RE: Realistic training (info)

["Tucker, David" <tuckerd@aecl.ca>]

I seem to have missed the original question here but....

We routinely use Tc-99m as a safe way of creating short-lived area
contamination for drills, exercises and training.  You have to be
careful - there is some skill involved in "milking" a generator and the
initial solutions obtained can be very high specific activity with rem/h
near contact dose rates.

Dave Tucker

> ----------
> From: 	Lester.Slaback@nist.gov[SMTP:Lester.Slaback@nist.gov]
> Sent: 	Monday, March 09, 1998 1:10 PM
> To: 	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: 	Realistic training (info)
> 
> DoD and DoE put on 3 or 4 training exercises where short lived alpha
> and
> photon emitters were dispersed over a large area (several acres as I
> recall) to provide field training for surveying for a weapons
> accident. 
> Aside from the training benefit a major relearned lessons was in the
> area
> of appropriate instrumentation.
> But the main point is that it could be done, albeit within the
> context of
> an existing Envir. Assessment.
> As I recall they initially used Ra-223, and later added Hg-197. The
> photon
> emitting nuclide was to simulate Am-241 to allow the use of FIDLER
> type
> instruments.
> These were the NUWAX exercises.
> Whether you could do this in an NRC regulated environment or not (or
> the
> current DoE env.) is a matter of speculation.  But the training
> results
> were extremely valuable.
> -- 
> the above are the personal musing of the author,
> and do not represent any past, current, or future
> position of NIST, the U.S. Government, or anyone else
> who might think that they are in a position of authority.
> NBSR Health Physics
> NIST
> Gaithersburg, MD 20899
> 301 975-5810
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Lester.Slaback@nist.gov
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>