EVALUATION OF STRATEGIES FOR MONITORING AND SAMPLING AIRBORNE RADIONUCLIDES IN THE WORKPLACE

Protection of workers from intakes of airborne radioactive materials i s receiving increased attention as part of the overall emphasis on min imisation of occupational radiation exposures. Because current guidanc e of the International Commission on Radiological Protection on protec tion from airborne radionuclides is based on annual limits on intake, ALI, and average annual air concentrations derived from these ALIs, in creased effort is being devoted to monitoring exposure levels, directl y or indirectly, in the workplace. Possible approaches include the use of fixed air samplers, continuous air monitors, and personal air samp lers worn by individual workers. Periodic bioassay of these workers by whole-body counting, chest counting, or excreta analyses can provide useful information on the adequacy with which the above approaches are monitoring the workplace. Because each approach requires a major comm itment of institutional resources, it is important that the overall mo nitoring plan reflect the relative value of these different approaches for the facility and processes being monitored. Such a plan should al so address the dual purposes of the monitoring programme: (a) minimisa tion of exposure, and (b) evaluation of exposures that occur. Historic al experiences in various nuclear facilities as reported in the litera ture or obtained from personal communications are being evaluated to a ssess the potential strengths and weaknesses of various monitoring app roaches for achieving these purposes. Based on these analyses, strateg ic approaches will be recommended for designing and implementing. an o ptimised monitoring programme. The use of optimised programmes should maximise the health protection value obtained from the total resources expended.