TL;DR Decaywell fits sensors to the delay-and-decay tanks that hold radioactive effluent from hospital iodine-131 therapy wards, and keeps the release records the regulator expects. Nuclear medicine departments pay an install fee and an annual subscription. The pitch is simple - fewer manual surveys and no release above the limit.
India had 150 high-dose radionuclide therapy facilities in 2023, alongside 442 nuclear medicine centres[1], and new wards keep opening, such as a five-bed ward at AIIMS Raipur in 2025[4]. AERB requires these patients to stay in isolation rooms whose toilets drain to delay-and-decay tanks. Effluent can go to the sewer only once iodine-131 falls below 22.2 MBq/m³[2].
A lot of this is still checked by hand. One department reports weekly survey-meter rounds at 11 points, manual valves and a radiation safety officer keeping paper records of every fill and release[2]. At another hospital, two releases measured 440.05 and 351 MBq/m³ before dilution, and the authors wrote that the facility did not meet AERB's waste criteria[3].
What it does, in regulatory terms: monitoring and record-keeping for an AERB-licensed facility. It does not treat, dose or assess patients, and it does not replace the radiation safety officer, who stays responsible for every release decision.
The seed proposed transmuting nuclear waste into shorter-lived elements, and I've reframed it. That work needs reactors or accelerators, and under the SHANTI Act strategic waste management stays with the central government[5]. Hospitals though already manage radioactive waste every day, with clumsy tools.
Decaywell fits each tank with a level sensor and a shielded radiation probe, and adds sensors at valve junctions. A dashboard shows fill level, estimated activity and the date each tank will be safe to release, based on decay from the logged fill. Before a release, the officer takes a sample as usual and enters the result, and the system then generates the release record and a running annual total against the 37 GBq hospital cap[3]. Alerts reach the nursing station and the officer's phone when a tank nears full.
The user is the radiation safety officer and the medical physicist. The payer is the hospital's nuclear medicine department or biomedical engineering budget. Nobody publishes a price for tank monitoring in India. What are you up against? Staff time, plus the cost of a compliance finding. Price it as a one-time install plus an annual subscription per tank, set after five interviews.
Therapy is growing. India's nuclear medicine community describes rapid expansion of radiotheranostics, and a 40-bed therapy ward was planned at ACTREC Mumbai[1]. Every new ward is a chance to build monitoring in from day one. Low-cost connected level and radiation sensors make a retrofit practical without opening tanks.
The narrowest figure is 150 high-dose therapy facilities in India[1]. Each typically runs at least one pair of tanks[2]. No public figure gives spending on tank monitoring. The adjacent number is 442 nuclear medicine centres that also store solid radioactive waste for decay[1], a possible second product.
I found no Indian product built for delay-tank monitoring. Hospitals use civil contractors for the tanks and handheld survey meters for checks[2]. A hospital in the Middle East wired its tanks to ultrasound level sensors and its building management system[6], which shows the approach works but is custom-built. General radiation-monitor makers sell probes, not a records workflow.
That's the gap - a packaged retrofit with records built in.
| Difficulty | Moderate (46/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹60 L–1.3 Cr |
| Time to launch | 9–12 months |
You can buy the sensors off the shelf. The hard parts are calibration in a wet, shielded concrete pit and earning the trust of medical physicists, who are careful by training. Each install also needs the hospital's officer and AERB-compliant procedures to accept the new readings.
Decaywell needs no AERB licence of its own, but it works inside rules the hospital is licensed under, so the product must follow them.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
AI should never make a release decision or replace a sample. The radiation safety officer stays responsible for every release, and Decaywell does not assess patients.
Want to work out the AI layer for Decaywell? Talk to Yash →
I'd back a medical physicist or instrumentation engineer who knows nuclear medicine departments to try this. If you want a large market quickly then look elsewhere. First prove that five departments will pay for a pilot and that the sensor estimate matches the officer's samples within an agreed margin.
Plan for roughly ₹60 L–1.3 Cr, mostly for sensors, shielded probes, software and pilots in a few nuclear medicine departments.
Decaywell needs no AERB licence of its own, because the hospital holds it. The product must follow the AERB release limit and the 37 GBq annual cap.
Yes, hospitals that give radioiodine therapy use similar tanks in many countries. Release limits differ, so check your own radiation regulator's rules first.
The free Decaywell validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the AERB and waste rules checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for radiation safety officers, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Decaywell or something close to it? The make-or-break work is proving sensor readings that medical physicists trust in a real tank, and I'm glad to help you plan that pilot. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.