Table 5 -15. Uranium Levels for Internal Dosimetry Notification

DOE-STD-1136-2004

Guide of Good Practices for Occupational Radiological Protection in Uranium Facilities

5.9 REFERENCE AND ACTION LEVELS

Reference and action levels are essential to operation of a routine internal dosimetry program. Because

a wide range of levels can be defined by various facilities and organizations, this document does not

attempt to prescribe particular level titles. As used in this document, reference and action levels are simply

workplace or bioassay measurements, or associated calculated doses, at which specific actions occur.

Notification levels based on workplace indicators for reacting to a potential intake are suggested in

Table 5-15. The intent of these notification levels is to provide guidance for field response to any potential

intake of radioactive material with a potential for a dose commitment that is >100-mrem CEDE. Table 5-

16 suggests notification levels to the occupational medicine physician for possible early medical

intervention in an internal contamination event. These tables, derived from Carbaugh et al. (1994), are

based on general considerations and significant experience with past intakes of radioactive material and,

because they are based on field measurements, do not correspond with any exact dose commitment to the

worker.

Table 5 -15. Uranium Levels for Internal Dosimetry Notification

Indicator

Notification Level

Nasal or mouth smears

Detectable activity

Facial contamination

200 dpm

(direct measurement)

Skin breaks or blood smears

Any skin break while handling material other than sealed sources

Head, neck contamination

2,000 dpm

Contamination in respirator

Detectable activity inside respirator after use

Hands, forearms, clothing(a)

10,000 dpm

Acute intake equivalent to 40 DAC-hours after accounting for

respiratory protect ion factor(b)

(a) Clothing contamination levels apply to exposure without respiratory protection, such as on inner coveralls or personal

clothing.

(b)

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