[ RadSafe ] ALARA

[NeilKeeney at aol.com]

Gary & Joe:
 
There's nothing wrong about trying to be right except for  persisting in a 
compulsion in Having to Be Right; I know this to my bones  because I have first 
hand experience in the area. ;)  We create our reality  primarily through our 
agreement as to what 'is' as your wife apparently so aptly  demonstrated.
 
I cannot plumb the depths of your dismay with the area of  ALARA and I grant 
you that this area is subject to misuse or abuse by those with  
non-constructive or selfish personal agendas.  While these proceed at the  expense of all 
our constructive efforts and we see analogous trends in our  everyday environs, 
there is Always a payback, a price to pay along the line for  those who do 
this. I don't have your unique viewpoint or experience  and I hope you have 
better successes in your peripheral  endeavors.
 
I can only relate what I have directly observed concerning the  topic; it has 
greatly benefited work efficiency and effectiveness across  commercial 
nuclear power in the U.S. and has resulted in dramatic collective  dose reduction 
and avoidance.  It has also created greater awareness on the  part of the 
workforce concerning all things 'radiation'.
 
It's constructive application and continued use as such should  be closely 
supported.  Non-constructive applications and those  attempting such 
machinations for personal interests should be  inhibited.
 
Best regards and Buenos Suerte, 
 
Neil Keeney
NRRPT
Currently at CR3 SGRP
 
 


Well, its hard to argue with a neatly ordered  outline.  I suppose I must be 
wrong.  I ran into a 
similar  situation in regard to my finances a few years back.  I told my wife 
many  times that the 
best way to get out of debt was to pay off the highest  interest credit card 
first.  We didn't 
seem to get anwhere until she  began listening to a guy who said to pay off 
the smallest debt 
first.   He called it a "debt snowball".

Any accountant can tell you that I was  right.  But we still made more 
headway going 
backwards because it just  felt better to my wife to picture a giant snowball 
wiping out our  
debt.

I suppose there could be some kind of emotional gratification  contained in 
the ALARA 
concept, or maybe in the sound of the acronym  itself.  If you treat your 
patients with snake oil 
and they get better,  then there must be something to it.

Good night!
Gary  Isenhower


On 23 Jun 2008 at 19:26, NeilKeeney at aol.com  wrote:


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








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