NORM Incident Response Clarification

["Chris Fidalgo" <chris.fidalgo@ncmail.net>]

I would like to thank all of my fellow radsafers who contacted me for

responding back so quickly to my original query.  From a number of responses

that I received, I think I need to better describe what type of info I'm

looking for.  While info on NORM regulations is helpful, what our division

is really trying to do is come up with a policy for managing our response to

these kind of incidents.  If you have ever handled this type of incident,

you are probably familiar with the amount of time it can take to investigate

each portal monitor trip or similar incident at landfills and scrapyards.

Like most state government agencies, we have limited resources, and really

can't afford to send an HP or other technical staff out to each facility

requesting help.  In the past, we treated this kind of thing on an ad hoc

basis; the person taking the original call would decide if he/she had time

to make a site visit, etc.  The real question here is who gets what kind

help: do we act like a free health physics consultant and guide them through

every step in disposing of the NORM or do we just fax the facility a list of

available qualified HP consultants and coordinate things from the "home

office"? Because of the resource strain and to have a more uniform response,

we're looking to develop some guidelines for what constitutes a

"response-worthy" incident and who in our agency should respond.  So, what

I'm looking for is information on how other states/public entities manage

this kind of NORM incident response.  If you would care to share your

experience on this topic, please contact me at chris.fidalgo@ncmail.net.



Thanks for your time



Chris Fidalgo

NC Division of Radiation Protection



PS.  The opinions given here are not necessarily representative of those of

my employer.  Sorry about the HTML format for my last post.



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