HPS Decommissioning Section

[ABELQUIE@ORAU.GOV]

Dear RadSafers-

Are you Interested in Forming the Decommissioning Section of
the HPS? 

There are a number of HPs who consider that their primary professional
interest and livelihood resides in the environmental remediation or
decommissioning field.  Professional activities may include 1) radiological
surveys in support of decommissioning, 2) survey instrumentation, 3)
pathway modeling (e.g. RESRAD), and 4) involvement and feedback on
decommissioning rulemakings that establish radiation site cleanup
standards (e.g. NRC finalized rule on May 21, 1997).  If the feedback is
positive, I would consider initiating a petition for establishing a
Decommissioning Section of the HPS.  Plenary members could sign the
petition at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education*s (ORISE)
booth at the HPS meeting in San Antonio.

So why another HPS Section?  President Rich Vetter recently
expressed his support for diversity within our professional Society.  I
believe that there are a number of health physicists who now find their
job responsibilities more related to decommissioning than any other
*branch* of health physics. This is not surprising*the nuclear power
industry is seriously considering decommissioning for a number of
plants that are approaching the end of their operating licenses, the DOE
is trying to get the bulk of their environmental cleanups completed in 10
years, and federal research money is being spent on research related
to environmental remediation (better procedures, instrumentation,
decontamination and volume reduction techniques, etc.).  So let*s
continue to recognize our membership*s diversity and endorse the
*branch* of health physics involved with environmental remediation or
decommissioning. 

What would be the purpose of the Decommissioning Section? This
Section would be charged with staying abreast of rulemakings,
advances in instrumentation, survey techniques (MARSSIM), and other
decommissioning program improvements.  Additionally, the
Decommissioning Section could serve as a conduit for communicating
the Society*s positions on the decommissioning rulemakings and
responding to reports that NRC*s rule of 25 mrem/y allows deadly
amounts of radiation at decommissioning sites.  This is consistent with
the HPS-2000 Strategic Plan*s goal to *enlighten our news media
personnel on radiation protection issues.*  

Finally, this Section would sponsor sessions at national HPS meetings
and promote papers in the HP Journal that provide new approaches to
decommissioning activities, discuss lessons learned*maybe even
expand the *Operational Topics* section to include a similar section,
*Decommissioning Topics.*  I*d like to see more diversity in the HP
Journal articles*more operational-type articles, especially those related
to decommissioning approaches, radiological survey techniques,
lessons learned, etc.    

I welcome your feedback on this proposal for a Decommissioning
Section.

Eric Abelquist
ORISE
abelquie@orau.gov	
(423) 576-3740