Chapter 7. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES - RADIATION CONTROL

A. Each registrant shall ensure the following procedural requirements are met in the operation of x-ray equipment: 1. An x-ray machine which does not meet the provisions of this Chapter shall not be operated for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes, unless specifically exempted by …

A. A registrant shall prevent leakage radiation from the diagnostic source assembly measured at a distance of 1 meter in any direction from the source assembly from exceeding 25.8 µC/kg (100 milliroentgens) in one hour when the x-ray tube is operated at its leakage technique fact…

A. Useful beam limitation. A registrant shall: 1. Provide beam-limiting devices that restrict the entire cross section of the useful beam to less than the area of the primary barrier at any Source-to-Image Receptor Distance (SID); 2. Ensure that the x-ray field size produced by f…

A. Useful beam limitation. A registrant shall: 1. Provide a means to restrict the useful beam to the area of clinical interest for any combination of SID and image receptor size employed. 2. Ensure that beam-limiting devices meet the following requirements: a. Devices that projec…

A. Equipment 1. All requirements of R9-7-607(A) and (B) apply. 2. For mobile radiographic units the registrant shall provide a “dead-man” switch, together with an electrical cord of sufficient length so that the operator can stand out of the useful beam and at least 1.82 meters (…

Historical Note New Section R9-7-609 recodified from R12-1-609 at 24 A.A.R. 813, effective March 22, 2018 (Supp. 18-1). Section expired under A.R.S. § 41-1056(J) at 31 A.A.R. 4407 (November 21, 2025), effective November 4, 2025 (Supp. 25-4).

A. Equipment. A registrant shall: 1. Use a protective tube housing of diagnostic type; 2. Use diaphragms or cones for restricting the useful beam and to provide the same degree of protection as the housing. The diameter of the useful beam at the end of the cone or spacer frame sh…

A. Registrants are subject to the following requirements for Intraoral dental radiographic units designed to be operated as a hand-held unit: 1. For all uses: a. Operators of hand-held intraoral dental radiographic units shall be specifically trained to operate such equipment. b.…

A. Equipment requirements. 1. Leakage radiation. When the x-ray tube is operated at its maximum rated tube current for the maximum kVp, the leakage air kerma rate shall not exceed the value specified at the distance specified for that classification of therapeutic radiation machi…

A. Electronic brachytherapy devices used to deliver interstitial and intracavitary therapeutic radiation dosage shall be subject to the requirements of this Section, and unless otherwise specified in this Section shall be exempt from the requirements of R9-7-611. 1. An electronic…

A person shall not utilize any device which is designed to electrically generate a source of ionizing radiation to deliver superficial therapeutic radiation dosage, and which is not appropriately regulated under any existing category of therapeutic radiation machine, until: 1. Th…

A. Definitions: 1. “CT” means computed tomography. 2. “CT conditions of operation” means all selectable parameters governing the operation of a CT including nominal tomographic section thickness, and technique factors. 3. “CTDI” means computed tomography dose index, the integral …

A. Equipment. A registrant shall ensure that: 1. The total filtration permanently in the useful beam is not less than 1.5 millimeters aluminum-equivalent for equipment operating at up to 70 kVp and 2.0 millimeters aluminum-equivalent for equipment operating in excess of 70 kVp; 2…

A. Equipment. A registrant shall ensure that: 1. Only radiation machines specifically designed for mammographic examinations are used; 2. The film processor used in the registrant’s facility is maintained in accordance with the film processor’s and film manufacturer’s recommendat…

A. Personnel. 1. Each registrant shall require personnel who perform mammography, which includes the production, processing, and interpretation of mammograms and related quality assurance activities, to meet the following requirements: a. An interpreting physician shall meet fede…

A. A person may manufacture, produce, acquire, receive, possess, prepare, use, or transfer radioactive material for medical use only in accordance with a specific license issued by the Department, the NRC, or another Agreement State, or as allowed in subsection (B)(1) or (B)(2). …

