The Clean Air Act and Nuclear Medicine

Abstract

This continuing education article explores an important aspect of regulatory compliance, the Clean Air Act, for nuclear medicine professionals. The author analyzes the evolution of the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for radionuclide emissions, explains the rationale of the evaluation and offers a simple, yet comprehensive, methodology to demonstrate compliance with the EPA’s radionuclide emission standards. Commentary is offered regarding the transfer of regulatory responsibility for these standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).