A Bounding Estimate of Neutron Dose Based on Measured Photon Dose Around Single Pass Reactors at the Hanford Site

Details

• Personal Author:
  DeBord GW ; Fix J ; Glover SE ; Hunacek M ; Macievic GV ; Morris D ; Smith C ; Taulbee TD
• Description:
  Neutron and photon radiation survey records have been used to evaluate and develop a neutron to photon (NP) ratio to reconstruct neutron doses to workers around Hanford's single pass reactors that operated from 1945 to 1972. A total of 5,773 paired neutron and photon measurements extracted from 57 boxes of survey records were used in the development of the NP ratio. The development of the NP ratio enables the use of the recorded dose from an individual's photon dosimeter badge to be used to estimate the unmonitored neutron dose. The Pearson rank correlation between the neutron and photon measurements was 0.71. The NP ratio best fit a lognormal distribution with a geometric mean (GM) of 0.8, a geometric standard deviation (GSD) of 2.95, and the upper 95th% of this distribution was 4.75. An estimate of the neutron dose based on this NP ratio is considered bounding due to evidence that up to 70% of the total photon exposure received by workers around the single pass reactors occurs during shutdown maintenance and refueling activities when there is no significant neutron exposure. Thus when this NP ratio is applied to the total measured photon dose from an individual film badge dosimeter, the resulting neutron dose is considered bounded. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Nuclear Power Plants Occupational Health Radiation Safety Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Analysis Dose Assessment Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Health-surveys Modeling Nuclear-physics Nuclear-radiation Nuclear-reactors Nuclear Reactor Nuclear Workers Radiation-effects Radiation-exposure Radiation-facilities Radiation-hazards Radiation-properties Radiation-sources Radioactive-materials Radioactive-measurement Statistical Statistical-analysis Surveillance-programs

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• ISSN:
  0017-9078
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 5 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DCAS - Division of Compensation Analysis and Support
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  26-38
• Volume:
  99
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20037012
• Citation:
  Health Phys 2010 Jul; 99(1):26-38
• Contact Point Address:
  Timothy D. Taulbee, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Office of Compensation Analysis and Support (OCAS), Robert A. Taft Laboratories, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  ttaulbee@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Health Physics
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b730c3318998e04d1963a8cf7ac6f1c239001d99b1b030ff2dcf6f029c621d0955b72eb9231f707053929eb38b3e01aecf8cb9f4716c0464a7841e6647d5edaa
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/188190/cdc_188190_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.68 MB ]