Using Weibull Distribution Analysis to Evaluate ALARA Performance

Abstract

Abstract -As Low as Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) is the underlying principle for protecting nuclear workers from potential health outcomes related to occupational radiation exposure. Radiation protection performance is currently evaluated by measures such as collective dose and average measurable dose, which do not indicate ALARA performance. The purpose of this work is to show how statistical modeling of individual doses using the Weibull distribution can provide objective supplemental performance indicators for comparing ALARA implementation among sites and for insights into ALARA practices within a site. Maximum likelihood methods were employed to estimate the Weibull shape and scale parameters used for performance indicators. The shape parameter reflects the effectiveness of maximizing the number of workers receiving lower doses and is represented as the slope of the fitted line on a Weibull probability plot. Additional performance indicators derived from the model parameters include the 99 th percentile and the exceedance fraction. When grouping sites by collective total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) and ranking by 99 th percentile with confidence intervals, differences in performance among sites can be readily identified. Applying this methodology will enable more efficient and complete evaluation of the effectiveness of ALARA implementation

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