Department of Energy (DOE) Radiological Control Manual

Chapter 2 - Radiological Standards

Part 1 - Administrative Control Levels and Dose Limits

Table of Contents (Articles 21x)

• Forward
• 211 Administrative Control Level
• 212 Lifetime Control Level
• 213 Radiological Worker Dose Limits
• 214 Visitor Dose Limit
• 215 Embryo/Fetus Dose Limits
• 216 Special Control Levels

Forward

The DOE's objective is to maintain personnel radiation exposure well below regulatory dose limits. To accomplish this objective, challenging numerical Administrative Control Levels are established below the regulatory limits to administratively control and help reduce individual and collective radiation dose. In general, efforts to reduce individual dose should not be allowed to cause a concurrent increase in collective dose. These control levels are multi-tiered with increasing levels of authority required to approve higher Administrative Control Levels.

With issuance of this Manual, the committed effective dose equivalent is used to assign internal dose received by personnel at DOE facilities. The committed effective dose equivalent is the resulting dose committed to the whole body from internally deposited radionuclides over a 50-year period after intake.

Unless otherwise indicated, administrative, lifetime and special control levels and dose limits are stated in terms of the sum of the doses received from internal and external sources.

Return to Chapter 2, Part 1 Table of Contents

Article 211 - Administrative Control Level

1. A DOE Administrative Control Level of 2,000 mrem per year per person is established for all DOE activities. Approval by the appropriate Secretarial Officer or designee shall be required prior to allowing a person to exceed 2,000 mrem.

2. An annual facility Administrative Control Level shall be established by the contractor senior site executive based upon an evaluation of historical and projected radiation exposures, work load and mission. The selection of the specific value shall be more restrictive than the DOE Administrative Control Level. This control level should be reevaluated annually. The choice of a low level for one year should not preclude choosing either a higher or lower level in a subsequent year.

3. For most facilities, an annual facility Administrative Control Level of 500 mrem or less should be challenging and achievable. An annual Administrative Control Level above 1,500 mrem is in most cases not sufficiently challenging to meet the goals of this Manual.

4. No person shall be allowed to go above the facility Administrative Control Level without the prior approval of the contractor senior site executive.

Article 212 - Lifetime Control Level

1. To administratively control a worker's lifetime occupational dose, a Lifetime Control Level of N rem shall be established where N is the age of the person in years. Special Control Levels (Article 216) shall be established for personnel who have doses exceeding N rem.

2. The internal contribution to lifetime occupational dose from intakes prior to January 1, 1989, should be calculated in terms of either cumulative annual effective dose equivalent or committed effective dose equivalent. The internal contribution to lifetime occupational dose should continue to be reassessed as further bioassay results and improved methods for assessing internal dose become available.

Article 213 - Radiological Worker Dose Limits

1. Dose limits are provided in Table 2-1 and shall not be exceeded. All occupational exposure received during the current year shall be included when demonstrating compliance with Table 2-1 dose limits. These regulatory limits are consistent with the "Radiation Protection Guidance to Federal Agencies for Occupational Exposure" signed by the President.

2. Radiological workers from other DOE or DOE contractor facilities may receive occupational exposure as a radiological worker if they:

3. Provide record of current Radiological Worker I or II standardized core training
4. Receive site-specific Radiological Worker I or II training at the facilities where they will be working
5. Provide their radiation dose records for previous years and written estimates, signed by the individual, for the current year.

• Proposed use of the Planned Special Exposure as specified in 10 CFR 835 shall be applied only in extraordinary situations and when the following requirements have been met:
• The proposed activity has been reviewed by the Radiological Control Manager and submitted by the senior site executive to the lead Secretarial Officer for approval
• The proposed activity has been jointly approved by the Secretarial Officer and the Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety and Health.

• Emergency exposure limits are not Planned Special Exposure limits. Guidelines for emergency exposures are provided in Appendix 2A.

• The radiological worker dose limits provided in Table 2-1 also apply to general employees. However, general employees who have not completed Radiological Worker I or II Training are not permitted unescorted access to any area in which they are expected to receive doses in excess of 100 mrem in one year. General employees who have not received Radiological Worker I or II training are not normally expected to exceed 100 mrem in a year.

