Re: Donning a Respirator inside a CA

["Carol O'Shaughnessy" <oshaun@ntown.com>]

Forgive me, but I failed to mention that we are not a DOE facility, therefore
different requirements.

Terry_D_Merkling@rl.gov wrote:

> Please give me your opinion on donning a respirator while inside a CA.
>
> PFP Hanford has employees working in Pu gloveboxes which are located in
> rooms that are posted as Contamination Areas (CAs).  The majority of surface
> areas in these areas are <20 dpm/100cm2, but there are isolated areas up to
> 2,000 dpm/100cm2.  The workers wear 1-pair of booties and 1-pair of
> shoecovers, (taped), 2-pairs of gloves (inner are taped), and coveralls; no
> hood.  If waste or product needs to be sealed-out of the glovebox, the room
> (airspace) needs to be placed on Airborne Radioactive Area (ARA) status.
> Presently, to do this, the employees exit the CA, survey and re-dress with
> the same protective clothing plus a respirator and hood (taped).
>
> The proposed plan would be to use the same logic as found in the DOE RadCon
> Manual, Article 342.11.  It allows drinking water in a CA if the workers
> hands and faces are monitored for contamination prior to drinking.  The
> proposed PFP plan would be to have the workers change their outer gloves and
> either self monitor or have a RCT monitor the workers hands, face and head.
> If clean, the workers would remove a respirator from its bag, don it, then
> put on a hood and tape it to the respirator.
>
> Does anyone see a down side to this plan?
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