Radioactive source category 1–5

Add a nuclide

Activity reference

Category by the passport value, without decay correction — for an aged source use “Residual activity”.

Source composition

  • Co-60 · 3 TBq
2
Category 2 — very dangerousA/D = 100
What it means
Sources posing high hazard (time to injury — from a few minutes to an hour).
Requirements
Accounting and control — for all categories. Notify the regulator; physical protection.
Typical sources
HDR brachytherapy, industrial radiography (Ir-192, Se-75), neutron sources (Cf-252).
Category by A/D ratio: A/D = Σ(Aᵢ/Dᵢ)D is the dangerous activity of the nuclide (НП-067-24, Annex 5 Table 2 = IAEA RS-G-1.9).Thresholds: A/D ≥ 1000 → cat. 1; 10 → 2; 1 → 3; 0.01 → 4; below → 5.

Radioactive Source Category 1–5

What the calculator determines

The calculator assigns a sealed radioactive source to one of five categories of potential radiological hazard using the RF НП-067-24 method, which reproduces the IAEA RS-G-1.9 approach. The category drives the required physical protection, accounting and security of the source.

How the A/D ratio works

For a radionuclide the ratio of its activity A to the nuclide D-value — the «dangerous activity» (НП-067-24 Annex 5 Table 2, identical to IAEA EPR-D-VALUES) — is taken. Category 1 is A/D ≥ 1000, category 2 from 10 to 1000, category 3 from 1 to 10, category 4 from 0.01 to 1, category 5 below 0.01. For a multi-nuclide source the ratios are summed: A/D = Σ(Aᵢ/Dᵢ).

Activity at a date and nuclide mixtures

The category is based on the current activity, so a source can drop to a lower category over time. The calculator decays the passport activity to today by half-life and supports sources made of several radionuclides.

अक्सर पूछे जाने वाले प्रश्न

How is the source category determined per НП-067-24?

By the activity-to-D-value ratio: A/D ≥ 1000 is category 1, 10–1000 category 2, 1–10 category 3, 0.01–1 category 4, below 0.01 category 5. For a set of sources or a nuclide mixture the ratios A_i/D_i are summed.

What is a D-value?

The dangerous activity — the level above which an unshielded source can cause severe deterministic effects. Values follow IAEA RS-G-1.9 and НП-067-24; for 352 nuclides they are collected in the D-value table.

Should the activity be decayed to the categorisation date?

Yes: the category is based on the actual activity. The calculator can decay the certificate activity to the date using the half-life, but for short-lived nuclides double-check that the calibration date is entered correctly.