Feasibility of in-house sterilization of laboratory plastic consumables using 2 MeV electron beam facility

In-house sterilization by electron beam (EB) radiation of various plastic consumables (plastic petridishes, micro centrifugal tubes and screw-capped vials) used routinely in the lab was studied by use of three microbiological cultures ( S. aureus , Bacillus subtilis and Candida albicans ). Current international standards (ISO 11137-Part 2 -ISO, 2011) recommend an irradiation dose of 25 kGy as a reference dose for terminal sterilization. All containers were exposed in an ILU-6, 2 MeV, 20 kW, Pulse EB accelerator located in our complex. Sterility test (S.T.) was performed and results revealed that 10 6 and 10 7 population of all strains passed whereas 10 8 population failed S.T. for all micro-organisms indicating the potential of 2 MeV EB for commercial sterilization of plastic lab consumables for up to 10 7 population of these micro-organisms.