[ RadSafe ] ALARA

Tue Jul 1 21:20:54 CDT 2008

At the NCRP meeting an NRC presentative indicated that they were not going to eliminate there ALARA requirements in their regulations.  So it goes.

I thought that it was interesting when the monitor at one question session told Ted Rockwell that if he did not a valid question of the panel to sit down.  Sad but true.

Sorry you could not make it Dr. Long.

+++++++++++++++++++

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail: crispy_bird at yahoo.com

--- On Tue, 6/24/08, HOWARD.LONG at comcast.net <HOWARD.LONG at comcast.net> wrote:

From: HOWARD.LONG at comcast.net <HOWARD.LONG at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] ALARA
To: NeilKeeney at aol.com, radsafe at radlab.nl
Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 7:40 PM

ALARA Supporters,
You have strong help from Ted Rockwell  in, 
Creating the New World: Stories and Images from the Dawn of the Atomic Age. 
Therein, Ted relates the value of submariner perfectionism in selling and
making the first nuclear power plants safely.

However, now that instrumentation and evidence that up to 20 rem/year actually
promotes longevity and reduces cancer, isn't it time to draw that line?
Prompt energy increase depends on it.
All would agree that great pains must be taken to assure there is no repeat of 
Chernobyl.

Howard Long

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: NeilKeeney at aol.com 

> 
> Gary or Joe et al: 
> 
> In direct response to your question, we unquestionably 'get
something' from 
> ALARA. I've primarily been associated with planning and implementation
of 
> major projects at commercial nuclear facilities around the country for the
last 
> couple of decades. My observations and conclusions closely align with what

> Dr. Lipton has indicated. 
> 
> To take it a couple of steps further, the depth and degree of planning and

> preparation necessary to achieve some of the key objectives of ALARA,
which, 
> in the aggregate result in reduced collective dose may be summarized in a
few 
> points: 
> 1. There is generally less rework necessary to be performed across our 
> major project tasks because: 
> 
> a. We have workable plans that were compelled to be developed in detail 
> in part as the result of ALARA considerations. Some of these go so far as
to 
> specify the exact tools, parts and pieces necessary to perform the work.
In 
> some cases they call for backup equipment or components. These variables
are 
> based on the lessons-learned for the activity. I have often observed, in 
> the 'old' days, a work group exiting the work areas because they
had the wrong 
> bolt, forgot a wrench, the tool broke, the wrong gasket; on and on. That 
> doesn't happen anymore at a facility with a good ALARA program. It
simply 
> results in greater efficiency all around which, in turn, optimizes the
activity 
> in terms of collective dose expenditure. 
> 
> b. We have superior scheduling that takes into consideration work 
> sequences that result in avoiding unnecessary exposure. For example, if it

> were not 
> for the ALARA concept, there would be nothing preventing any particular 
> project management team from draining the Steam Generator shell of
secondary 
> water (shielding) thus exposing the workforce to 30,000 manhours of
increased 
> dose-rates on the order of 2 - 3 times that of a filled shell. An extreme 
> example but I've seen the results of premature drain-down. 
> 
> c. Via this concept, we have been able to reconcile internal and external 
> exposure via TEDE ALARA precepts. This took thousands of people out of 
> respirators and also greatly increased worker efficiency and, therefore 
> improved 
> production making us more reliable as an industry. This also compelled 
> advances in the use and utility of engineering controls for ventilation
and 
> Containment At The Source concepts for contamination control. 
> 
> 2. Enhanced proficiency in performing difficult or complex tasks - 
> previously discussed. There's nothing like achieving greater reality
on the 
> scope 
> and magnitude of one's part in a complex task. It's a drill of the
technique 
> and methodology and is consistent with other such practices across our 
> society. This is how a process is debugged prior to actual execution and
it's 
> a 
> valuable element of reducing or avoiding dose. 
> 
> I have observed the improvements across our industry first-hand. Work 
> implementation used to be carried out in a cavalier fashion without
respect to 
> collective dose. Rework was routine. Schedules ignored shielding 
> installation, 
> work group interferences with one another, or water level management 
> techniques (in PWRs). Workers were worked until they maxed-out on dose and

> then you 
> got another guy and did the same with him. It was pretty ugly. 
> 
> Well. These are a few viewpoints about the matter. There are many more but

> I've been accused in the past of being too verbose so I will leave it
at 
> this for now. 
> 
> Neil Keeney 
> NRRPT 
> Currently at CR3 SGRP 
> 
> 
> In a message dated 6/23/2008 6:43:07 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
> garyi at trinityphysics.com writes: 
> 
> Bill, 
> 
> Did Alara produce the successful facility, or did the successful 
> facility produce doses that were Alara? 
> 
> In other words, if you went into a "dirty" plant and made them 
> implement Alara, would the plant become a model facility? Or would it 
> still be "dirty" wherever scrutiny was lacking? I agree that the

> correlation you recall exists, but I strongly doubt that Alara is the 
> causative factor. 
> 
> Unless you are willing to insist that Alara is a causative factor, 
> your concluding statement is unfounded. I assert that the well run 
> facilities you recall would have been just as well run (perhaps 
> better) if Alara had never been conceived, had never been made a part 
> of the compliance requirement. 
> 
> So I'm back to this: Do we get anything from ALARA that we could not 
> have just by writing clear regs? 
> 
> And, this is the last I will post on this issue. I am so busy keeping 
> things Alara that I have no more time to think about whether this is a 
> good policy. :P 
> 
> -Gary Isenhower 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> **************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for 
> fuel-efficient used cars. 
> (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007) 
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