EPRI has gone through all the work to develop a standardized method for classifying PCEs by 3 severity levels They have been very clear on what to count as a PCE and provide advice on what to do with the detailed information in order to trend and reduce PCEs And yet, about 5 times a year, someone puts out a benchmark question asking how each plant is counting PCEs in an attempt (I bleieve) to align with the industry We all track PCEs EPRI has provided a stardized method to track and report PCEs that seems to be enough for me - You want to move towards standardization of PCE statistacal reporting/tracking? don't ask what everyone else is doing - adopt the EPRI guidance Curt Hansen ________________________________
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thomas J Vandermey Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 9:14 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Powernet: how are PCE's classified? I agree with you that shoe contaminations should not be counted the same way as skin contaminations, but I don't think the bulk of the industry does it this way. I thought that most plants count any frisker reading on skin or any clothing surface, including the bottoms of shoes, equal to or greater than 100 ccpm by frisker, as a reportable PCE. My own modest proposal for defining reportable PCEs is: 1000 ccpm on shoes, 300 ccpm on any other clothing, and 100 ccpm on skin. Tom VanderMey, CHP Principal Radiological Engineer DTE Energy, Fermi 2 734-586-1539 My interpretation of this section is that if I get 300 ncpm on the bottom of a shoe but have a <100 ncpm measurement from inside the shoe, I track the PCE but do not count it as a "reportable" Level 1 PCE, since the reportable PCEs on clothing, as stated in the EPRI guidance, are based on the measured value "inside" the clothing, including shoes, gloves, etc. If you are not using this guidance you may be over-reporting the number of PCEs that you have [email protected] wrote: ----- To: <[email protected]> From: "Hansen, Curtis" <[email protected]> Sent by: [email protected] Date: 12/09/2010 11:14AM Subject: RE: Powernet: how are PCE's classified? FYI - many of you may be using the following methodology from EPRI "Guidelines for Industry Response to Personnel Contaminations, Revision 1"- maybe not page 2-1 states in part: (Bold font inserted by me for emphasis) 2 ACTION LEVELS AND RESPONSES Each individual nuclear utility has its own program that sets a threshold, typically equivalent to less than 100 ncpm as measured by a standard pancake Geiger-Müller (GM) detector, below which individuals are released from the radiologically controlled area. The following action level guidelines have been developed for the purpose of establishing standardized actions to be taken in response to instances of personnel contamination above this threshold. The determination of the EPRI PCE level classification should be based on a frisker reading of the skin or the highest reading on clothing. For skin contaminations, a frisker reading should be the maximum reading with the frisker held approximately ½ inch away from the affected skin. For clothing, the frisker reading should be on the inside of the clothing with the detector faced away from the skin. Additional measurements on clothing may be taken, for example, to determine if contamination exists on the bottom of a shoe. The measurement on the bottom of the shoe may be of interest from a material control perspective while the inside clothing measurement will be more appropriate for assessing a skin dose. The actions to be completed at each level of contamination are triggered by the reading on a frisker or personnel contamination monitor. For quick reference, a summary of these action levels and responses are included in Appendix C. My interpretation of this section is that if I get 300 ncpm on the bottom of a shoe but have a <100 ncpm measurement from inside the shoe, I track the PCE but do not count it as a "reportable" Level 1 PCE, since the reportable PCEs on clothing, as stated in the EPRI guidance, are based on the measured value "inside" the clothing, including shoes, gloves, etc. If you are not using this guidance you may be over-reporting the number of PCEs that you have Curt Hansen DCPP Ex Alara Supervisor ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thomas J Vandermey Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 5:53 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Powernet: how are PCE's classified? Fermi response: Is contamination on any type of clothing/coverall counted as a PCE? yes Is contamination on scrubs counted as a PCE? yes Are all instances tracked and recorded as a PCE? yes, but only equal to or greater than 100 ccpm are reportable What instances of contamination on a person or clothing would not qualify as a PCE? noble gases, radon progeny, medical, F-18--all not reportable and maybe not even recordable Thanks for your insight Sasha Albisharat Bruce A Health Physicist Ph: 519-361-2673 ext. 13959 pager: 519-370-3194 ----------------------------------- Powernet - a service of the Health Physics Society Power Reactor Section Powernet archives at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Reply to: [email protected] If Questions, contact Mike Russell, CHP at [email protected]
