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Re: Flashlights



#1: Flashlights have a couple of C or D cell batteries that present maybe 8 to 10 cps to a gamma scintillating tool monitor such as the SAM-11.  New flashlights with these batteries will never alarm a tool monitor set at 5000 dpm.  Contaminated flashlights with these batteries and plant radionuclides will almost always alarm a tool monitor.  Wipe them down until they are clean, but do not release them by frisker if you have such an outstanding instrument as a tool monitor available.

#2: In a paper that I have drafted for RPM (and still can't find the time to write), there is a very interesting phenomena that I discovered because of flashlights and tool monitors.  Coming out of power entries from containment, flashlights crush the tool monitor alarms.  The alklaline batteries become activated rapidly.  The Mn-56 with its 2.6 hr half-life is the culprit.  Just hold those for a day.  The title of the article is the "Gamma Rayovacs".

Well, These last few days is the most I've written in a while.  Enjoy all.

Mike Lantz

dpharrison@aep.com wrote:

How is your facility handling flashlights going in and out of the
Restricted Area?

1.  For free release, do you frisk them using, say, an RM-14 with HP210
pancake probe?

2.  Do you place them in a tool contamination monitor, like a SAM-11?

3.  Do you allow them to be worn by the worker and let the personnel
contamination monitor be the exit survey?

4.  Do you challenge the worker who attempts to bring a flashlight into the
Restricted Area?

The batteries within the flashlight contain NORM and sometimes alarm the
SAM and sometimes not.  The issue is that the Operators must have a
flashlight on them to perform Appendix R functions.  We would like to stage
flashlights on racks at the Restricted Area boundary to preclude them
crossing the boundary.  But management wants some benchmarking before we do
this, so I'd appreciate your responses!

Thanks!

David Harrison, CHP
DC Cook Nuclear Plant
(616)465-5901, ext. 2545
dpharrison@aep.com

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