Your count -Rate meter detects radiation on the Outside of a Box Containing I mCi of aP Labeled dATP Is It Contaminated? 52 You Received 250 u Ci of P and the Box Wasn't Labeled Radioactive. Isnt This a Dangerous Mistake? esigning Your Experiments 53 How Do You Determine the Molarity and Mass in the vial of material? 53 How Do You Quantitate the Amount of Radioactivity for Your reaction? 155 Storing Radioactive Materials 56 What Causes the Degradation of a Radiochemical? 156 What Can You do to maximize the lifetime and Potency of a radiochemical? 156 What Is the Stability of a Radiolabeled Protein or Nucleic Acid 57 Radioactive Waste: What Are Your Options and obligatio Handling Radioactivity: Achieving Minimum Dose 159 How Is Radioactive Exposure Quantified and What Are the allowable doses? 59 Monitoring Technology: What's the Difference between a Count -Rate Counter and a dose-Rate Meter? 59 What Are the Elements of a Good Overall Monitoring 161 Strategy What Can You do to achieve minimum radioactive Dose? 162 How Can You Organize Your Work Area to Minimize Your Exposure to Radioactivity? How Can You concentrate a radioactive solution? Bibliography 166 Appendix A: Physical Properties of Common Radionuclides The information within this chapter is designed as a supple. ment, not a replacement, to the training provided by your institu tional rules and/or radiation safety officer. At the very least, there are some 10 fundamental rules to consider when working with radioactivity(Amerhsam International, 1974) 1. Understand the nature of the hazard and get practical ahead to minimize time spent handling radioactivityYour Count-Rate Meter Detects Radiation on the Outside of a Box Containing 1mCi of a 32P Labeled dATP. Is It Contaminated? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 You Received 250mCi of 32P and the Box Wasn’t Labeled Radioactive. Isn’t This a Dangerous Mistake? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Designing Your Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 How Do You Determine the Molarity and Mass in the Vial of Material? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 How Do You Quantitate the Amount of Radioactivity for Your Reaction? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Storing Radioactive Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 What Causes the Degradation of a Radiochemical? . . . . . . 156 What Can You Do to Maximize the Lifetime and Potency of a Radiochemical? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 What Is the Stability of a Radiolabeled Protein or Nucleic Acid? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Radioactive Waste: What Are Your Options and Obligations? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Handling Radioactivity: Achieving Minimum Dose . . . . . . . . . . 159 How Is Radioactive Exposure Quantified and What Are the Allowable Doses? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Monitoring Technology: What’s the Difference between a Count-Rate Counter and a Dose-Rate Meter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 What Are the Elements of a Good Overall Monitoring Strategy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 What Can You Do to Achieve Minimum Radioactive Dose? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 How Can You Organize Your Work Area to Minimize Your Exposure to Radioactivity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 How Can You Concentrate a Radioactive Solution? . . . . . . 164 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Appendix A: Physical Properties of Common Radionuclides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 The information within this chapter is designed as a supple￾ment, not a replacement, to the training provided by your institu￾tional rules and/or radiation safety officer. At the very least, there are some 10 fundamental rules to consider when working with radioactivity (Amerhsam International, 1974): 1. Understand the nature of the hazard, and get practical training. 2. Plan ahead to minimize time spent handling radioactivity. 142 Volny Jr