ASSESSMENT ON SECURITY SYSTEM OF RADIOACTIVE SOURCESUSED IN HOSPITALS OF THAILAND

Abstract

Unsecured radioactive sources have caused deaths and serious injuries in many parts of the world. In Thailand, there are 17 hospitals that use the teletherapy (Cobalt-60 source). Their radioactive sources need to be secured in order to prevent the unauthorized removal, the sabotage and the terrorists acting by using such materials in a radiological weapon. This study aims to perform an assessment on the security system of the radioactive sources used in hospitals in Thailand and the results can be used as a recommended baseline data for the development or the improvement of the hospitals on the security system of the radioactive source at a national regulatory level and at policy level. Base on the information obtained from the questionnaires, 14 out of the 17 hospitals (82.35%), there were no differences in the conditions of in which the hospitals used the radioactive sources, with or without the installation of the security system by the Office of Atoms for Peace under with the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) program by US DOE (Department of Energy), USA which was begun in 2010. In addition, the personnel working with the radioactive materials seemed to not clearly understand the nuclear security law. Thus, government organizations should be encouraged to arrange the trainings on the nuclear security in order to increase the level of understanding. In the future, it is recommended that the responsible government organization issues a minimum requirement of nuclear security for every medical facility that employ the radioactive sources.