Hot particles

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensees are required to assess the dose to skin from a hot particle contamination event at a depth of skin of7mg/cm2 over an area of 1 cm2 and compare the value to the current dose limit for the skin. Although the resulting number is interesting from a comparative standpoint and can be used to predict local skin reactions, comparison of the number to existing limits based on uniform exposures is inappropriate. Most incidents that can be classified as overexposures based on this interpretation of dose actually have no effect on the health of the worker. As a result, resources are expended to reduce the likelihood that an overexposure event will occur when they could be directed toward eliminating the cause of the problem or enhancing existing programs such as contamination control. Furthermore, from a risk standpoint, this practice is not ALARA because some workers receive whole body doses in order to minimize the occurrence of hot particle skin contaminations. In this paper the authors suggest an alternative approach to controlling hot particle exposures