Open-Bay Labs

["William G. Nabor" <wgnabor@uci.edu>]

Dear RADSAFERs:
     I have received several replies to my original RADSAFE posting
regarding open-bay research labs without interior walls.  Several
have suggested that the radiation safety office review plans before
construction.  We do that as a matter of course.  Our input is
usually regarded with care and acted upon, so long as we are asking
for things like moving a door or two, or changing the floor tiles
from a textured design to a smooth one that can be decontaminated
if necessary.  But when we are finding fault with the entire design
and that design is politically correct because it is new and
innovative (read "more floor space for less money"), that is asking
for too much.  We can be that dramatic only if there is a law or
regulation specifically forbidding the design.  We could not find
such a regulation, therefore the lab was built.  More are on the
way.  The only good news is that interior walls can be constructed
later.
     My question to you all is this:  Has anyone been refused
permission to use radioactive material in a lab of this design,
either because a regulator found a regulation and interpreted it
that way, or else because of an incident that proved the design
unsafe?
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William G. Nabor
University of California, Irvine
EH&S Office
Irvine, CA,  92697-2725
WGNABOR@UCI.EDU
mailto:wgnabor@uci.edu
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