RE: Smear Collection Efficiency

[Joel Baumbaugh <baumbaug@NOSC.MIL>]

	Radsafers,



	I think that we have two different "perspectives" here.  Some of us are 

looking at "contamination" in an analytical sense - i.e. how much 

contamination is actually there and how do we determine/quantify that 

amount.  Others of us are looking at how much contamination is "removable" 

- i.e. how much will be transferred from the surface to the person or thing 

that comes into contact with it.



	When, at my work, I do a survey (not wiping a sealed source/package for 

removable contamination but of a "work-surface" in a laboratory), I am 

initially looking for "removable" contamination.  I'm looking for something 

(anything) which will leave the surface and contaminate something else.  My 

initial swipes are typically in excess of 100 cm-2 because I'm "looking" 

for "anything" that is radioactive.  After (if or when) I find something, 

"THEN" I go back and "quantify" what is there and whether there are other 

aspects of the contamination I should worry about - IS it readily removable 

(or even still there), is it an external hazard, should I let it decay in 

place or remove it and HOW to remove it (if necessary), etc., etc.  Well, I 

don't want to write a book here, but I noticed that while everyone was 

"correct" in what they were saying that it seemed that the group was 

polarizing (with a couple of exceptions) and not really seeing each other's 

sides....



	Just my 2 cents (and my "own" personal opinion [NOT the U.S. Navy's]),





	Joel Baumbaugh (baumbaug@nosc.mil)

	SSC San Diego



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