“Authorized medical physicist” means an individual who meets the requirements in R9-7-711. For purposes of ensuring that personnel are adequately trained, an authorized medical physicist is a “qualified expert” as defined in Article 1. “Authorized nuclear pharmacist” means a phar…

A. In addition to the requirements set forth in R9-7-309, the Department shall issue a specific license for medical use of radioactive material if: 1. The applicant has appointed a radiation safety committee, meeting the requirements in R9-7-705, that will oversee the use of lice…

A. A licensee may conduct basic research involving human research subjects and research involving patients receiving investigational new drugs or devices if the licensee only uses the radioactive material specified on the license for the uses authorized on the license. B. If rese…

A. A licensee’s management shall appoint in writing a Radiation Safety Officer, who agrees, in writing, to be responsible for implementing the radiation protection program. The licensee, through the Radiation Safety Officer, shall ensure that radiation safety activities are being…

A. For purposes of this rule, “supervision” means the exercise of control over or direction of the use of radioactive material in the practice of medicine by an authorized user named on a radioactive material license. Supervision does not require a supervising physician’s constan…

A. A licensee shall ensure that a written directive is dated and signed by an authorized user before the administration of I-131 sodium iodide greater than 1.11 MBq (30 microcuries (µCi)), any therapeutic dosage of unsealed radioactive material or any therapeutic dose of radiatio…

A. For any administration requiring a written directive, the licensee shall develop, implement, and maintain written procedures to provide high confidence that: 1. The patient’s or human research subject’s identity is verified before each administration; and 2. Each administratio…

For medical use, a licensee may only use: 1. Sealed sources or devices manufactured, labeled, packaged, and distributed in accordance with a license issued under Article 3 of this Chapter or equivalent requirements of the NRC or another Agreement State; 2. Sealed sources or devic…

A. A licensee shall require an individual fulfilling the responsibilities of the Radiation Safety Officer, described in R9-7-705, to be an individual who: 1. Is certified by a specialty board whose certification process includes all of the requirements in subsection (A)(2)(a) and…

A. A licensee shall require an authorized medical physicist to be an individual who: 1. Is certified by a specialty board whose certification process includes all of the training and experience requirements in subsections (A)(2)(a) and (B) and whose certification has been recogni…

A. A licensee shall require the authorized nuclear pharmacist to be a pharmacist who: 1. Is certified as a nuclear pharmacist by a specialty board whose certification process has been recognized by the Department, the NRC, or another Agreement State. To have its certification pro…

A. Exemptions from required training: 1. An individual identified on a Department, a NRC, or another Agreement State license or a permit issued by the NRC or an Agreement State broad scope licensee or master material license permit or by a master material license permittee of bro…

A. A licensee shall determine and record the activity of each dosage before medical use. B. For a unit dosage, this determination shall be made by: 1. Direct measurement of radioactivity; or 2. Decay correction, based on the activity or activity concentration determined by: a. A …

Any person authorized by R9-7-703 for medical use of radioactive material may receive, possess, and use any of the following radioactive material for check, calibration, transmission, and reference use. 1. Sealed sources, not exceeding 1.11 GBq (30 mCi) each, manufactured and dis…

A. A licensee in possession of any sealed source or brachytherapy source shall follow the radiation safety and handling instructions supplied by the manufacturer. B. A licensee in possession of a sealed source shall test the source for leakage in accordance with R9-7-417. C. A li…

A. In addition to the surveys required in Article 4 of this Chapter, a licensee shall survey with a radiation detection survey instrument at the end of each day of use all areas where unsealed radioactive material, requiring a written directive, is prepared for use or administere…

A. A licensee may authorize the release from its control of any individual who has been administered unsealed radioactive material or implants containing radioactive material, if the total effective dose equivalent to any other individual from exposure to the released individual …

