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Re: Dirty Bomb Rescue Worker
10 CFR does NOT mandate an exposure limit for rescue. In fact, 10 CFR 20.1001(b) states, "...nothing in this part shall be construed as limiting actions that may be necessary to protect health and safety."
Nuclear power plants generally adopt the guidlines of EPA 400-R-92-001 "Manualof Protective Action Guides And Protective Actions For Nuclear Incidents," Table 2-2, "Guidance on Dose Limits for Workers Performing Emergency Services." This has a "Dose limit" of 25 rems for "life saving or protection of large populations", if "lower dose not practicable"; but permits exceeding that limit, "only on a voluntary basis to persons fully aware of the
risks involved..."
These are incorporated into plant emergency plans, often without the provision for > 25 rems. Generally, Emergency Director (or equivalent) approval is needed to exceed 5 rems.
The opinions expressed are strictly mine.
It's not about dose, it's about trust.
Curies forever.
Bill Lipton
liptonw@dteenergy.com
"Flanigan, Floyd" wrote:
> Rob,
> 10 CFR mandates an exposure limit for rescue. Also, the prospective rescuer should be carrying an Ion Chamber type instrument if the main concern in Gamma. I believe the exposure limit for rescue is 25Rem but only on a voluntary basis.(Don't quote me on that. I haven't had cause to look it up in many years.) SO for a 15 minute rescue, the dose rate would have to be a constant 100,000 mRem/hr for the rescuer to get the limit for rescue dose.
>
> Floyd W. Flanigan B.S.Nuc.H.P.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rob.w.powell@exxonmobil.com [mailto:rob.w.powell@exxonmobil.com]
> Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 8:29 AM
> To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
> Subject: Dirty Bomb Rescue Worker
>
> During the last 2 years of discussions about dirty bomb response, did
> anyone see/develop a maximum exposure limit for a rescue worker? For
> instance, a bomber explodes the bomb but the gamma source just becomes
> unshielded, it doesn't disperse to any extent. An injured, immobile,
> bleeding employee is in the 'hot zone' near the source, and a rescue worker
> arrives with a Geiger counter. As he/she approaches the employee while
> reading the Geiger counter, at what reading (exposure rate) should the
> rescue worker stop after determining that his/her risk of death during the
> rescue is as great as that of the bleeding employee's death? We've been
> assuming that the rescue worker takes 15 minutes to remove the employee
> from the hot zone (< 2 mR/hr). This all may seem too dispassionate, but we
> have guidance about rescuing employees who have been electrically shocked,
> been overcome with gases, etc.
>
> -Rob Powell
> ExxonMobil
> Safety, Health, & Environment
>
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