Reference Man Situations

[David W Lee <lee_david_w@lanl.gov>]

Dear RADSAFERS:

	I wish to compile a rather complete listing of all of those situations in
which Reference Man appears to act not as an adult, thinking "Man" or
"Woman," but rather as basically an imbecile.  I, therefore, respectfully
solicit any RADSAFER's recollection of those situations that any RADSAFER
has run into in the course of his/her work in which it appears as Reference
Man acts very unrealistically.  Please respond, as you can, with a short
description of the situation you know of in which Reference Man behaves
rather unrealistically and most importantly, please provide a reference.  

	Examples of the types of Reference Man situations that I am looking for
follow:

	NRC.  Title 10 CFR 100.11 presumes that Reference Man has a behavioral
propensity to spend his time sitting at the outer boundary of the exclusion
area of a nuclear power plant for two hours directly following a design
basis accident.

	IAEA.  Two of the 15 dose scenarios used by the IAEA to compile the Table
I-I, Exemption Levels:  Exempt Activity Concentrations and Exempt
Activities of Radionuclides, of IAEA Safety Series No. 115 presume as follows:

		a.  One dose scenario presumes that Reference Man walks into a landfill
and magically finds a radioactive sealed source (RSS) or an object that has
been contaminated with radioactivity that seeped from an RSS and ingests it.

		b.  The other dose scenario presumes that Reference Man spills a
radioactive solution or radioactive powder on his bare hands and then
magically ingests the liquid/powder on his hands.

	IAEA 115 does not, itself, describe the 15 dose scenarios under which
Table I-I was compiled.  The dose scenario information is set forth in a
document that is not readily available in the United States.  The document
is:  "Radiation Protection 65, Principles and Methods for Establishing
Concentrations and Quantities (exemption values) Below which Reporting is
not Required in the European Directive," Commission of the European
Communities, Luxembourg, Doc. XI-028/93, 1993.

	Can any RADSAFER provide any other examples in which Reference Man
exhibits decidedly non-adult behavior, such as drinking the radioactivity
contained in sewer water, etc.?

	Thank-you in advance.  

	Best regards, DAVID    

DAVID W. LEE
Los Alamos National Laboratory
PO Box 1663, MS K483
Los Alamos, NM  87545
PH:  (505) 667-8085
FAX: (505) 667-9726
lee_david_w@lanl.gov