Re[2]: Air Crew Rad Workers

[sandy_perle@email.fpl.com]

     It would be very interesting to see a response from some of the many 
     regulatory bodies that monitor this forum for their perspective on 
     this question. I would agree that monitoring over a year would provide 
     a significant amount of data, that can be stratified to identify 
     exposure for various altitude flights over time as well as to what 
     areas the flights accumulate the most exposure. It is still my opinion 
     that there is no regulatory requirement to monitor these individuals. 
     If there were one would expect that some agency would have already 
     jumped into the fray. It just might be that the regulators don't know 
     if it is within their jurisdiction to require the monitoring. I have 
     read, and it has been mentioned here before that the astronauts can 
     and have picked up some very high exposures during their missions. 
     They are provided monitoring, I assume on all flights. Are they 
     regulated by anyone? Are their records examined and a lifetime record 
     maintained. That would be interesting information.
     
     Regards all,
     
     Sandy Perle
     Supervisor Health Physics
     Florida Power and Light Company
     Nuclear Division
     
     (407) 694-4219 Office
     (407) 694-3706 Fax
     
     sandy_perle@email.fpl.com
     
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     Disclaimer: All opinions expressed here are mine alone
     
     
     
     I can think of a number of cogent reasons why monitoring of air crews 
     should be done.  First, there may well be a regulatory requirment 
     since exposures may exceed 25% of the annual MPD.  But that 
     notwithstanding, it would be nice to accumulate the data for research 
     purposes, a basis secondary to ensuring that exposures are minimized.  
     Adjustment of flight schedules can reduce exposures to individuals.  
     You should refer to the editorial I wrote in Health Physics about 15 
     years ago entitled "What Is Occupational Exposure" for some other 
     insights.
     
     Ron Kathren