Re: 82.7 rem extremity exposure

[Bob Flood <bflood@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

At 09:19 AM 10/17/97 -0500, you wrote:
>This points out the need not only to have an individual exit through 
>a portal monitor, but also the need to enter the plant through a 
>portal monitor. CATCH the problem BEFORE the individual enters your 
>restricted area.

I have to concur EMPHATICALLY with Sandy. Once a person enters your
facility with contamination from elsewhere, the most you can hope for is
that people will believe you when you claim that it isn't your fault. Keep
those portal monitors tuned up and running at their best - they can do a
lot to avoid this kind of incident. In my experience, most portal monitor
alarms were on people entering, not leaving, the site.

But one more point...   contamination inside a worker's shoe is the
toughest kind to detect. Congratulations to Cook on detecting it so
quickly. The attenuation of the radiation by the shoe material makes the
radioactivity marginally detectable, where an alarm may occur but can't be
reproduced in a recount. This often leads to releasing the individual
assuming the alarm was spurious. It seems that Cook caught it at the first
opportunity, which ain't easy.


Bob Flood
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
(415) 926-3793     bflood@slac.stanford.edu
Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are mine alone.