Protective Clothing in NPPs

[marni.delong@hydro.on.ca]

To:
     radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
+++++++
Dear Radsafers,

We  have been reevaluating our use of protective clothing and we would like 
to determine how and where it is used in other nuclear power plants.
To give you some background on our current practices.......
Ontario Hydro (CANDU) nuclear facilities use protective clothing (brown 
coveralls) for all workers who do "any" radioactive work.  As an integral 
part of our radiation protective program we do not allow them to be in any 
area that we consider "clean". It is a regulation infraction for the browns 
to be outside of what we term our "radiological zones".  They are laundered 
at each site and monitored for contamination before they are issued. This is 
a costly process, of course, (approximately 200 workers per day times 20 
plants = 4000 sets minimum used per day ) and we are reevaluating the 
practice of supplying the workers with protective clothing except for use in 
highly contaminated areas.
We have been looking for alternatives to this practice and have piloted a 
program that utilizes "scrubs" at our waste handling facility. I would be 
interested in any information on where and how other NPPs utilize protective 
clothing and what the workers wear if they are not issued PC, i.e. their own 
clothes, scrubs, coveralls etc.
Please respond directly to me at the address below.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Marni DeLong
Health Physicist, Radiological Services, Ontario Hydro, Canada.
marni.delong@hydro.on.ca