Achievement of Goals

DOE-STD-1136-2004

Guide of Good Practices for Occupational Radiological Protection in Uranium Facilities

3.2.2.3 Achievement of Goals

To ensure improving radiological performance, at the beginning of each year, each facility should

prepare radiological performance goals. At intervals commensurate with the radiological risk, the contractor

should provide DOE with an interim status report of the goals. At the end of the calendar year, the

contractor should provide DOE an Annual Goal Status Report.

Identifying specific ALARA goals in uranium facilities requires close coordination between the

facility ALARA team members (operations, maintenance, and radiological control personnel) made up

from a cross-section of personnel representing the various work elements of the facility. ALARA goals

may be formulated as qualitative or quantitative types of goals, but must be measurable and achievable,

with clearly defined endpoints.

3.2.2.4 Quality Assurance

Important aspects of any ALARA program are the measurement of beneficial effects and the

determination that important factors, such as economic impacts, the time involved in accomplishing tasks,

and the utilization of personnel, are being optimized. To accomplish these objectives, it is necessary to

have a written plan for the ALARA program and high quality records of activities involving exposures to

workers, the public, and the environment. These permit comparisons with past experiences and analysis of

the recorded activities. In many cases, such studies of the recorded activities not only confirm satisfactory

execution of the work, but reveal opportunities for future improvements.

One approach that works well is the inclusion of an ALARA worksheet with the RWP. Such a

worksheet should be prepared by an individual with responsibilities for the work to be performed, a

relatively detailed knowledge of the radiological conditions, and knowledge of what is required to

accomplish the task. The worksheet should contain estimates of the time to complete the task and the

expected radiation doses to be received. If any specially-engineered devices are used to control personnel

exposure, they should be noted on the ALARA worksheet, with any special instructions they require.

These worksheets provide valuable information for analysis of the effectiveness of the ALARA program

for each job.

3.2.2.5 Technical Aspects

The technical aspects of ALARA programs include not only the standard equipment regularly used

in controlling dose to workers, the public, and the environment, such as facility shielding, ventilation

filters, installed and portable radiation measuring instruments, but also many special devices that may be

used temporarily. Special devices can be used to provide exposure control and/or containment when it may

not be practical without them. These include temporary shields, tents or greenhouses, portable fans,

ductwork and filters, and special fixtures to hold highly radioactive materials requiring detailed inspection,

repair, modification, or fabrication. Such devices can permit doing difficult work at low radiation doses,

which might not be possible otherwise.

Some of these special devices may have general application and be kept on hand for use as

needed. In some cases, devices would have to be specially fabricated for a specific task. Because this

would ordinarily have a significant effect on the cost of doing that job, the economic aspects of doing or

not doing the job should be carefully evaluated.

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