I'm a little late in my contribution to this discussion, but here's my two cents.
First off, good dialogue from some clearly astute folks. There seems to be no doubt as to the usefulness of single-use garments, at least for routine entries.
Based on opinions within the industry these days, the biggest justification for single-use is the minimization of PCEs. The mindset has become that because used launderable garments have fixed contamination, they are a suspect cause of PCEs. Indeed, I remember the hot particle issues that cropped up as a tech back in the 80s and PCs were a source for PCEs.
BUT, that was before sophisticated automated laundry monitoring was the norm. We had laundry techs frisking laundry with RM-14s, and we all know how useless that was. The fact is, any legitimate launderable program these days will preclude a PCE event from clothing. And despite the popularity of single-use products, there are plenty of launderable clothing programs around the country that have no problem whatsoever.
So what’s the real reason? Is it comfort? Convenience? Protection? Cost?
The results on comfort are mixed. Lots of people like PVA, papers, tri-lams etc., and lots of people don’t. One thing that isn’t often addressed is fit. I’ve never worn a single-use that didn’t pull in one place and end up way too loose in another. The fact is that $3.00 isn’t going to get you much in terms of tailoring or fit.
There’s no denying the convenience of single-use, especially in pulling used PCs out of a work area. They are definitely lighter. But sorting still has to happen as long as rubber items are used, so processing, etc. doesn’t really improve much.
Protection is a two-edged argument. Some folks will point to launderables as a PCE source and thus the basis for less protection. I refuted that above. But the real protection issue is textile barrier and garment strength. PVA does pretty well in particulate barrier for a single-use material (there’s good info at
http://nuclearissuesforum.org/test_results.html ) but contentions by the manufacturer that it’s better than anything else are plainly false. To me, the big protection issue is strength, since a torn garment in the RCZ is a definite invitation for a serious PCE. The test link compares strength measures. Launderable garments prevail, but since OREX has held up pretty well for many facilities in routine use, it’s probably safe to say that it's adequate for light entries where wetness isn't a possibility.
Cost seems to be the big misnomer. All the single-use manufacturers imply that their garments are cheaper than launderable. But it’s goofy to think that launderable PCs that last 50 or more washes could be more expensive per use than a single use program. UniTech, the big offsite laundry service, says that the average 30,000 use outage is going to cost something like $75,000 more using OREX instead of launderable. This isn’t necessarily too much more money if the garments have identical features, but they don’t. In any case, there’s no reasonable debate on cost.
IMO, single use has a place in a typical utility RP program. But I’d never be totally comfortable covering a hot or arduous job with guys wearing single-use. It’s hard enough to keep their gloves off their faces without worrying about an elbow or crotch blowout.