual limit intake (ALI) value.
Hence the levels are defined (based on quantity of radioactive material
used at a single time) as:
• Basic level if quantity does not exceed 5 ALI;
• Intermediate level if quantity does not exceed 50 ALI; or
• High level if quantity not does exceed 500 ALI.
In addition CNSC has two other levels that may apply to laboratories:
• containment level if the quantity exceeds 500 ALI; or
• special purpose requiring approval by CNSC or person authorized by CNSC.
To assist you in knowing the expectations CNSC has with regards to activities being undertaken in these laboratories, a series of posters have been created by CNSC (see below) and are also available by contacting ORM. The internal radioisotope permit also states the laboratory classification level. A poster must be affixed in a visible locationin each lab.
The relationship between radioisotopes, annual limit intakes(ALI) and laboratory classification may be found in the table below.
CNSC Posters (~ 400 Kb each)
Table
Commonly Used Radioisotopes: Their Exemption Quantity, Annual Limit of Intake and Laboratory Classification Levels
| RADIO - ISOTOPES | EXEMPTION QUANTITY (MBq)* | ANNUAL LIMIT OF INTAKE (ALI)** | LABORATORY LEVELS
(based on ingestion ALI) |
||||||
| INGESTION | BASIC
(0 to 5 x ALI) |
INTER-MEDIATE (5 to 50 x ALI) |
HIGH
(50 to 500 X ALI) |
||||||
| MBq | mCi | MBq | mCi | MBq | mCi | MBq | mCi | ||
| 3H | 1000 | 1000 | 27 | 5000 | 135 | 50000 | 1350 | 500000 | 13500 |
| 14C | 100 | 34 | 0.90 | 170 | 4.5 | 1700 | 45.9 | 17000 | 459 |
| 22Na | 0.01 | 6 | 0.16 | 30 | 0.81 | 300 | 8.1 | 3000 | 81 |
| 32P | 0.01 | 8 | 0.22 | 40 | 1.1 | 400 | 10.8 | 4000 | 108 |
| 33P | 1 | 80 | 2.2 | 400 | 10.8 | 4000 | 108 | 40000 | 1080 |
| 35S | 100 | 26 | 0.7 | 130 | 3.51 | 1300 | 35.1 | 13000 | 351 |
| 36Cl | 0.01 | 20 | 0.54 | 100 | 2.7 | 1000 | 27 | 10000 | 270 |
| 45Ca | 1 | 20 | 0.54 | 100 | 2.7 | 1000 | 27 | 10000 | 270 |
| 51Cr | 1 | 530 | 14.3 | 2650 | 71.60 | 26500 | 716 | 265000 | 7160 |
| 57Co | 0.1 | 95 | 2.5 | 475 | 12.83 | 4750 | 128.3 | 47500 | 1283 |
| 60Co | 0.1 | 6 | 0.16 | 30 | 0.81 | 300 | 8.1 | 3000 | 81 |
| 65Zn | 1 | 5 | 0.13 | 25 | 0.67 | 250 | 6.7 | 2500 | 67 |
| 86Rb | 0.01 | 8 | 0.22 | 40 | 1.1 | 400 | 10.8 | 4000 | 108 |
| 109Cd | 1 | 9 | 0.24 | 45 | 1.21 | 450 | 12.1 | 4500 | 121 |
| 125I | 1 | 1 | 0.027 | 5 | 0.13 | 50 | 1.3 | 500 | 13.5 |
| 133Ba | 0.1 | 20 | 0.54 | 100 | 2.7 | 1000 | 27 | 10000 | 270 |
| 137CS | 0.01 | 1.0 | 0.027 | 5 | 0.13 | 50 | 1.3 | 500 | 13.5 |
| 210Po | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.0005 | 0.1 | 0.0027 | 1.0 | 0.027 | 10 | 0.27 |