Career Path > Outages
Cell Phone Contamination
Melrose:
--- Quote from: kp88 on Sep 06, 2008, 07:43 ---Just to swerve back on to my question for a minute.
Radiation Protection Technicians are telling me that the two personal contamination monitors I just passed through, do not detect gamma rays emitted from contamination on my cell phone.
The tool monitor does have this ability.
(I feel stupid that I have to defend this.)
--- End quote ---
Wow, didn't know where to start here. You received alot of informative replies.... though like stated, a little off track.
First, your statement above. The techs are wrong, the PCM and Portal will both detect gamma emitted from your cell phone. IF the origin is such that it can be detected i.e. how directional is the source, what's the energy of the source, and whether or not the phone is shielding it.
Everyone remembers stories of workers clearing the PCM with a particle or two on their person and getting caught at the portals. These particles are places and are directional in manner the these places (crevices) aide in shielding. (Under the arm pits, under the folds of 'extra' skin etc.
Clothing has nothing to do with the shielding. Directional attributes, energy and location together help.
Here's an idea.... since you and others that can't live without the feeling of that cool gadget on your hip don't have reception in the building anyway, leave the phone in your locker.
Serioulsly, most plants have a hand carried rule. If it's a hand carried item, like a clipboard, cell phone, radio, ruler, pen, paper, not pad, gloves and not a "tool" used for working in the plant, then it goes in the SAM. You don't hand carry your lanyard and badge. The idea is that the hand carried item could have been and probably was laid down somewhere, and may have picked up some lost and wondering contamination, therefore it gets to be put in the SAM.
Don't sweat it,
leave the phone outside
kp88:
--- Quote from: Melrose on Sep 07, 2008, 03:25 ---
Wow, didn't know where to start here. You received alot of informative replies.... though like stated, a little off track.
First, your statement above. The techs are wrong, the PCM and Portal will both detect gamma emitted from your cell phone. IF the origin is such that it can be detected i.e. how directional is the source, what's the energy of the source, and whether or not the phone is shielding it.
Everyone remembers stories of workers clearing the PCM with a particle or two on their person and getting caught at the portals. These particles are places and are directional in manner the these places (crevices) aide in shielding. (Under the arm pits, under the folds of 'extra' skin etc.
Clothing has nothing to do with the shielding. Directional attributes, energy and location together help.
Here's an idea.... since you and others that can't live without the feeling of that cool gadget on your hip don't have reception in the building anyway, leave the phone in your locker.
Serioulsly, most plants have a hand carried rule. If it's a hand carried item, like a clipboard, cell phone, radio, ruler, pen, paper, not pad, gloves and not a "tool" used for working in the plant, then it goes in the SAM. You don't hand carry your lanyard and badge. The idea is that the hand carried item could have been and probably was laid down somewhere, and may have picked up some lost and wondering contamination, therefore it gets to be put in the SAM.
Don't sweat it,
leave the phone outside
--- End quote ---
For the record, I hate cell phones.
To swerve completely off topic, one nanocurie of Co-58 on my cell phone must be stopped at the power plant boundary. A gazillion curies of tritium discharged into the environment is okay. Illinois Power launched the whole groundwate protection initiative.
I believe that the term is "below regulatory concern", I just don't agree with the NRC's concern level.
SloGlo:
h3? yer worryed about h3?? den stay outta containment.
JsonD13:
kp,
you have to remember that curies, activity, bq, and etc. just refer to the rate of change of that particular radioactive substance based off of its mass. The actual difference in treating those two isotopes is in the risk of exposure to the public.
Tritium yields a low energy beta (~5.7keV), where drinking water at the normal estimation out of that old antiquated EPA report, contaminated at 60,900 pCi/L tritium, will give a yearly dose of 4mrem.
Co-58 yields a higher energy beta (~201 keV), along with xrays. Just seeing the difference in energies should give you an idea that there would be wayyyyy more dose with Co-58, thus limiting more on how much you can release.
Jason
Smart People:
--- Quote from: Melrose on Sep 07, 2008, 03:25 ---
Serioulsly, most plants have a hand carried rule. If it's a hand carried item, like a clipboard, cell phone, radio, ruler, pen, paper, not pad, gloves and not a "tool" used for working in the plant, then it goes in the SAM. You don't hand carry your lanyard and badge. The idea is that the hand carried item could have been and probably was laid down somewhere, and may have picked up some lost and wondering contamination, therefore it gets to be put in the SAM.
Don't sweat it,
leave the phone outside
--- End quote ---
I've been to some plants recently that have gone to the practice of samming lanyards.
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