The USA Radiation Protection groups are responding proactively to the industry initiative, Delivering the Nuclear Promise. The implementation of three initiatives will improve Radiation Protection practices at the USA nuclear plants.

One that may be invisible to most people at the sites is how often checks are performed on contamination instruments that have the ability to detect their own failure and to remove themselves from service. The checks of these instruments will go from daily to weekly, thus saving time that can be devoted elsewhere. The two other initiatives will have a more visible impact on how work is done at the nuclear plants.

First, the response to Level 1 Personnel Contamination Events (PCEs) – those less than 5,000 counts per minute (ccpm) – will be reduced. Individuals will still have to be cleaned and the event will be recorded in the individuals’ dosimetry file . Workers should be able to return to work as soon as they clear the access monitors. Goals for PCEs will be changed to include only those greater than the 5,000 ccpm levels (Level 2 and Level 3) for both online and outage indicators.

The second change is the long-term dose reduction strategies to meet the industry INPO 2020 dose goal of 40 rem for Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) and 110 rem for Boiler Water Reactors (BWRs). If the site meets the 2020 goals, they will no longer need to maintain the level of effort for developing or maintaining their long-range plans. This will reduce the administrative burden for ALARA committees, reduce research and documentation activities with the objective to reach dose goal. All work will continue to be reviewed for ALARA purposes and standards will continue to be met to keep each activity to the lowest dose possible.

These initiatives are off to a good start for Delivering the Nuclear Promise. They are quick wins to set the stage for future efforts to improve the Radiation Protection practices at all of our USA stations.