Checklist

• Disposable gloves

• Vials
• Tweezers
• Adantec GC50 filter paper
• Oil-based Colour pen

Procedures

1. Put on disposable gloves.
2. Hold a piece of filter paper with tweezers.
3. Wipe over the suspected surface area approximately 100 cm 2 , applying moderate pressure.
4. Place the filter paper in pre-numbered vial to avoid cross-contamination.
5. Add 7 ml “Ready Safe Cocktail" to the vial and agitate for 10 seconds.
6. Wait for about one hour.
7. Count the swipe sample with the Beckman 6500 LSC.

For Highly Active Surface

When taking smear samples from highly active surface, it is necessary to avoid excess external exposure. The smear paper is mounted on a pad such as a rubber bottle stopper, which is held by a 12? long forceps.

Large Area Swipes

In many circumstances the use of small smears is uneconomic of time and labor, e.g. following suspected spills. A pad of cotton swab is moistened with distilled water and an area up to 3 m 2 is wiped. No attempt at quantitative estimation of the amount of activity present on surfaces should be made from large area swab results; direct monitoring, if possible, or more detailed smear testing must be done if quantitative estimates are required.

References

International Atomic Energy Agency
Technical Report Series No. 120, 1970
Monitoring of Radioactive Contamination of Surfaces