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Re: MDL and Dose Effects - opinionated response



Lester,

I would agree that the primary purpose of radiation monitoring is to
demonstrate regulatory compliance, but I hope it is not the only purpose.
Monitoring also provides valuable information to the workers, their
supervisors, and radiological personnel.  Higher than expected exposures can
raise a flag and point to possible problems with unexpected sources of
exposure, poor ALARA practices, or equipment malfunctions.  At some DOE
facilities with "legacy" contamination, some workers are very concerned
about inadvertent exposure due to undiscovered sources of radiation.  A zero
or low reported dose gives them reassurance.  

I also believe that a well documented monitoring program is valuable for
liability purposes.  Last but not least, good monitoring data is obviously
useful for epidemiological studies, even though the total error on an
individual dosimeter can be quite high.  (You mentioned dosimeter
positioning and non-uniform doses as possible sources of error. If we open
the entire can of worms, don't forget angular dependence, energy response
errors, dosimeter calibration uncertainties, reader calibration
uncertainties, algorithm limitations, etc.)

My opinion only.

Steve Croslin
ES&H Support
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
P.O. Box 2008
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6017
Phone: (423) 576-5065   

You wrote:

>Hence the
>radiation badge serves only one purpose, to 
>demonstrate compliance with regulations.
>

>A little risk adds spice to life.
>Lester.Slaback@NIST.gov
>
>