Nuclear Chemistry

Wadsworth Center’s Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory operates within the Laboratory of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry, Division of Environmental Health Sciences.

Mandated Radiological Surveillance in New York State

The surveillance program assesses exposure of the population to ionizing radiation and involves monitoring of radioactivity in the environment around nuclear power plants, waste sites, as well as monitoring of drinking water supplies for gross alpha/beta, radium, and uranium.

Regulatory Program

The regulatory program involves production of Performance Testing standards for the Environmental Laboratory Approval Program_[1].

Emergency Response

Radiological emergency response focuses on response to accidents and incidents involving ionizing radiation related to commercial and healthcare usage of radiation, radiological food protection, potential large accidents related to energy production, as well as potential terrorist threats involving radioactivity such as dirty bombs.

Research in Radiological Sciences

Develop improved and faster laboratory methods of quantifying radioactivity to serve the above mentioned programs.
Develop statistical and modeling tools to quantify radioactivity in the environment and improve the decision methodology.
Develop of new and more sensitive methods to detect ionizing radiation in environmental, food, and bioassay samples, such as alpha and gamma spectrometry, liquid scintillation counting, and radon detection.
Develop new methods to separate specific radionuclides from complex matrices.

Education

The Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory teaches principles and laboratory courses in radiation sciences for the University at Albany, School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences Program by providing:

EHS 690 Laboratory Rotations
EHS 540 Principles of Radiation Sciences
EHS 541 Radioactivity Measurements Laboratory

Accreditations

NELAP – E37911
NYS ELAP – 10762
EPA – NY00005

The Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory cooperates with other New York State agencies such as Bureau of Environmental Radiation Protection, Bureau of Water Supply Protection, as well as with the US FDA for radiological food protection.

Information including frequently asked questions, testing, mitigation, laws and regulations and radon level maps and statistics can be found at the NYS Department of Health's Radon Page_[2].