                     Table 2-1  Summary of Dose Limits

Exposures shall be well below the limits in this table and
maintained as low as reasonably achievable.  The Administrative
Control Levels for limiting exposure are described in Article
211.




TYPE OF EXPOSURE                                      ANNUAL LIMIT


Radiological Worker*:    Whole Body (internal +        5 rem
                         external)

Radiological Worker*:    Lens of Eye                   15 rem

Radiological Worker*:    Extremity (hands and          50 rem
                         arms below the elbow;
                         feet and legs below the
                         knees)

Radiological Worker*:    Any organ or tissue           50 rem
                         (other than lens of eye)
                         and skin

Declared Pregnant Worker:  Embryo/Fetus                0.5 rem per
                                                       gestation period

Minors and Students:     Whole Body (internal +        0.1 rem
(under age 18)           external)

Visitors** and Public:   Whole Body (internal +        0.1 rem
                         external)


*    Radiological Workers are General Employees authorized unescorted
     access to radiological areas per Articles 332, 334, and 335.

**   Applies to visitors who have not completed training in accordance with
     Articles 632 or 633 or have not met the special considerations of
     Article 657.

Notes:

1. Internal dose to the whole body shall be calculated as committed effective dose equivalent. The committed effective dose equivalent is the resulting dose committed to the whole body from internally deposited radionuclides over a 50-year period after intake. See Appendix 2B for the weighting factors to be used in converting organ dose equivalent to effective dose equivalent for the whole body dose.

2. The annual limit of exposure to "any organ or tissue" is based on the committed dose to that organ or tissue resulting from internally deposited radionuclides over a 50-year period after intake plus any external effective dose equivalent to that organ during the year.

3. Exposures due to background radiation, therapeutic and diagnostic medical procedures, and voluntary participation in medical research programs shall not be included in either personnel radiation dose records or assessment of dose against the limits in this Table.

4. See Appendix 2C for guidance on non-uniform exposure of the skin.

Article 214 - Visitor Dose Limit

Visitors to DOE sites shall be limited to an annual radiation dose of 100 mrem from the sum of internal and external radiation sources unless they either qualify as radiological workers in accordance with Article 632 or 633, or meet the special considerations of Article 657.

Return to Chapter 2, Part 1 Table of Contents

Article 215 - Embryo/Fetus Dose Limits

After a female worker voluntarily notifies her employer in writing that she is pregnant, for the purposes of fetal/embryo dose protection, she is considered a declared pregnant worker. This declaration may be revoked, in writing, at any time by the declared pregnant worker.

1. The employer shall provide the option of a mutually agreeable assignment of work tasks, without loss of pay or promotional opportunity, such that further occupational radiation exposure is unlikely.

2. For a declared pregnant worker who chooses to continue working as a radiological worker:

3. The dose limit for the embryo/fetus from conception to birth (entire gestation period) is 500 mrem
4. Measures shall be taken to avoid substantial variation above the uniform exposure rate necessary to meet the 500 mrem limit for the gestation period. Efforts should be made to avoid exceeding 50 mrem per month to the declared pregnant worker.

• If the dose to the embryo/fetus is determined to have already exceeded 500 mrem when a worker notifies her employer of her pregnancy, the worker shall not be assigned to tasks where additional occupational radiation exposure is likely during the remainder of the gestation period. Return to Chapter 2, Part 1 Table of Contents

Article 216 - Special Control Levels

Certain situations require lower individualized exposure control levels. In addition to considering recommendations from senior radiological control and medical officials, the contractor senior site executive should obtain advice from professionals in other disciplines such as human resources and legal in establishing Special Control Levels. The contractor senior site executive may wish to establish these Special Control Levels using a radiological health advisory group.

1. A Special Control Level for annual occupational exposure shall be established for each monitored person with a lifetime occupational dose exceeding N rem, where N is the age of the person in years. The Special Control Level shall not exceed 1 rem and should allow the person's lifetime occupational dose to approach N rem as additional occupational exposure is received.

2. An employer should be attentive to special circumstances of employees, such as those undergoing radiation therapy, and establish Special Control Levels as appropriate.