Successful Migration from Radioactive Irradiators to X-ray Irradiators in One of the Largest Medical Centers in the U.S.

Summary of all the efforts by Mount Sinai Medical center in the last 7 years to permanently remove the risk of terrorist attack using radioactive materials as Radioactive Dispersal Device (RDD) or dirty bomb is reviewed. Due to the unique characteristics of the cesium chloride (Cs-137) used in medical and research irradiators, it is especially susceptible to be used as a dirty bombs. Mount Sinai originally had four of such irradiators with Cesium sources. To reduce and eventually remove the risk of malicious use of radioactive materials, Mount Sinai at New York City has taken several measures so far. One of such measures was to harden the radioactive material irradiators to make it harder for terrorist to steal such sources. We increased the delay so that the Local Law Enforcement Agency (LLEA) can arrive to stop the terrorists. The other measure taken was to implement enhanced security in facilities having radioactive materials. State of the art security equipment such as Biometric Access Control, 24/7 video monitoring, and Radiation Monitoring System (RMS) with Alarms have been installed and was connected to LLEA for constant monitoring and possible intervention if it is necessary in a timely manner. The other measure taken was to limit the number of people who have access to such radioactive materials alone. The adoption of such measures has reduced the risk significantly; however, the best way to remove the permanent risk of these radioactive materials that may be used for dirty bomb is to use alternative technology to replace these high-activity radioactive sources. In 2013, Mount Sinai purchased its own first X-ray irradiator to investigate the feasibility of using X-ray irradiator instead of Cesium irradiators for research purposes for cells and small mice. Comparison studies were promising which lead to decide permanent migration of all Cesium irradiators to X-ray irradiators. Mount Sinai successfully disposed all its Cesium-137 irradiators. At this time, Mount Sinai, as one of the largest Health care institutions in NY which migrated completely to Alternative Technology and removed the risk permanently.