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Radioactive Materials

Purchasing Radioactive Materials

There are two options for purchasing radioactive materials.

  • BuyCarolina: Use for vendors such as PerkinElmer, etc. who are located in BuyCarolina.
  • Purchase Requisition: Use for vendors who are NOT located in Buy Carolina.
  1. Make sure vendor is included as a store in BuyCarolina.
  2. Note: all hazardous material must be shipped to Environment, Health and Safety: 1120 Estes Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (Shipping Code-649_1301A). Enter 12142200 (Radioisotope) or 12142207 (Radioisotope Sources) for the Category Code.
  3. An Appendix C form should be sent for each order to EHS by fax at 919-962-0275, by campus mail at CB #1650, or by email.

If you have questions regarding your order or shipment of radioactive material from PerkinElmer, please contact PerkinElmer’s radiation specialist for UNC-Chapel Hill, Catherine Sweeny, at 636-357-7649 or by email at Catherine.Sweeny@perkinelmer.com.

  1. Make sure vendor is NOT included in the BuyCarolina Catalogs. If they are, then place your order through BuyCarolina.
  2. Request that your department’s accounting office submit a purchase requisition. They need to enter the authorized user’s name, the building name and the radiation room number that the radioactive material is to be delivered to by EHS personnel in the “Additional Information” box. Also, check the “Send to Vendor” and “Show at Receipt” boxes.
  3. Under the Shipping Information section of the “Edit Shipping For All Lines” page, enter 649_1301A in the “Ship To Location” box. The purchase requisition will be routed to EHS for approval and then sent to Purchasing for processing.
  4. Purchasing will establish a “standing order” that is applicable for one year from the issue date. The lab is responsible for ordering and informing the company to deliver materials to EHS.
  5. As soon as the shipment is surveyed and processed by EHS and found free of contamination, it will be delivered to the lab.
  6. An Appendix C form should accompany the purchase requisition as well as each subsequent order placed. The Appendix C form should be sent to EHS.
Purchase requisition screen with options
Purchase requisition screen with options.
Edit shipping for all lines screen
Edit shipping for all lines screen.

No check requests, small order process or P-cards are to be used to purchase radioactive isotopes.

Regardless of the mode of ordering you use, you must fax in an Appendix C form for EVERY order of radioactive materials you make. This form has two benefits:

  1. it forces you to know your inventory when you order so that you won’t exceed your possession limit, and
  2. it alerts our office to expect a shipment for your lab.

If we receive material for your lab and end up having to hold it because of a possession limit issue, then you will be forced to resolve it immediately.

How do I become an authorized user of radioactive material?
  1. P.I. must submit to EHS:
    1. Laboratory Safety Plan (LSP)
      1. Schedule C is the radiation use portion of the LSP
      2. Appendix B (Lab/Radiation Worker Registration Form) for laboratory workers
  2. Mandatory attendance at a radiation safety training course
  3. Have a consultation with the Radiation Safety Officer
  4. Gain approval from the UNC-Chapel Hill Radiation Safety Committee

Please contact Radiation Safety for more details.

How do I order radioactive material?
Steps for placing order:

  1. Complete Purchase Requisition for each vendor
  2. Send completed Requisition to EHS
  3. EHS approves; Requisition to Purchasing
  4. Purchasing will establish a “standing order” good for a year (typically)
  5. Lab receives PO number for each vendor and places orders with vendors. Each time an order is placed, the lab faxes an “Certification of Current Inventory for Purchase of Radiation Sources” to EHS

Contact the EHS Dosimetry Technician for more details.

I’m moving my laboratory or leaving the University; how should I proceed?
Are you moving your laboratory or leaving the University? Are you adding or deleting the use of radiation in rooms on your Radiation license? Please follow these steps:

  1. Written notification to Environment, Health and Safety is required prior to adding a new room, vacating a lab room or moving into a new lab space. Prior to moving into a new lab, the room/s must be added to you radiation license and posted for radiation use.
  2. When vacating a lab, remove all sources of radiation from the lab space, source vials, aliquots of radioactive material, experiments containing radioactive material and radiation waste.
  3. Decontaminate all areas where radioactive material was used, and decontaminate all equipment (refrigerators, freezers, incubators, centrifuges, microfuges, etc.) that contained radioactive material.
  4. Perform a radiation survey of the whole lab including all equipment that may have contained radioactive material (Geiger counter survey and wipe test).
  5. The Safety Clearance Form (Appendix F) is to be used for rooms/equipment that contained radioactive material, were decontaminated and surveyed, and are considered safe for unrestricted use.
  6. After survey of equipment and if equipment is to be moved, transferred, surplused or remain in the vacated space, remove the radiation labels on the equipment, and attach a Safety Clearance Form (Appendix F) to the equipment. This form verifies that the equipment is considered safe for any use. Contact EHS for new radiation stickers as needed after moving/repairing equipment. Do not allow maintenance staff or the moving crew to repair/move/transfer equipment with radiation labels affixed to it.
  7. Notify EHS that the lab space is ready for a final clearance survey by one of our EHS Safety Officers, and place the Safety Clearance Form (Appendix F) on the door of the vacated room.
  8. Never remove the room sign. Environment, Health and Safety will remove the room sign after an EHS Safety Officer has completed the final clearance survey of the vacated lab space.
  9. Call EHS at 919-962-5507 or email Radiation Safety for questions.

Associated Departments: