CEL Courses

AAHP is evaluating the number of Continuing Education Credits awarded for each of the PEP (and CEL) courses based on technical content. Course instructors will be able to provide this information at the time of the presentation. This information will also be made available on the AAHP recertification site after data entry is completed.

Monday, July 24, 6:45am – 7:45am

CEL-1: Case Studies in Radiation Deception: Practical Strategies for Avoiding Fraud Based on Lessons Learned

RJ Emery, D Howell

The radiation protection profession has periodically experienced instances of purposeful deception practices that remained undetected for some period of time. Upon discovery these cases of fraud revealed gaps in confirmation and validation practices that all members of the radiation protection community should note. In this Continuing Education Lecture (CEL) summaries of actual “radiation deception” cases will be summarized and the process vulnerabilities they exploited described. Recommended process improvements that the entire radiation safety community can consider will be presented and discussed. Ample time will be provided for discussion with the overall intent of improving the collective fidelity of radiation protection processes.

CEL-2: The Art of Presenting

SP Snay

Successful presentations are based on one’s ability to deliver the focused content in a clear manner on a platform that is in tune with that mission. PowerPoint can be a useful tool or your worst enemy when presenting, I plan to deliver the basic strengths and weakness of presenting and pointers on delivering content successfully through any medium. Whether at a podium or through a computer screen, with PowerPoint or memorized flash cards, how we reach an audience is directly dependent on that audience and how we communicate our topic to them. This talk will describe the key attributes of achieving success while presenting as well as countless failures including but not limited to content, colors, sizing, motion, overly active animations, laser pointing, etc. We will dive into the presenter, the presentation, the content and how to deliver in an online space while protecting your Intellectual property and achieving your goal.

CEL-3: A Hospital Radiological Incident Response Plan

DH Elder

For more than 2 years, hospital emergency response was focused on Covid-19. Only recently have we seen drills and exercises resume. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the political situation in other parts of the world, there is more interest in preparing for a radiological incident. UCHealth hospitals have been updating our Radiological Incident Response Plans, providing training to Emergency Department Staff, and planning for drills or exercises with a radiological component. We have also been working with our regional partners on Radiological Surge Annexes to their Emergency Response Plans. The elements of our program will be shared to help other facilities prepare for a radiological incident.

CEL-4: Decommissioning a Wet Storage Panoramic Irradiator

MA Lewandowski

After nearly 40 years of use, a Category IV wet storage panoramic irradiator regulated by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission was removed from service and decommissioned. This continuing education lecture will briefly describe the irradiator facility, its use, and the process used for removing it from service and rendering the facility safe. Pertinent decommissioning requirements established under US Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules such as Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 30, and guidance, including NUREG 1757, Consolidated Decommissioning Guidance, will be highlighted. The process used by the licensee to demonstrate compliance with the agency expectations and the final decommissioning inspection by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be described. Specific challenges faced by the licensee, such as a global pandemic, resource constraints, and change in business practices, and the methods used to address those challenges will be discussed.

Tuesday, July 25, 6:45am – 7:45am

CEL-5: Biodosimetry: What It Is, Why We Need It

M Sproull

This session will provide an introduction to biodosimetry, a brief history of its utility in accidents, and provide a framework for the necessity of its use in mass casualty medical management of future radiological or nuclear events. With the threat of future event scenarios involving radiation exposure, there is a need to model and develop new medical countermeasures for medical management of large scale population exposures to radiation. The field of radiation biodosimetry has advanced far beyond its original objectives to identify new methodologies to quantitate unknown levels of radiation exposure applicable to a mass screening setting. New research in the areas of genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) applications have identified novel biological indicators of radiation injury from a diverse array of biological sample materials and studies continue to develop more advanced models of radiation exposure and injury. This talk will cover the principle history of biodosimetry from its origins with cytogenetic methodologies, its current evolution across a wide array of “omics” technologies, and the most recent advancements in the field. How biodosimetry diagnostics work in the context of a broad range of radiation exposure types and scenarios and the current state of its integration within the national radiological emergency response framework will also be highlighted.

