Answer to Question #1686 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Q

Are there any regulations (or guidance) in the United States which detail necessary arrangements for control of contamination at personnel access points to areas where unsealed radioactive materials may be present? (What we in the UK would refer to as "barrier areas" or "changerooms.")

A

Both the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) have information on this topic.

At the NRC, its regulations contained in 10 CFR Part 20 have no specific regulations or criteria for permissible contamination levels in the workplace. However, the NRC regional offices have reasoned that the skin-dose equivalent limits for skin dose indirectly require controls for materials outside restricted areas, require posting of radioactive materials areas, and require attention to resuspension and inhalation. In addition, NRC Regulatory Guide 1.86 provides a criterion of 5,000 dpm/100 cm², removable, as a detection limit to determine whether things, like people, need to be decontaminated or released. NRC Regulatory Guides 8.8, 8.18, Rev. 1, and 8.38 also provide guidance. NRC's NUREG 1736, October 2001, prepared by NMSS, provides guidance for interpreting Part 20. See Section 3-84 for "Optimization" of contamination. NUREGs can be found at either the NRC website or through the NRC's document retrieval system, ADAMs.

As far as the DOE guidance, its regulations at 10 CFR 835.1102 "Control of Areas" contain the basic DOE requirements intended to prevent the spread of contamination outside of contaminated areas. 10 CFR 835 contains the requirements for posting contaminated areas. DOE implementation guide DOE G 441.1-9 "Radioactive Contamination Control" provides acceptable methods for establishing and implementing a contamination-control program that meets the requirements in 10 CFR 835. The DOE implementation guides can be found on the DOE website. DOE Standard DOE-STD 1098-99 "Radiological Control" contains additional guidance on establishing and maintaining radiological controls for contamination control. Much of this material is contained in Chapter 3 (part 3, appendices 3C and 3D, and Table 3-2).

Cyndi Jones, PhD
Senior Advisor for Materials US NRC