A. A licensee providing mobile medical service shall: 1. Obtain a letter signed by the management of each client for which services are rendered that permits the use of radioactive material at the client’s address and clearly delineates the authority and responsibility of the lic…

A. Except as provided in R9-7-712.01, a licensee shall require an authorized user of unsealed radioactive material for the uses authorized under Group 100 in Exhibit A, Medical Use Groups of this Article to be a physician who: 1. Is certified by a medical specialty board whose ce…

A. A licensee may not administer to humans a radiopharmaceutical that contains more than 0.15 kilobecquerel of molybdenum-99 per megabecquerel of technetium-99m (0.15 microcurie of molybdenum-99 per millicurie of technetium-99m) or, more than 0.02 kilobecquerel of strontium-82 pe…

Except as provided in R9-7-712.01, a licensee shall require an authorized user of unsealed radioactive material for the uses authorized under Group 200 in Exhibit A, Medical Use Groups of this Article to be a physician who: 1. Is certified by a medical specialty board whose certi…

A. A licensee shall provide radiation safety instruction, initially and at least annually, for all personnel caring for the patient or human research subject receiving radiopharmaceutical therapy and hospitalized for compliance with R9-7-717. To satisfy this requirement, the inst…

A. Except as provided in R9-7-712.01, a licensee shall require an authorized user of unsealed radioactive material for the uses authorized under Group 300 in Exhibit A, Medical Use Groups of this Article to be a physician who: 1. Is certified by a medical specialty board whose ce…

A. A licensee shall make a survey to locate and account for all sources that have not been implanted immediately after implanting sources in a patient or a human research subject. B. A licensee shall make a survey of the patient or the human research subject with a radiation dete…

A. In addition to the training requirements in Article 10, a licensee shall provide radiation safety instruction, initially and at least annually, to personnel caring for patients or human research subjects who are receiving brachytherapy and cannot be released under R9-7-717. To…

A. Before the first medical use of a brachytherapy source after the effective date of this rule, a licensee shall have: 1. Determined the source output or activity using a dosimetry system that meets the requirements of R9-7-733(A); 2. Determined source positioning accuracy withi…

A. Except as provided in R9-7-712.01, a licensee shall require an authorized user of a manual brachytherapy source for the uses authorized under Group 400 in Exhibit A, Medical Use Groups of this Article to be a physician who: 1. Is certified by a medical specialty board whose ce…

A. Except as provided in R9-7-712.01, a licensee shall require the authorized user of a diagnostic sealed source for use in a device authorized under Group 500 in Exhibit A, Medical Use Groups of this Article to be a physician, dentist, or podiatrist who: 1. Is certified by a med…

A. Before releasing a patient or a human research subject from licensee control, a licensee shall survey the patient or the human research subject and the remote afterloader unit with a portable radiation detection survey instrument to confirm that each source has been removed fr…

A. Only a person specifically licensed by the Department, the NRC, or an Agreement State shall install, maintain, adjust, or repair a remote afterloader unit, teletherapy unit, or gamma stereotactic radiosurgery unit that involves work on any source shielding, the source’s drivin…

A. A licensee shall: 1. Secure the unit, the console, the console keys, and the treatment room when not in use or unattended; 2. Permit only individuals approved by the authorized user, Radiation Safety Officer, or authorized medical physicist to be present in the treatment room …

A. A licensee shall control access at each entrance to a treatment room. B. A licensee shall equip each entrance to the treatment room with an electrical interlock system that will: 1. Prevent the operator from initiating the treatment cycle unless each treatment room entrance do…

A. Except for low dose-rate remote afterloader sources where the source output or activity is determined by the manufacturer, a licensee shall have a calibrated dosimetry system available for use. To satisfy this requirement, one of the following two conditions shall be met. 1. T…

A. A licensee authorized to use a teletherapy unit for medical use shall perform full calibration measurements on each teletherapy unit: 1. Before the first medical use of the unit; and 2. Before medical use under the following conditions: a. Whenever spot-check measurements indi…