CEL-6: Bootcamp for Medical Broadscope RSO

RD Leuenberger

RSO is the person within an organization responsible for the safe use of radiation and radioactive materials as well as regulatory compliance. RSO duties originate form radioactive materials and are specified within Nuclear Regulatory Commission training requirements (10CFR35.50) and delegation of authority as required under the authority (NUREG 1556, Vol 9, Appendix I). This bootcamp will focus on regulations and compliance unique to an academic medical center. The objective is to provide fundamentals and medical health physics tools for an RSO to manage worker and patient radiation risk and protection. The lecture will provide pragmatic compliance strategies for: 1) Occupational Safety & Health Association (29CFR1910) radiation risk for eye protection, 2) Health & Human Services (45CFR46); radiation risk assessment for Institutional Review Board (IRB), 3) The Joint Commission (PI.03.01.01); radiation risk for patient skin protection.Medical health physics fundamentals and tools within this lecture includes: 1) guidance & regulations for occupational eye protection (i.e., cataracts), 2) risk assessment for IRB (i.e., medical procedure radiation dose calculator & Health Physics Society fact sheet), 3) patient skin protection using big data registry [i.e., Radiation Exposure Monitoring (REM) Registry].

CEL-7: Airborne Plutonium and Airborne Viruses Have Enormously Different Sources, Properties, Behaviors, and Protective Actions

DJ Strom

People don’t emit plutonium, but they do emit SARS-CoV-2 virions if infected, and people are both the source and the receptor of the airborne virus. Pu aerosols tend to be tiny, with AMADs of 1 to 5 ?m, while droplets of these sizes will usually contain zero virions. Observed virus titers from 102 to 1012 virions mL-1 are linked to probability of a droplet containing a particle. Virion-containing droplets > 20 ?m can be transported by spraying, squirting, or projecting, being sprayed into faces and breathing zones of other people by breathing, talking, singing, coughing, sneezing. Smaller droplets ? 50 ?m (aerosols) can be carried by convection of air for limited distances depending on AMAD. Droplets may evaporate, but evaporation beyond 95% of water may inactivate virions. Particles with AMAD > 20 ?m that are considered “non respirable” in still air can be sprayed or squirted over distances on the order of a meter or more. Health effects of low doses of Pu are stochastic, while an individual either does or does not have the Covid-19 disease, with a 50%ile infectious dose of 1,440 virions for the original variant. ALARA means that any reduction in the number of virions inhaled reduces risk of clinical Covid-19 unless an individual has inhaled several times the infectious dose. Clearly, later variants have lower infectious dose because ‘increased ability to evade the immune system.’ Surgical masks were not originally designed to be PPE, but rather emission controls to protect patients from biologicals exhaled by surgical staff, and are effective emission controls or effluent filters for “big stuff” that people exhale. As emission controls, “The most important mask is the one on the other guy.” That’s why everyone wears a mask in a healthcare facility. Masks almost completely eliminate the projectile movement of droplets when breathing, speaking, singing, coughing, or sneezing. Traditional negative-pressure respirators that are effective for Pu aerosols do not filter exhaust, so they are a “Protect-My-Health-and-Forget-about-Your-Health” measure for the wearer.

CEL-8: An Overview of Cybersecurity Threats and Related Risk Assessment Methods in the Nuclear Sector

L Ranjbar

Nuclear power plants produce about 10% and 20% of the world's and the US's electricity, respectively. The global nuclear energy demand is growing through the initiatives to expand clean energy resources, and therefore the threats of cyber attacks are increasing. Cyber threats to critical nuclear infrastructure, especially nuclear power plants, are real and constantly evolving. These threats impact critical global infrastructure, placing the nations' economy, security, public safety, and health at risk. In addition, over the years, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems in nuclear power plants have matured from analog to digital systems. These Digital systems also actively evolve as technology advances, bringing new risks and vulnerabilities. Therefore, attackers try penetrating nuclear power plants and aligning their attack scenarios through such cyber systems. Nuclear Power Plants are protected from cyberattacks using a defense-in-depth concept in which security controls are layered throughout the network. Understanding various risk assessment methods for cybersecurity in nuclear facilities is crucial to prevent such attacks. This CEL reviews the history of nuclear infrastructures' cyber security, the cyber vulnerability of nuclear power plants, the defense-in-dept concept, the cyber security risk assessment methods for nuclear security, and some essential frameworks for designing and implementing cyber security plans for nuclear power plants.

