Re: $/person-rem

[Chris Alston <alstonc@odrge.odr.georgetown.edu>]

I thank Eric for his very useful posting, as reproduced below, but I'm a
little confused. I thought that we were asking about ALARA engineering.
I.e., what dollar-valuation to place on a person-rem, such that, if the
proposed action(s) cost more than that amount, they were, by definition, not
worth taking. E.g., if a person-rem is worth $2000, and the proposed
activities (job-scheduling, engineering controls, etc.) will cost $10,000,
but only save two (2) person-rem ($4000), said activities are too expensive.
It seems to me that the evaluation of a person-rem should be done exactly in
the context of the (potential, or hypothetical) societal costs, which are
those of lost productivity, medical expenses, etc.,  due to morbidity and/or
mortality. How much one might have to spend, in monetary units, to "save" a
person-rem is a separate question, isn't it?

chris alston

At 12:52  09/04/98 -0500, you wrote:
>     Since I had to justify a $/person-rem value many moons ago, I've 
>     tried to follow this subject and have accumulated a few useful 
>     references:
>     
>     The NRC suggested revising the $1000/person-rem (originally in 
>     10CFR50, Appendix I as applied to justifying the technology to 
>     minimize effluent releases) to $2000/person-rem.  See the 
>     discussion in Federal Register Vol. 60, No. 244, pages 
>     65694-65695 (Dec. 20, 1995).
>     
>     A couple of good reviews of the subject have appeared in Nuclear 
>     Plant Journal.
>     ALARA - An Historical and Global Perspective, by Lynn Wallis, 
>     NPJ, Mar-Apr, 1992.
>     Valuation of Dose Avoided at U.S. Nuclear Plants, by John Baum, 
>     NPJ, Mar-Apr, 1991.
>     
>     From our experience, the "societal" costs (medical/health/death) 
>     associated with radiation exposure are very small.  The basis for 
>     most of our $10,000/person-rem figure were the extra resources 
>     required to bring in a contract employee, train him/her, equip 
>     with dosimeters, provide protective clothing, waste disposal, 
>     technician job coverage/surveys, etc.  Take all that into 
>     account, make some assumptions for how much work somebody can do 
>     and what their salaries/benefit costs are, and presto: you arrive 
>     at a figure around $10,000/person-rem.  This was acceptable to 
>     the bean-counters (at least it was nine years ago).
>     
>     Eric Goldin  ("any question is worth asking")
>     Southern California Edison
>     <goldinem@songs.sce.com>
>
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Chris Alston
alstonc@odrge.odr.georgetown.edu
I am not here a representative of my employer.

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