N.M. Code R. § 20.3.15.1506 – Performance Criteria for Sealed Sources

A. Requirements. Sealed sources installed after July 1, 1993:
1. (1) must be doubly encapsulated;
2. (2) must use radioactive material that is as non-dispersible as practical and that is as insoluble as practical if the source is used in a wet-source-storage or wet-source-change irradiator;
3. (3) must be encapsulated in a material resistant to general corrosion and to localized corrosion, such as 316L stainless steel or other material with equivalent resistance if the sources are for use in irradiator pools; and
4. (4) in prototype testing of the sealed source, must have been leak tested and found leak-free after each of the tests described in Subsections B through G of 20.3.15.1506 NMAC.
B. Temperature. The test source must be held at -40 degrees C for 20 minutes, 600 degrees C for one hour, and then be subject to a thermal shock test with a temperature drop from 600 degrees C to 20 degrees C within 15 seconds.
C. Pressure. The test source must be twice subjected for at least five minutes to an external pressure (absolute) of 2 million newtons per square meter.
D. Impact. A 2-kilogram steel weight, 2.5 centimeters in diameter, must be dropped from a height of 1 meter onto the test source.
E. Vibration. The test source must be subjected three times for 10 minutes each to vibrations sweeping from 25 hertz to 500 hertz, with a peak amplitude of 5 times the acceleration of gravity. In addition, each test source must be vibrated for 30 minutes at each resonant frequency found.
F. Puncture. A 50-gram weight and pin, 0.3-centimeter pin diameter, must be dropped from a height of 1 meter onto the test source.
G. Bend. If the length of the source is more than 15 times larger than the minimum cross-sectional dimension, the test source must be subjected to a force of 2000 newtons at its center equidistant from two support cylinders, the distance between which is 10 times the minimum cross-sectional dimension of the source.
[5/3/1995; 20.3.15.1506 NMAC - Rn, 20 NMAC 3.1.15.1506, 4/15/2004; A, 6/13/2017]