ML20207A241
| ML20207A241 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 07/27/1979 |
| From: | Schultz W NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| To: | Davis A NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION III) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20206U932 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-98-341 NUDOCS 9903030150 | |
| Download: ML20207A241 (2) | |
Text
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- o, UNITED ST ATES
- 8% I 3 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION N c REGION lil 1 799 ROOSEVELT ROAo GLEN E LLYN, ILtlNOIS 60137 j .
. July.27, 1979 !
i 1
l MEMORANDUM FOR: A. B. Davis, Chief, Fuel Facility and Materials Safety Branch l THRU: J. A. Pagliaro, Chief, Materials Radiological Protection Section No. 2 l
FROM: W. H. Schultz, Radiation Specialist
SUBJECT:
C00DYEAR TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY, AKRON, OHIO i INSPECTION ON JUNE 8, 1979 ;
(F03013179)
In response to your memo dated June 21, 1979, in which you requested clarification of two questf ns, the following information is supplied.
l The first question ask NRC should not require a formal instrument calibration procedure tor licensees who deal with 6,500 curie cobalt 60 sources. A letter from the licensee dated April C,1971, which is !
incorporated into the license states: "A survey meter calibration is !
carried out quarterly on each of six portable survey meters and the bench type monitor. Each meter is also checked on every occasion that it is used. For the survey meter calibrations a Tracerlab Model R-31 calib ra teri cobalt 60 reference source' is employed. A Tracerlab 1 mci i cesium 137 source is also available. The test procedure consists in placing the survey meters a distance of one meter from the cobalt 60 reference source and noting the dose rate at that point. If this reading corresponds closely to the calculated exposure rate from the calibrated reference source the meter is considered to be operating correctly. A meter which shows a discrepancy from the expected exposure rate is submitted for repair and/or calibration."
Comment: The procedure described above does not mt the criteria one usually associates with a formal survey instrument calibration procedure.
For example: (1) industrial radiographers a 3 required to calibrate survey instruments at two points on each scale; (2) the size of the calibration source must be large enough to carry out the calibration procedure on all scales of the survey instrument, and (3) all readings on the survey instrument must be within 10 percent of the calculated value. Since the licensee's calibration procedure described above does not demonstrate that it is responsive to any of these criteria, the licensee is not performing a formal instrument calibration procedure.
I agree that when one uses cobalt 60 sources this large a comprehensive calibration procedure should be spelled out, incorporated into the ense and followed.
99CO30150 990223 PDR FOIA POST 98-341 PDR R R Sch ta jg Pag ro l& d Ul &h
A. B. Davis July 27, 1979 In regard to the failure to make independent measurements or review l records to assure that radiation levels in unrestricted areas were less than 2 mR/hr, the following information is provided: 1
- 1. Records showed that on June 5, 1961, the licensee surveyed the I outside of the irradiation facility at a time when it contained l 11,400 curies of cobalt 60 and found all radiation levels were less than 1.5 mR/hr.
- 2. On June 11, 1971, an NRC inspector surveyed the outside of the irradiation facility at a time when it contained 10,500 curies of cobalt 60 and found all radiation levels were less than 2 mR/hr.
- 3. Since no changes were made in .he facility, which is constructed of 4 foot thick solid concrete walls, since it was built in the late 1950's and since it was demonstrated by the licensee and by NRC personnel that sources of cobalt 60 as large as 11,400 curies would produce radiation levels below 2 mR/hr in unrestricted areas, it seemed certain that a 6,580 curie source would also produce radiation levels in unrestricted areas that were well below 2 mR/hr. For this reason no independent measurements were made during the June 8, 1979, inspection of radiation levels in unrestricted areas nor were survey records reviewed since this had been done by an NRC inspector during the June 17, 1971, inspection.
W. H. Schultz Radiation Specialist
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