Re: Workers Family Protection Act Info*

["GLEN VICKERS" <BRZGV@ccmail.ceco.com>]

     I'm sure many nuclear power plants have whole-body count (nCi) data 
     for personnel.  I would however think that most nCi values are so low 
     that the external rates would be quite low.  I'm not familiar enough 
     with our body counter to know the corrections for external photons 
     being backcalculated to internal exposure, but that might be a 
     reasonable angle to pursue.
     
     


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Workers Family Protection Act Info*
Author:  radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu at INTERNET
Date:    6/13/96 7:16 PM


Jim Johnson from LLNL is a member of the Task Force supporting this activity. 
He is in the process of evaluating how significant exposure to family members 
can be from toxic materials brought home by workers.  The published literature 
provides examples of family member disease from exposures to beryllium, 
asbestos, lead, chlorinated hydrocarbons, etc. In the case of radiation the 
literature identified to date clearly establishes the route from the workplace 
to the home.  The data identified to date however, is very general in nature. 
Jim's specific assignment on this Task Force is to assess the extent of family 
member exposure.  He is looking for any reports or investigations which 
contain quantitative information.  Such information may be useful in 
estimating dilution ratios from workplace to home via any intermediate stops. 
Air sampling in the home would also be valuable along with surface 
contamination values.  DOE via ORPS provided little information because the 
database only addresses post 1989 reports.  NRC via Non-Reactors Event 
Reporting identified 34 incidents from 1985-1993 with seven addressing briefly 
the possibility of home contamination.
     
Does anyone have additional information?  Reports, articles, accident 
investigations are needed. Please provide: facility, date and person who Jim 
can contact.  His goal is to be better able to quantify from actual incidents 
the quantity of material which can be taken home from the workplace.  This in 
turn will lead to an assessment as to how significant this route of exposure 
is.
Call, fax or e-mail Jim Johnson
                             (510)422-5165
                             (510)422-5176 fax
                             johnson33@iini.gov
David P. Hickman, Ph.D.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 
dhickman@llnl.gov