Evaluation of Environmental Measurements and Calculations for Site Profiles

Details

• Personal Author:
  Rollins EM
• Description:
  Environmental profiles have been developed for DOE sites for use by dose reconstructors to evaluate the contribution of ambient site background to a energy employee's occupational dose. Site annual environmental reports have been reviewed for data that would be useful in reconstructing ambient radiation levels and airborne radionuclide concentrations. Data in these historical documents included ambient pressurized ion chamber and TLD radiation measurements, air sampling results, and residual soil activity. The historical ion chamber and TLD results with uncertainty estimates, where available, were tabulated and are located in the Technical Basis Document. Environmental dose estimates to workers, including background radiation, ranged from 0.05 cSv to 0.8 cSv y.l for the Savannah River Site. Careful review of the air sampling data deemed it to be of limited value due to confounding effects of above ground nuclear testing, limited spatial and radionuclide resolution, and insensitivity of early sampling techniques for radionuclides of interest. Therefore, methods were developed to use well documented source terms developed by previous studies, coupled with historical meteorology, to estimate, radionuclide-specific airborne concentrations for 3H, 131I, 41Ar, 238/239/240Pu, and 234/235/238U. Air concentration calculations included spatial and release height considerations for source terms from two separations and five reactor areas at the Savannah River Site. The 50th and 95th percentile air concentrations were estimated for these source term areas as well as other populated areas. The utilization of residual soil activities has also been implemented in the Technical Basis Document. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Environmental Health Environmental Monitoring Meteorology Nuclear Power Plants Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Particulate Matter Radiation Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Airborne-particles Dose-response Employee-exposure Environmental-factors Exposure-assessment Ionizing-radiation Nuclear-energy Occupational-exposure Radiant-energy Radiation-exposure Radiation-facilities Radiation-measurement Radionuclides Soil-analysis

  More +
• ISSN:
  0017-9078
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary ; Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  84
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032224
• Citation:
  Health Phys 2003 Jun; 84(Suppl):S223-S224
• Contact Point Address:
  Dade Moeller and Associates, 545 Blackburn Drive, Augusta, GA 30907
• CAS Registry Number:
  Argon (CAS RN 7440-37-1) ; Hydrogen (CAS RN 1333-74-0) ; Iodine (CAS RN 7553-56-2) ; Plutonium (CAS RN 7440-07-5) ; Uranium (CAS RN 7440-61-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Performing Organization:
  Dade Moeller and Associates, Augusta, Georgia
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Health Physics
• Supplement:
  Suppl
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5da4fb41b8f76faad456b51b97c8d2c46885ccc53e456c1a8f2b3875c41868fac1656d84a1fc26645cc80bfe66b5d3f19222475c42c05b57e89c6c72c4797e46
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186261/cdc_186261_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 376.67 KB ]