Bulk Survey for Release (BSFR) Program

Roger FennerDepartment of Environment and ConservationDivision of Radiological HealthPresentation to Solid Waste Advisory CommitteeJuly 5, 2007

Main Objective

Is The BSFR Protective of Human Health and the

Environment?

SWAC Terminology BSFR Tennessee Department Of

Environment And Conservation Approval Process For BSFR Programs

Radiation In Our Lives Conclusion/Comments

TERMINOLOGY

rem

A Measurement Of The Biological Effective Dose Risk Of Suffering From Health Effects Following Exposure to Radiation.

TERMINOLOGY

A rem Is A Relative Large Number For The Amounts And Types Of Radiation Exposures We Will Be Discussing, Therefore We Need To Define Two Other Terms To More Appropriately Fit Our Purposes For This Meeting.

TERMINOLOGY

The millirem (mrem) Is 1/1000th Of A rem.

For Our Purposes It Is Easier to Remember That:

1000 mrem Are Equal To 1 rem

TERMINOLOGYThe Second Term Is The microrem (rem)

A microrem (rem) Is 1/1000th Of A mrem

For Our Purposes It Is Easier To Remember That:

1000 rem Are Equal To 1 mrem

TERMINOLOGY

1000 rem = 1 mrem

TERMINOLOGY

WARNINGDo Not Let Yourself Be Confused If

We Are Talking About Exposure Rates.

1 mrem/hr Is Still Equal To 1000 rem/hrAND

1 mrem/yr Is Still Equal To 1000 rem/yr

TERMINOLOGY

The Last Term I Want to Introduce Is The Term Used To Discuss How Much Radioactivity Is in Any Type of Material Including BSFR Material. It Is The Term For What We Refer To As Activity.

picoCurie (pCi)

TERMINOLOGY

1 picoCurie Is Equal To 0.037 Radioactive Decays

(Disintegrations) Every Second.

TERMINOLOGY

For Our Purposes We Are Concerned With How Many Decays Per Second Are Associated With Each Gram Of Material. So We Will Talk About

picoCuries per gram (pCi/g)

TERMINOLOGY

Three Terms To Remember

mremrempCi/g

BSFR

What Is

BULK SURVEY FOR RELEASE?

BSFR

BSFR Is A Term Used to Refer To A Licensed Process That Has Been Approved By The

Tennessee Department Of Environment And Conservation (TDEC) To Allow The Disposal Of

Materials WithEXTREMELY LOW LEVELS OF

RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

In Class I Landfills

BSFRExample Of BSFR Materials

Soils Resins Concrete Wood Asphalt Paper, Plastic, Clothing

BSFRState Regulations For

Protection Against Radiation(SRPAR)

Rule 1200-2-5-.121

BSFR

METHOD FOR GRANTING APPROVAL OF

ALTERNATIVE DISPOSAL PROCEDURES

BSFRThis Regulatory Authority Is The Same As Provided For

In

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC)

TITLE 10 CFR 20.2002

BSFR

Applications Are Reviewed And Evaluated Based On

5 Criteria As Per This Regulation.

BSFR1. The Description Of The

Waste To Be Disposed, Including The Physical And Chemical Properties.

2. Manner And Conditions Of Waste Disposal.

BSFR

3.Analysis And Evaluation Of Pertinent Information About The Environment Of The Disposal Site.

BSFR

4. Analysis And Procedures To Ensure That Doses

Are Maintained As Low As Reasonably Achievable

(ALARA) And Within The Dose Limits In SRPAR.

BSFR

5. The Nature And Location Of Other Potentially Affected Licensed And Unlicensed Facilities.

BSFR

How Does BSFR Work?

BSFR1. Material Is Analyzed At Each Generator’s Site For The Chemical Constituencies And To Identify Each

Radionuclide And Its Activity (pCi/g).

2. The Material Is Then Shipped According To U.S. Department Of Transportation (USDOT) Regulations

To A Processor.

BSFR3. At The Processor Each Package Is Analyzed Again To Verify The Radionuclides And Their Associated

Activities (pCi/g).

4. This Analysis Allows The Processor To Determine If The Material Meets The Predetermined Limits Authorized In Their Radioactive Material License For BSFR Disposal.

