Columbia Generating Stations response included below.
Ray Thomson
Health Physics Staff Advisor
Columbia Generating Station
[email protected]
509-377-8273 (office)
509-551-5650 (cell)


From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of 
Barber, Jerry
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2011 5:33 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Powernet: Robinson Benchmark - RCA Tool Control and Tool 
Decontamination

Sorry for having to repost, I forgot to include the Subject

Lot of great benchmarks on Powernet right now, here's another.  Good friend of 
mine needs help with his, please help if you can.......thanks!




>  RCA Tool Control and Decontamination of Tools



1.      What type of decontamination facility is used for tool decontamination? 
 i.e. Kelly enclosure type building, stainless steel decon room/trailer, or 
other type decon facility.

      Room in our Rad. Waste building set up for decontamination of tools and 
material.



2.      What types of tools are most frequently released from the RCA?  (I&C 
instruments/torque wrenches or gauges, Specialty tools, etc.) Columbia has a no 
RCA release policy for common tools. Speciality Tools require HP Supervision 
approval to be taken into the RCA and release from the RCA.



3.      What are the fixed and smearable limits for tools and equipment 
maintained in the RCA? LTE 5000 cpm/probe area fixed are painted purple or 
tagged with a data label. GTE 5000 cpm/probe are required to have a data label 
attached and are to be used in Contaminated Areas only.

 How are tools surveyed for fixed contamination prior to their return to the 
RCA Tool Room - i.e. SAM-9, Cronos-4, frisked, or other method?

 Is there a different fixed contamination limit for Containment vs. Auxiliary 
Building tools? NO

4.      For Tools used during refueling outages, are they just stored for the 
next outage or are they deconned and put back into use in the RCA?  If stored, 
how are the tools and equipment stored? Mix of both. Tools and equipment that 
are stored between outages are either bagged and labled or stored in sealed 
tool boxes and taken to the Radioactive Material storage facility.



5.      How are safety harnesses (i.e., fall protection) controlled?  Does the 
plant designate specific harnesses to be used in "contaminated" areas and 
different harnesses for "clean" areas?  yes. What are the contamination limits 
(fixed and loose as applicable) for harnesses used in clean and contaminated 
areas?



6.      What process is used for tool decon?  Hand decon, Ultra-sonic sink, 
plas-blast or grit blast unit, or pressure washers? All of the mentioned.



7.    Are Advanced Radworkers (ARWs) allowed to survey and release tools and 
equipment, or only RP Technicians? Only HP Technicians



7.      Contaminated Calibrated tools - how are they stored?  Stored in the Rad 
Waste building tool crib. Is there a "hot" calibration lab in the RCA?  Yes, 
for some equipment i.e CAM's Low volume air samplers, mostly HP equipment. Does 
the plant conditionally release "fixed" contaminated calibrated tools from the 
RCA to be re-calibrated in the protected area? No conditional release. We send 
the equipment to an onsite facility once a week. Temporary RCA is established 
during calibration and HP Technicians provide coverage.

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