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

Tue Apr 4 06:56:16 CDT 2006

I don't know if this applies to you or not.  The EPA has limits on Maximum
Contamination Levels for Radionuclides.  It is in the 40 CFR 131.66.  You
may also check with the MARRISSM NUREG 1575/EPA 402-R-97-016 (December 1997)

Edmond J. Baratta
Radiation Safety Officer
Tel. No. 781-729-5700 x 728
Fax:  781-729-3593
edmond.baratta at fda.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf
Of Evers, William C.
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 4:18 PM
To: (radsafe at radlab.nl)
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Looking for guidance on when to post a "Soil
Contamination Area"

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-

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