[ RadSafe ] Looking for guidance on when to post a "Soil Contamination Area"

[Evers, William C.]

I work for a company that routinely does work sampling in soil excavations.
I am working on a RWP for soil sampling in potentially contaminated areas.
I have some historical data showing elevated soil concentrations in certain
areas (Ra-226, Th-230, and U-238).  Our site limits on surface contamination
are 20 dpm alpha, and 100 dpm beta.  My concern is that while sampling we
may encounter areas where the elevated soil concentrations may lead to
surface contamination in excess of our site limits.  I would like to know if
this could happen prior to sampling so I could have the area posted as a
"Contamination Area".

So my question is this: Is there an industry standard action level for soil
contamination that can/will lead to surface contamination?  Is there an
industry standard level where posting a "Contamination Area" becomes
necessary?

Has anyone with a similar program ever encountered a situation like this
before?  If so, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.  I would like to
compare our procedures to other programs.  Thank you.

 

W. Clark Evers-