Radiopharmaceuticals Transportation by Highway and Air-Operations and Regulatory Control

The transportation conditions for radiopharmaceuticals are different than most other radioactive materials. The characteristics of the radioactive products and the needs of the shippers and consignees have resulted in the evolution of special carriers and delivery systems. Many of the resulting worker activities probably were not anticipated several decades ago when the basic radiation safety assumptions were established for the transportation regulations. The basic concept of limiting only the dose rates to workers and not the accumulated doses may no longer be valid for transportation of radiopharmaceuticals. The advancements in nuclear medicine and increased uses of radiopharmaceuticals has resulted in some transportation workers receiving occupational radiation doses that clearly classify them as \"radiation workers\" according to international and national standards for radiation protection (IAEA 1982 and USEPA 1987). The fundamental radiation protection provisions of our transportation safety regulations were established before many of today's nuclear medicine protocols existed and when the \"nuclear medicine departments\" were not present in most hospitals. The transportation of radiopharmaceuticals with short half lives is the primary cause for the greater doses received by these transport workers. Frequent and repeated shipments to the same medical facility generate delivery patterns with repeated package handling by the same workers.