Reduction in airborne contamination levels at the 9201-5 Arc Melt sawing operation. A Y-12 Plant 1982 ALARA goal

Lowering the uranium airborne contamination level at the two saws in the 9201-5 Arc Melt Area was chosen as a Y-12 Plant As-Low-As-Reasonably-Achievable (ALARA) goal for 1982. This priority was convincingly communicated to those involving by giving specific instructions to suspend saw operations any time there was evidence of a problem until that problem could be corrected. Using control charts on air flow rates into the saw enclosures and pressure drops across filters in the saw ventilation (Delta Phase I) exhaust system, it was possible to decide when filter changes or other adjustments were necessary to maintain the exhaust flow rates needed for improved airborne contamination control. The keeping of these charts, along with the actions taken on the basis of the data gathered, made it possible to meet the goal of reducing airborne contamination levels in 1982, as compared with 1981, although production in the Arc Melt Area increased significantly. These data also showed that use of one brand of filter in the prefilter system resulted in the need to change filters more frequently than when another brand was used. This fact triggered an investigation which revealed the cause for the shorter useful life of that filter and a request that only specifically approved filters be purchased for use in this system. Use of these control data also made it possible to establish that the exhaust system operated more effectively without the Roto-clone hydrostatic pecipitators because exhaust air flow was increased without reduction in filter life