Re: Thoriated Welding Rods

[jgbarnes@ix.netcom.com (JAMES BARNES)]

Dear Jay,

Your "realest" concern is that the welders throw these things all over 
the site, grind them into the alphalt, cement, rugs, walls, etc. etc. 
etc., then you come along and find "all this alpha contamination all 
over everywhere!"  Now you get to prove to a release survey team, or 
some other regulatory body, that the thorium is from welding rods, and 
not from some licensed activity you were engaged in.  I think this is 
referred to as "tramp" contamination, and it's generally an 
administrative headache.

The cleverest system I saw was at a nuke power plant.  Thoriated rods 
were kept in a special storage area, and the welder had to check out a 
certain number, then return the stubs and unused rods (this was a 
common practice for QA/QC reasons also).  This way, they always knew 
that they didn't have hundreds of the things floating around, and the 
rods were never numerous enough (outside of the easily monitored 
storage room) to become a significant source of contamination.

Jim Barnes, CHP
RSO
Rockwell Aerospace; Rocketdyne Division

You wrote: 
>
>     Hi Ya'll,
>     
>     I have been asked to develop a policy on the use, storage, and 
control 
>     of thoriated tungsten welding rods.  Is there really a problem?  
What 
>     are the "real" concerns?  Any suggestions on where to begin or 
how to 
>     address this concern would be greatly appreciated.
>     
>     Thanks for you help,
>     
>     Jay Poston                         Argonne National Lab-West
>     208-533-7638                       P. O. Box 2528
>     FAX 533-7344                       Idaho Falls, ID  83402
>
>