Establishment of criteria for the unconditional release of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station site

The Shippingport Atomic Power Station is the first major remedial action project where the residual radioactivity will not be uranium daughter products. Therefore, new site specific limits have to be specified beyond those generic promulgated values in the US Department of Energy Guidelines for Residual Radioactivity at ... Surplus Facilities Management Program Sites. The key elements have led to the specification of the site release criteria for the Shippingport site are described. These elements include the initial site characterization, the radiological conditions found, and the application of the DOE document A Manual for Implementing Residual Radioactivity Guideline. The direct recommendation of release limits is discussed as an alternate to basing the limits on a cost benefit basis. However, the study shows that both the direct recommendation and the cost benefit analysis were important in defining the final release criteria. Finally, the release limits are defined and a proposed plan for implementing them is presented. The work emphasizes the development of a procedure which will (1) consider the cost of postulated remedial actions and (2) employ an appropriate number of scenarios to demonstrate compliance with applicable limits and the ALARA philosophy