BSFR5. If The Material Meets The Predetermined Licensed Authorized

Limits And The Container Surface Dose Rate Limits And Does Not Meet The USDOT Definition For Radioactive Material It Is Then

Shipped To The Preauthorized Landfill.

BSFR

6. At the Landfill The Material Goes Through A Final Check.

Only After It Passes The Final Check Is It Disposed In The

Landfill.

BSFR

How Does TDEC Evaluate A Request For Alternative

Disposal?

BSFRThe Request Is Analyzed By The Licensing Staff The Same As Any Other Application. Which Includes:

Qualification Of Management and Health Physics Personnel

Adequacy Of Their Radiation Safety Program (Procedures, Instrumentation, Facility, Training, Etc.)

COMPUTER MODEL

RESRAD Is A Computer Program Used To Evaluate The Potential Doses From

Radioactive Material In The Ground

COMPUTER MODELHas Undergone Extensive

Review Benchmarking Verification And Validation

COMPUTER MODELUSERS OF THE MODEL

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)

U.S. Department Of Energy (USDOE)

DOE Contractors

COMPUTER MODEL U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers

(USACE) Industrial Firms Universities Foreign Government Agencies

And Institutions (France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Taiwan, Belgium, Croatia, Malaysia, Czech Republic, Canada, and Japan)

COMPUTER MODEL

What Does The Computer Model Take Into Consideration?

RESIDENT FARMER SCENARIO

COMPUTER MODEL

COMPUTER MODEL

COMPUTER MODEL

Additional Safety Factors Added By

TDEC

COMPUTER MODEL

1. 1 mrem/yr TDEC Limit

VS 25 mrem/yr NRC Limit

COMPUTER MODEL

2. TDEC Models The Landfill As Containing Uniformly Distributed BSFR Material Producing A

1 mrem/yr Dose.

COMPUTER MODEL

COMPUTER MODEL

3. TDEC Has Limited Disposal Of Materials At BFI Middle Point To No More Than 5% Of The Total Waste Received.

COMPUTER MODEL

4. TDEC Models For No Clean Cover Soil Placed Between The Resident Farmer And The Waste

COMPUTER MODEL

COMPUTER MODEL

5. For The Unsaturated Zone Area We Only Give Credit For The Clay Liner And The Soil Buffer. (No Credit Is Given For The Plastic Liner.)

COMPUTER MODEL

6. Assume All Waste Is Present At The Concentration Limit On The Day The Site Is Closed.

COMPUTER MODEL

These Additional Safety Factors Decrease The

1 mrem/yr Designed Dose Limit For Middle Point

Significantly

RADIATION IN LIFE

RADIATION IN LIFE

Legislated Radiation Dose Limits For

TDEC, NRC, AND ALL AGREEMENT STATES

RADIATION IN LIFEGENERAL PUBLIC DOSE LIMITS

Dose Limit For A Member of the General Public (TEDE) 100

mrem/yr

Dose Limit For Release Of A Licensed Facility For Unrestricted Use (NRC and some Agreement States) 25

mrem/yr

RADIATION IN LIFE

GENERAL PUBLIC DOSE LIMITS

Dose Limit To A Member Of The General

Public Allowed In Any One Hour 2 mrem

Dose Limit For The Resident Farmer Scenario From Materials Disposed At

Middle Point Landfill 1 mrem/yr

RADIATION IN LIFE

Occupational Radiation Dose Limits

Occupational Dose Limit For Minors

500 mrem/yr

Occupational Dose Limit For Adult

5000 mrem/yr

RADIATION IN LIFE

In the United States, the Annual Estimated Average Effective Dose Equivalent From Radiation Is 360 mrem Per Adult. This Is Broken Down As:

SOURCE DOSE (mrem/yr)

PERCENT OF TOTAL

Natural

Radon 200 55%

Cosmic 27 8%

Terrestrial 28 8%

Internal 39 11%

Total Natural 300 82%

Artificial

Medical x-ray 39 11%

Nuclear Medicine 14 4%

Consumer Products 10 3%

Other

Occupational 0.9 <0.3

Nuclear Fuel Cycle <1 <0.03

Fallout <1 <0.03

Miscellaneous <1 <0.03

Total Artificial 63 18%

Total Artificial and Natural

360 100%

Natural Background in USA

Atlantic & Gulf Coastal Plain- 305 mrem/yr

Middle America- 325 mrem/yr

Rocky Mountain Plateau- 345 mrem/yr

Denver Colorado- 365 mrem/yr

Population (weighted average) 309 mrem/yr

RADIATION IN LIFEHuman body

You Are Made Up Of Chemicals, And It Should Be Of No Surprise That Some Of Them Are Radionuclides, Many Of Which You Ingest Daily In Your Water And Food.

