An MC&A Database for Healthcare Facilities and University-Based Research Activities

A variety of health and university-based research facilities handle, and therefore must control, various nuclear materials. These facilities, providing cancer therapy, diagnostic services, and/or conducting research activities, may handle a considerable number of radiopharmaceuticals and other nuclear materials that need to be controlled to prevent intentional diversion or inadvertent loss. A well-designed and implemented system of control will ensure that essential health services and fundamental research activities/ functions can continue to operate. An internship program operated by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has allowed a student from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute to collaborate with faculty and staff at the University of Missouri to examine the specific Material Control and Accountability (MC&A) needs of these facilities. To this end, an MC&A database model has been devised that is based upon current literature as to what topics and processes must be included, but is a fresh examination of database needs for these types of facilities. The database model is based on the overall organizational structure of accountability, measurements, and control, addresses database contents, and then discusses particular functions that need to occur within the database. The database model recognizes that usefulness is based upon meeting the dual goals of accuracy (e.g., the ability to differentiate between errors in recording information and actual diversions of materials) and timeliness of information (e.g., feedback provided in the same timeframe as the collection of information). Graphics include the depiction of the movement of materials throughout their lifecycle in a facility, as well as the manner in which all of the various pieces of inputted data relate to each other.