Radiation exposure of personnel in a reprocessing plant

Experience at the pilot reprocessing plant at Karlsruhe (WAK) shows that with the existing protective measures and administrative procedures radiation exposure of personnel can be kept below permissible limits. The average external radiation exposure of all radiation workers in 1977 and 1978 was 426 mrem and 453 mrem respectively. The distribution between groups of personnel is given. Routine internal exposure is not planned in the WAK. Incorporation occurs due to incidents, mainly in Pu-areas. In the majority of cases the incorporated activity was below 10% of the permissible levels. Tight planning of external radiation exposure is required during interventions. The exchange of an evaporator in the U-cycle, for example, caused a collective dose of about 11 manrem. From the experience gained in a small-scale reprocessing plant with direct maintenance, expected values for a large plant can be derived. (H.K.)