Hazard Identification cont'd

DOE-HDBK-3010-94

Appendix B; Plutonium Recovery Facility

B-

Hazard in the vicinity of material of concern that could be relevant to an event

affecting material of concern.

Standard industrial hazards are not included unless they represent a potential hazard type B.

In that case, the focus of identification is on basic parameters to support examining the

potential affect on materials of concern, not standard worker safety issues. This practice is in

keeping with the definitions of both hazard and standard industrial hazard in DOE-STD-3009-

94.

The initial effort has largely relied upon procedural and flowsheet limits to produce an initial

definition of facility hazards that reflects actual conditions anticipated. This is generally

adequate for the overall examination envisioned, but it is essential for the initial effort as a

minimum. Unreal numbers based on mathematical dose or high criticality limit

considerations should not be used without appreciation of the actual conditions underlying

those constructs. Blindly applying such numbers can result in significant confusion in the

hazard analysis process. Evaluations can become distorted, resulting in the utility of

subsequent results obtained being questionable. For example, consider the case where a

criticality limit exceeds by an order of magnitude what a given process can actually handle

based on concerns about stability of other process materials, such as ion exchange resin, in

radiation fields. Pretending the criticality limit is the amount of material actually present is

interfering with objective assessment of what may be a more significant safety issue than that

for which the unrealistic material quantity is being postulated.

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