Collective dose and its monetary valuation

["GOLDIN, ERIC" <goldinem@songs.sce.com>]

     Another point of view:  In years past, we used the common power 
     plant $/person-rem derivation related to the costs associated 
     with replacing a worker who reached administrative control levels 
     and therefore was no longer available for radiation work.  Since 
     this was a rare occurence, about seven years ago our budgeting 
     people objected (when presented with alternatives in a bidding 
     process) and caused us to revise the basis for our $/person-rem 
     value.  We finally got concurrence with the budget folks and 
     settled on a sum of societal costs (derived from an update of 
     older figures in literature associated with health detriment), 
     training costs, and the value of radiation protection services 
     (which was the majority of the value).  The concept is simply 
     what is the "extra cost" for radiological work (dosimetry, 
     contamination control, waste disposal, HP coverage, etc.)  For 
     three types of work (high dose/high HP support, low dose/moderate 
     HP support, and moderate dose/low HP support) we found a total 
     cost of about $10,000/person-rem.  This figure was applied when 
     alternatives were presented such as the extra cost for 
     remote/robotic equipment vice manual.  As others have mentioned 
     and experienced, rarely can these figures provide sufficient cost 
     benefit to drive plant modifications for dose reduction.  A good 
     review of the issue was written by John Baum of Brookhaven in the 
     March/April 1991 Nuclear Plant Journal.  Also, note that the NRC 
     recently published in NUREG-1530 an update of the figure used in 
     their internal evaluations of cost justification for dose 
     avoidance associated with new regulatory requirements (now 
     $2000/person-rem).
     
     Eric Goldin
     Southern California Edison
     goldinem@songs.sce.com