RE: Open-Bay Labs

["Laning, Eric" <ejlaning@bechtel.com>]

Mr. Nabor,

I would have to think the liability alone involved with exposing untrained,
let alone unwilling participants, to radiation and/or radioactivity would be
enough to illustrate the flaw in this politically correct thinking. I would
also think the first first law suit entailing unnecessary exposures to
non-radiological workers (i.e.untrained individuals) might also get
someone's attention.

Eric Laning, RRPT
Health Physics Supervisor
Safety & Ecology Corporation
100 W. Hunter Ave.
Maywood, NJ 07011

 -----Original Message-----
> From:	William G. Nabor [SMTP:wgnabor@uci.edu]
> Sent:	Monday, November 16, 1998 12:28 PM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	Open-Bay Labs
> 
> 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?
> **********************************************************************
> 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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