Wednesday, July 26, 6:45am – 7:45am

CEL-9: Geiger-Mueller Counters 101

DJ Allard

This lecture will provide an overview the most versatile and widely used radiation detection device in history – the geiger-mueller (G-M) counter. The talk will begin with a brief review of the history of the invention and early applications in nuclear science. A G-M counter is basically an electrical device consisting of an envelope with anode and cathode, containing a sealed or sometimes flow through noble gas, applied high voltage, with a trace amount of halogen or organic gas and [perhaps] high value external resistor to quench spurious pulses after the primary is generated. That pulse is created by an avalanche of electrons from an initiating radiation interacting within the gas or wall of the counter. These G-M tubes are used in many alpha, beta, and gamma radiation countering instruments used in medical, academic, industrial and health physics applications. Included will be a discussion of manufacturing methods, construction materials, impact on detecting certain radiations, and constraints resulting from the reactivity of modern halogen gas quench agents. Also presented will be the photon energy and dose rate response characteristics of various common G-M tubes.

CEL-10: What it's like to be a Health Physics Professor

JT Harris

The Princeton Review provides a nice definition of what a college professor is. “College professors organize and conduct the functions of higher education. They engage in a variety of activities, from running laboratory experiments and supervising graduate student research to conducting large undergraduate lectures and writing textbooks. With the exception of scheduled classes-which can consume as few as three hours a week in graduate universities or up to twelve to sixteen hours per week for undergraduates-a professor’s time is largely spent on research, preparing class material, meeting with students, or however else they choose.” While this is a nice explanation, is it all really true, is this all there is? Does this apply to health physics professors as well? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a professor in health physics? This lecture will provide an overview of what it is really like to be a professor and how to succeed if you want to become one. Common myths of professorial life will be debunked, lessons learned will be given, and words of wisdom will be shared.

CEL-11: Is Far-Ultraviolet UV-C Safe For Human Exposure – But How Do We Measure It!?

DH Sliney, DJ Welch

Most health physicists may be familiar with potentially hazardous germicidal ultraviolet lamps - the low-pressure mercury vapor lamps, which emit primarily at 254-nm. These are no longer widely used for infection control outside of some hospitals facilities and biological laboratories. Their use experienced a limited revival during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over exposure can result in painful eye irritations (photokeratitis) and related safety concerns. In the past decade a new, far-UV-C source emitting at 222 nm - the KrCl excimer lamp - has appeared on the scene with claims that it is inherently safe even for direct human exposure, giving wide interest to install these in workplaces, public facilities and healthcare installations. This CEL series lecture will examine the scientific evidence for its impressive safety based upon basic biophysical principles, animal and human studies. Various methods for measuring exposure to far-UVC sources are available. Calibrated film dosimeters have been developed and characterized. In addition survey meters are available that are calibrated at the 222-nm wavelength to determine daily exposure doses for comparing with UV recommended exposure limits. Attendees will learn the answers to: Is it really safe?, What is the importance of spectrally filtered KrCl lamps, and how to properly measure these new lamp installations.

CEL-12: How Health Physicist Could Help Researchers in Biomedical Institutions to Migrate From Gamma Irradiator to X-ray Irradiators

J Kamen

Some biological researchers using irradiators have had concerns about transitioning away from gamma irradiators to alternative technologies. The Office of Radiological Security has been successful in its effort to reduce and replace the number of self-shielded gamma irradiators through CIRP program by almost 50% since 2015. As Health Physicists, we can help facilitate these efforts by assisting researchers to migrate to x-ray irradiators. In this presentation, we will review how to start the discussion with researchers and get them involved. Health Physicists could help the researchers with comparison studies by identifying an appropriate X-ray irradiator, depth-dose measurement, and the possible sources of errors in measurements. The Health Physicist could assist with modifying the radiation beam hardness (or softness) until they achieve equivalent biological effects to gamma irradiators. We will review some of the previous successful comparison studies done at Mount Sinai.