The ban, which was imposed by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board last month, has left students, whose research would be hampered, worried.
Delhi University is hopeful that the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) will lift the ban imposed, in the wake of the Mayapuri radiation scare, on the use of mild or weak radioactive sources.
The vice chancellor said the agency is 'sensitive' to the institution's needs.
The AERB had withdrawn the authorisation to the university to use radioactive sources in its laboratories after it failed to submit a final reply on the radiation exposure incident at a Mayapuri scrap yard in Delhi within the stipulated period.
The ban that was imposed last month has left students, whose research would be hampered, worried.
Vice-chancellor Deepak Pental said the AERB is 'sensitive' to the university's need to hold practicals and research in MSc and MTech courses, and is looking into the request.
He said, "The university is taking all corrective measures required and the department of chemistry is sending a segregated list of radioactive substances that are normally used in labs to the AERB for examination."
Asked if there was a possibility of the ban being lifted soon, Pental said, "We need not jump to conclusions prematurely. The AERB is sensitive to our needs for holding practicals and research with mild sources, but the strong sources would have to be put away.
"We are segregating all sources and the chemistry department will send a list to the AERB either today or by Monday.
"Some [chemicals] we hope they will allow us to use, while some they will ask us to freeze. The final decision rests with them."
The university has set up a three-member panel to look into the report submitted by a committee on the radiation fiasco and to fix responsibility.
"The panel has been formed and it will start its work soon, but I do not want to divulge the names of the members yet," Pental said, adding that a circular would be issued next week in all likelihood to its members.
Exposure to radioactive material cobalt-60 in a scrap market in West Delhi had led to the death of one person and injuries to 10 others in April this year.
Following the incident, the AERB had suspended the use of radioactive sources in the university labs and asked it to submit a reply to the board on the incident.
The Delhi police had traced the cobalt-60 source to the gamma irradiator which the university had auctioned to a scrap dealer in Mayapuri in February.
A team from the university met AERB officials this week and assured it that all safety procedures would be followed, while requesting for lifting the ban.
Meanwhile, the university executive council has decided that the five professors who have been named by a university-instituted committee on the auction of radioactive substance would not be given any administrative responsibilities until they are cleared in the issue.
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