Monitoring - doe-std-1136-20040186

DOE-STD-1136-2004

Guide of Good Practices for Occupational Radiation Protection in Uranium Facilities

8.3.3 Solid Waste

Solid waste come from a variety of sources in the plant from machining chips to contaminated

clothing. The solid wastes should be concentrated (if possible and/or practical), packaged, and stored on the

plant site for an interim time period prior to permanent disposal. Careful documentation is necessary to

establish: a) quantities and nature of the waste being disposed, and b) compliance with the Resource

Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and other disposal and shipping/handling requirements.

Onsite volume-reduction facilities, such as incinerators, compactors, or chemical leach from

metallic waste sources, can result in volume reduction in the range of 1 to 400 or more.

8.4 MONITORING

Monitoring the airborne effluents is an important aspect of control and documentation. Monitoring

should be done in the stack at the discharge point and at the boundary of the uncontrolled area. In addition,

total activity discharged and total mass of uranium discharged should be determined and documented to

ensure that concentration requirements are not exceeded. If stack monitoring cannot be performed (e.g., in

instances where the facility design is such that there are no stacks), then the reason for the monitoring

method selected should also be documented.

Monitors are of two general types: continuous and passive. Continuous monitors are constructed

with a radiation detector which is placed in a shielded container such that it "views" the activity as it is

being collected on a filter from a sample of the stack effluent. The continuous level of radioactivity on the

filter is recorded and set up in such a way that preset levels trigger an alarm. This type of monitor is less

sensitive but provides an alarm in the event of mishap or equipment failure in time to take effective

mitigating action.

Passive monitors consist of a continuous (isokinetic, if practic al) sample collected of the effluent in

the stack. The filter is periodically removed and submitted to radiological and/or chemical analyses. The

sensitivity or level of detection is lower for passive sampling systems than for continuous stack samplers,

and provide after-the-fact information only.

8.4.1 Air and Gaseous Effluents

All air and other gaseous effluents from confinement areas should be exhausted through a

ventilation system designed to remove particulates. All exhaust ducts (or stacks) that may contain fissile

contaminants should be provided with two monitoring systems. One should be of the continuous type

(CAM) and the other a passive sampler. These systems may be a combination unit. The probes for sampling

purposes should be designed for isokinetic sampling and located according to good industrial hygiene

practices. The design of effluent monitoring systems should appropriately meet the requirements of ANSI

N42.18, Specification and Performance of Onsite Instrumentation for Continuously Monitor ing Radioactive

Effluents (ANSI, 1974). Nuclear criticality safety should be considered in the design of equipment used to

treat and clean up radioactive gaseous effluents.

8.4.2 Liquid Effluents

Emphasis should be placed on reducing total quantities of liquid effluents released to the

environment. The contamination in the effluents should be ALARA, commensurate with the latest

accepted technology at the time of design. All effluent streams should be sampled or monitored, as

appropriate, to ensure accurate measurement of all releases under normal and DBA conditions. The

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