LAC 33:XV.1713. Performance Criteria for Sealed Sources

A. Requirements for sealed sources installed after promulgation of this Chapter: 1. shall have been evaluated by the department, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or an agreement state in accordance with 10 CFR 32.210; 2. shall be doubly encapsulated; 3. shall use radioactive material that is as nondispersible as practical and that is as insoluble as practical if the source is used in a wet-source-storage or wet-source-change irradiator; 4. shall be encapsulated in a material resistant to general corrosion and to localized corrosion, such as 316L stainless steel or other material with equivalent resistance, if the sources are for use in irradiator pools; and 5. in prototype testing of the sealed source, shall have been leak-tested and found leak-free after each of the tests described in Subsections B-G of this Section. B. Temperature. The test source shall be held at -40°C for 20 minutes, 600°C for one hour, and then be subjected to thermal shock test with a temperature drop from 600°C to 20°C within 15 seconds. C. Pressure. The test source shall be twice subjected for at least five minutes to an absolute external pressure of 2 million newtons per square meter. D. Impact. A 2 kilogram steel weight, 2.5 centimeters in diameter, shall be dropped from a height of 1 meter onto the test source. E. Vibration. The test source shall be subjected three times for 10 minutes each to vibrations sweeping from 25 hertz to 500 hertz with a peak amplitude of five times the acceleration of gravity. In addition, each test source shall be vibrated for 30 minutes at each resonant frequency found. F. Puncture. A 50 gram weight and pin, 0.3 centimeter pin diameter, shall be dropped from a height of 1 meter onto the test source. G. Bend. If the length of the source is more than 15 times larger than the minimum cross-sectional dimension, the test source shall be subjected to a force of 2,000 newtons at its center equidistant from two support cylinders, the distance between which is 10 times the minimum cross-sectional dimension of the source.