Revision 1 Jaonia1y 11 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION REGULATORY GUIDE OFFICE OF STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT REGULATORY GUIDE 8.23 RADIATION SAFETY SURVEYS AT MEDICAL INSTITUTION A. INTRODUCTION Surveyst are a necessary supplement to personnel monitoring, which measures individual radiation exposures Paragraph 20.201(b) of 10 CFR Part 20, "Standards for by the use of devices worn by the workers (Refs. 4, 6, 12, Protection Against Radiation," requires that each licensee 14. and 16. make or cause to be made such surveys as may be necessary for that licensee to comply with the regulations in Part 20. C. REGULATORY POSITION As used in Part 20. the term "'survey" means an evaluation of the radiation hazards incident to the production, use. Methods and procedures in this guide are acceptable to release, disposal, or presence of. radioactive mate'rials or the NR( staff for establishing survey programs in accord other sources of radiation under a specific set of conditions. ance with the as low as is reasonably achievable (ALARA) This guide identifies the types and frequencies of surveys philosophy. Generally, medical institutions licensed by thc that are acceptable to the NRC staff for use in medical. NRC should have a health physics staff available for consul institutions licensed by the NRC to use radioactive materials ration to design a survey program appropriate to the for purposes of diagnosis, therapy, or human research institution's use of radioactive material. Nothing in this involving the administration of radioactive materials or guide should be construed to preclude or discourage radiation to patients or the use of radioactive the materials for design of survey programs containing provisions *patient services. other than those in this guide, when such programs are accepted by the NRC licensing staff as providing ALARA exposure conditions for a particular institution. B. DISCUSSION 1. Types of Surveys Surveys are considered to be part of a comprehensive 1.1 General Description protection program established by the licensee consistent with the philosophy and principles of Regulatory Guide 8.10, Surveys performed in compliance with §20.201 "Operating Philosophy for Maintaining Occupational of 10 CFR Part 20 should include those necessary Radiation Exposures As Low As Is Reasonably Achievable." to evaluate external exposure to personnel, surface contamination (Ref. 1). Principles, methods, and instrumentation for levels, and concentrations of airborne radioactive materials carrying out radiation and contamination surveys were in the facility and in effluents from the facility. developed early in the atomic energy program and have been discussed in reports of the National Council on Environmental monitoring is beyond the scope of Radiation Protection and Measurement (Refs. 2-9), the this guide. However, the radiation safety program should International Atomic Energy Agency (Refs. 10-14), and the include surveys or records that indicate control International Commission on Radiological Protection of the quantities of radioactive material released in air and water (Refs. 15-17). Other publications (Refs. 17- 34) contain addi to unrestricted areas as required by Part tional information for use in establishing 20. In miny radiation survey medical institutions, surveys of effluents programs and selecting methods and or calculations to equipment for their ensure that permissible concentration implementation. limitsare not exceeded are included as a regular part of the health physics survey t The word "survey," often used synonymously with "survefl lance," "monitoring," or "area monitoring," is used connote the jpes•oa in this guide to 0 inspection of vsulouS locations in a facility using radioactive "Lines indicate substantive changes from the February 1979 ver materials, with or without accompanying measure sion that was issued for public ments, to determine the effectiveness of measures to protect against comment. exposure to radiation. USNRC REGULATORY GUIDES Comments should be sent to the U.S. Secretary of the Commission, Regulatory Guides are Issued to describe and make Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, available to the Attention: Docketing and D.C. 20555, public methods acceptable to the NRC staff of implementing Service Branch. specific parts of the Commission's regulations, to delineate niques tech The guides are Issued in the following used by the staff in evaluating specific problems or postu tan broad divisions: lated accidents or to provide guidance to applicants. Guides Regulatory 1. Power Reactors are noi substitutes for regulations, and compliance with 6. Products them Is not required. Methods and solutions 2. Research and Test Reactors 7. Transportation different from those set 3. Fuels and Materials out in the guides will be acceptable if they provide a basis Facilities 8. Occupational Health findings for the 4. Environmental and Siting requisite to the issuance or continuance of a Permit or 9. Antitrust and Financial Review license by the Commission. 5. Materials and Plant Protection 10. General Copies of issued guides Comments and suggestions for improvements in these may be purchased at the current Government guides are Printing Office price. encouraged at all times, and guides will be revised, as appropriate, A subscription service for future guides in spe to accommodate comments and to reflect new cific divisions is available through the Government Printing Office. experience. information or Information on the subscription This guide was revised as a result of substantive com service and current GPO prices may ments received from the pu 'ic be obtained by writing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory and additional staff review. Washington, Commission, D.C- 20555. Attention: Publications Sales Manager. program. Often these calculations may he made by estimat Surveys are not acceptable for routine compliance with ing the amotints of radioactive material washed down the personnel monitoring requirements of §20.202. How designated sinks and dividing them by the quantities ever, in the event of accidental loss of personnel dosimetry of sewage released from the hospital, as indicated on the data. e.g., as a result of losing the dosimeter or chemical or hospital's water or sewage bills. This procedure normally physical damage to the dosimeter, the best alternative suffices to show compliance with the effluent limits of means of estimating the exposure may be to use survey dllat Part 20. Amounts of radioactive material released in air in conjunction with appropriate occupancy factors. In such within hospitals or exhausted to the outside from hospitals case, the estimate, including the survey data used. should bh are generally small, but these amounts may sometimes be documented and retained indefinitely (see para 2 4 estimated by calculational techniques if not by air-monitoring graph 0. 01(c)(2)tii)). Survey results should be reviewed procedures.' Appendix A to this guide describes surveys to carefully by the Radiation Safety Officer to identify be made of radioactive xenon-I 33 releases. potentially hazardous situations and unfavorable trends. Radiation protection programs should include the types 1.3 Measurements of Radioactive Material Concentrations of surveys discussed below. In Air 1.2 Surveys of External Radiation Exposure Levels It may ofterr be sufficient in medical institutions to show by calculation, together with monitoring of ventilation Areas to he surveyed should include any locations where rates, that air concentrations are well below levels that individuals may be exposed to -radiation intensities that would require routine air sampling. However. concentrations might cause the occupational radiation dose to exceed of radioactive material in air should be measured at tre-, 10 percent of the limits of paragraph 20.101(a) in any qucncics described in Section ('.2 and specified in Table 1 calendar quarter or where an individual is working with any for areas where operations could at any time expose workers radiation source that could produce radiation levels greater to 10 percent or more of the concentration values given in than 1.0 mR/h at 1 meter. These areas typically include Table 1. Column I. of Appendix B to 10 CFR Part 20. shipping and receiving areas: radionuclide laboratories Special requirements for such monitoring may also be made in nuclear medicine; diagnostic areas in nuclear medicine; a condition of the license. intracavilary .source preparation areas in radiation therapy; patients' rooms where treatments are given with intracavi Air samples obtained in accordance with §20.103 tary. interstitial, or radiopharmaceutical therapy sources; should be representative of the air in the workers' breathing operating rooms, control (console) areas for teletherapy zones. In cases where breathing zone sampling is not accom equipment rooms; waste packaging and disposal areas; plished, air samples taken outside the breathing zone .radiation instrument calibration areas; and any other areas closer to the source, where the concentration of radioactive where persons might be exposed (e.g., areas occupied by material can be or is expected to be equal to or greater than technologists, nursing staff, visitors. patients. or any other the concentration in the breathing zone. are acceptable. persons who may be exposed to radioactive materials When measuring the quantity of radioactive 'material handled by others). deposited on an air sample filter. corrections should he made for absorption of alpha or beta particles