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Photo by Megan Kung / Daily Staff A group of students listens to radiation safety offi cer John Pickering as he demonstrates the use of an X-ray machine during a Radiation Safety class on Friday in the Nuclear Science Facility at San Jose State Unive [Click to enlarge]

"I thought, 'Is that what's going on there?'" said Mike Hurwitz, a graduate student in chemistry.

Although there are rumors of a reactor on campus, Hurwitz soon found out the truth. Taking a Radiation Safety course, he learned the restricted-access facility is actually a laboratory where more than 1,100 students work each year with radioactive materials.

In the facility, campus radiation safety officer John Pickering is responsible for ensuring the students know and follow proper handling techniques as they work with minute amounts of radiation. He also teaches most of the classes that use radioactive material.

"Students handle radioactive materials every week," Pickering said, adding, "Ninety-five percent of the materials at the NSF are not dangerous enough to produce any level of observable biological effects."

By using Geiger counters and other equipment that measure activity at the atomic level, many students can study radioactivity without the risk of exposure.

Most of the materials used, Pickering said, give off a negligible 0.0001 millirem - a unit of radiation dose - per year.

People are exposed to more radiation from daily living, he said. Radiation occurs naturally in many items, such as food, soil and even air. The average exposure a person in the United States gets from this background radiation is 360 millirem per year.

Safety training

Despite the low risk of dangerous exposure, all students must take radiation safety training from Pickering to work in the lab or have access to the facility.

The majority of students are undergraduates, he said, majoring in a science, such as chemistry, physics, biology or botany. They generally work on a laboratory experiment for three hours, supervised by Pickering as they work with any radioactive material.

Elaine Collins, an assistant professor of chemistry, has students in some of her classes use the facility to study radioisotopes, a radioactive form of a chemical element.

"One to two classes before, we talk about radioisotopes, their uses, safety devices, safety clothing," Collins said. "Once in the facility, (Pickering) gives the information to them again."

Collins said the training addresses preconceptions and worries students may have about working with radioactive material.

"We let them know how low it is," she said. "But if anyone is uncomfortable, we let them off."

In addition to the supervised laboratory activities, Pickering offers a 40-hour, two-unit course titled Radiation Safety for people who handle radioactive materials more extensively. He said this course is the only one in the western United States that meets regulatory standards. Available as a nuclear science, chemistry or physics class, the course is offered in both the Spring and Fall semesters.

"Students are prepared on how to handle (radioactive materials) in actual labs, (including) the accounting, the record-keeping," he said.

Collins said she has graduate students working with her on research into the way vitamin D works in the body. Any researchers who work with radioactive materials on campus are required to have their student assistants complete the 40-hour course.

Adrian Rodriguez, associate professor of biological sciences, said some of his graduate students use the facility to study biological responses to radiation damage.

Charlie Sylvia, a graduate student in biology, is doing his thesis on radiation protective therapeutics in mice. He said the research involves measuring responses to drug therapy after exposure to radiation and is applicable to cancer therapies.

For Sylvia, the Nuclear Science Facility was essential to his work.

"I wouldn't have been able to do this thesis (without it)," he said.

Pickering said about one-third of the students who take the Radiation Safety course come from local businesses. In addition, "people hear about it, or the regulatory people send folks here," he said.

When teaching a course for professionals and others in a particular field of work or study, Pickering tries to identify the radioisotopes they are likely to use and tailors the content to meet their specifi c needs.

Minimizing risk of exposure

In the facility, students work in one of two rooms, depending on how the material is to be handled.

One room is for what Pickering called "sealed source" - a tiny amount of material encased in a block of Lucite, for instance.

"The material is self-contained," Pickering said. "But you can still measure exposure."

The other room is for "unsealed source." Contamination is the issue for protection from any unsealed material.

Students who have been trained may work with sealed sources if he is not there, Pickering said, but he must be present to supervise when anyone is working with unsealed or larger amounts.

Pickering has been SJSU's radiation safety officer since 1996.

In that role, he participates whenever the university orders any sort of radioactive material. He processes permits and prepares orders, and he is involved in receiving the material.

Other universities have radiation safety officers as well. Most don't have teaching labs, however, nor do the officers teach safety courses.

Multimillion-dollar facility

The Nuclear Science Facility was a multimillion-dollar project when it was built in the 1970s, Pickering said. It was intended to be more elaborate than what universities generally had.

"The facility is designed so people could even work with plutonium," he said. "It doesn't happen, but it could."

It was designed as an instructional facility for the health physics program that was taught at SJSU at the time. Health physics is the study of radiation safety and of radiation's effects on the body.

Although it is accessed through Duncan Hall, the 7,000-square-foot, two-floor facility is a separate building that is not close to any occupied space in Duncan Hall, Pickering said. It has 19 airflow monitors and two separate electrical systems. Water goes into catch tanks and is tested for contamination before being released.

John Garcia, who is taking the Radiation Safety class, said the laboratory felt different from others he had been in.

Garcia, a senior majoring in chemistry, said, "You get the impression you're underground, like a government facility. ... There are no windows."

However, "as soon as you start using the instruments, you forget where you're at," Garcia said.

The facility also handles the disposal of radioactive materials for the campus.

If the material will degrade so that the radiation is immeasurable in six months to a year, it will be held until it can be disposed of as nonradioactive waste, Pickering said. When the radiation will take longer than a year to degrade, the material is prepared for shipment and disposal according to government requirements.

The facility must meet state and federal standards, and it is inspected every three years. Pickering said no violations were found in the last two inspections.

Collins said the quality of the facility was one reason she came to SJSU.

"Usually when inspectors come, things are in such good order, they don't have to spend (much) time on campus," she said. "John helps ensure we have a license."

Marybeth George, a graduate student in biology, commented on the quality of the facility as well.

"They've gone above and beyond what's expected," George said.

George said she appreciates the training and experience she has gotten at SJSU.

"The experience is valuable," she said. "If I were hiring someone ... I'd choose the person with real experience."

Program made inactive

The health physics master's program at SJSU was made inactive around 1992, said Rodriguez, the biology professor. He said there is a need for the program, but he doesn't think it will be reactivated soon.

"There's hype about homeland security - dirty bombs being radioactive material," Rodriguez said. However, for the health physics program to be reactivated, it is "going to have to generate its own funding, to be selfsustained."

Pickering said securing funding would be an obstacle. Money would be needed right away for faculty and for equipment upgrades if the program were to be restarted. The Nuclear Science Facility, though, is in good shape and would take minimal funds to start.

"If the program were to be reactivated, the facility is ready to go," Pickering said, "It still meets regulations, so that would not slow down a new program."

There is a strong need for health physicists, Pickering said, adding that a program could be filled with students "immediately."

Although the facility may not be used to its full capacity, Pickering said people who take his Radiation Safety course are well regarded at places such as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

"Our students know how to handle and manage the materials," he said.

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