Here Are The Estimated Concentrations Of Radionuclides Calculated For A 154 Pound Adult :

Natural Radioactivity in the Human Body

Nuclide Total Mass of Nuclide found in the Body

Total Activity of Nuclide found in the Body

Daily Intake of Nuclides

Uranium 90 micro g 30 pCi

1.9 micro g

Thorium 30 micro g 3 pCi

3 micro g

Potassium 40 17 mg 120,000 pCi

0.39 mg

Radium 31 pg 30 pCi

2.3 pg

Carbon 14 22 ng 100000 pCi

1.8 ng

Tritium 0.06 pg 600 pCi

0.003 pg

Polonium 0.2 pg 1000 pCi

~ 0.6 fg(or 0.0006

pg)

RADIATION IN LIFE

RADIATION IN LIFEFOOD

Every Food Has Some Small Amount Of Radioactivity In It. The Common Radionuclides In Food Are Potassium 40 (40K), Radium 226 (226Ra) and Uranium 238 (238U) And The Associated Progeny.

Natural Radioactivity in Food

Food Potassium (pCi/kg)

Radium 226 (pCi/kg)

Banana 3,520 1

Brazil Nuts 5,600 1,000 - 7,000

Carrot 3,400 0.6 – 2

White Potatoes 3,400 1 - 2.5

Beer 390 ---

Red Meat 3,000 0.5

Lima Bean raw 4,640 2 - 5

Drinking Water --- 0 - 0.17

RADIATION IN LIFENATURAL RADIOACTIVITY IN BUILDING MATERIALS

Common Building Materials And Their Estimated Levels Of:

Uranium, Thorium and Potassium

Material Uranium Thorium Potassium

pCi/g pCi/g pCi/g

Granite 1.7 0.22 32

Sandstone 0.2 0.19 11.2

Cement 1.2 0.57 6.4

Limestone Concrete

0.8 0.23 2.4

Sandstone Concrete

0.3 0.23 10.4

Dry wallboard

0.4 0.32 2.4

By-product gypsum

5.0 1.78 0.2

Natural gypsum

0.4 0.2 4

Wood - - 90

Clay Brick 3 1.2 18

Calculated Cosmic Ray Doses to a Person Flying in Subsonic and Supersonic Aircraft Under

Normal Solar Conditions

Route Subsonic Flight at 36,000 ft

Supersonic flight at 62,000 ft

Flight Duratio

n (hours)

Dose per Round Trip

Flight Duratio

n (hours)

Dose per Round Trip

mrem mrem

Los Angeles-Paris

11.1 4.8 3.8 3.7

Chicago-Paris 8.3 3.6 2.8 2.6

New York-Paris 7.4 3.1 2.6 2.4

New York-London

7.0 2.9 2.4 2.2

Los Angeles-New York

5.2 1.9 1.9 1.3

Sydney-Acapulco

17.4 4.4 6.2 2.1

RADIATION IN LIFEChest X-ray 2 mrem

Heart Catheterization (Skin Dose) 45000 mrem

Radiation Machine Therapy (Localized & Fractionated)

6,000,000 mrem

Thyroid Dose to Treat Graves Disease 10,000,000

mrem

Dose to the Rest of the BodyFrom the Treatment of Graves Disease

20,000 mrem

CONCLUSIONWhile Sitting In This Room Today The Dose Rate Has Fluctuated Between

2 rem/hr and 6 rem/hr

That Fluctuation Equates A Difference of

40 mrem/yr

CONCLUSION

0.1 rem/hrIs The Equivalent Of Receiving

1 mrem/yr

CONCLUSION