The Radiological hazard Analysis (RHA) Manual provides a methodology and detailed guidance for systematic analysis of radiological hazards over a broad spectrum of program functions, housed in a wide variety of facilities. Radiological programs at LANL include: research and experimentation; routine materials operations; production; non-destructive examination or testing; isotope and machine produced radiations; chemistry; and metallurgy. The RHA permits uniform evaluation of hazard types over a range of several orders of magnitude of hazard severity. The results are used to estimate risk, evaluate types and level or resource allocations, identify deficiencies, and plan corrective actions for safe working environments. 2 refs

Andrews, Larry L.

Wadman, William W., III

UNT Digital Library

" LA-UR -9!-3501 LA-UR--91-3501 / - -DE92 003867Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the Universl_ of California for the United States Department of Energy under contracl W-7405-ENG-36.tfTITLE: STANDARDIZED RADIOLOGICAL HAZARD ANALYSIS FOR A ,.BROAD BASED OPERATIONAL SAFETY PROGRAMAUTHOR(S): WILLIAM W. WADPLAN IIILARRY L. ANDREWSSUSMITTEDTO: INTERNATIONAL RADIATION PROTECTION ASSOCIATION (IRPA8)DISCLAIMERThis report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United StatesGovernment. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of theiremployees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsi-bility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, orprocess disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Refer-ence herein to any specific commercial product, proces,_, or service by trade name, trademark,manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recom-mendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The viewsand opinions of authors exl:_essed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of theUnited States Government or any agency thereof.By acceplance of thqsarlt¢le, trte publisher ¢eco_nize'_the! the U.S. Government retains a nonexctuslve,royally-free license to publish o¢reO¢oducethe l:)ublished form Ol 11_,$contrlb,JtiOn, o¢ |o allow other,= lo do so. for U.S. Government purpo_s.The Los Alamos N,.=.l_ona!Laboratory requests lflal li'le put2tist_er identdy Irtis ,arlic/e es work performed under |rLeauspices of Ifle U.S OeOarlment of Enefg,tLosAlamos Nat onalPa13t#at yii 1 d dU LI L°s Alam°s'New Mexic° 87545_,_"° a-_s,:_ D|STRISUTION OF THIS DOCUMENT IeJU_LIMITED..... '` __ _ ........... li ........ _ ...................................................................................................... i ............i ,iii iH,_ , Liiw................... ..... lili_ ,_ _STANDARDIZED RADIOLOGICAL HAZARD ANALYSISFOR A BROAD BASED OPERATIONAL SAFETY PROGRAMW. Wadman III1 and L. Andrews zHealth and Safety DivisionLos Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)Los Alamos, New MexicoABSTRACTThe Radiological Hazard Analysis (RHA) Manual provides amethodology and detailed guidance for systematic analysis ofradiological hazards over a broad spectrum of program functions,housed in a wide variety of facilities. Radiological programsat LANL include: research and experimentation; routine materialsoperations; production; non-destructive examination or testing;isotope and machine produced radiations; chemistry; andmetallurgy. The RHA permits uniform evaluation of hazard typesover a range of several orders of magnitude of hazard severity.The results are used to estimate risk, evaluate types and levelof resource allocations, identify deficiencies, and plancorrective actions for safe working environments.INTRODUCTIONLaboratories within the U.S. Department of Energy are undergoingsignificant changes in the manner by which they conductoperations. Operational Health Physics groups are not anexception. With budgetary constraints becoming more severe,staffing and resources strained or severely limited, methods hadto be devised to provide equal or better service in spite of thehardships. Standardization of the methodology and consistencyof evaluating the types and levels of radiological hazardsinvolving several hundred projects in over 150 facilities,spread over 43 square miles, was essential for the operationalHealth Physics personnel. The Standardized Radiological HazardAnalysis Manual was determined to be one of several practicalworking tools for Health Physicists in the field. The 300 pagemanual starts with a detailed index from which an analysis planis constructed. Once in the field, the use of the manual indexprovides ready access to guidance, assessment details, and formsfor other hazards or issues that were either unexpected or notobvious during the initial assessment. The guidance containedin the manual is detailed, but allows for independent input byeach Health physicist that uses it. The training on the use ofthe RHA Manual emphasizes that the guidance should be used as atool to direct and focus analysis thought processes, but shouldnot limit the RHA performance to merely a check list task.Data from the detailed Radiological Hazard Analysis reportsheets is subsequently input to a commercially availablerelational database which is both an analysis tool and thedatabase for each and every facility for which a RadiologicalHazard Analysis has been performed.Blank pages of forms and reports are obtained from stock toreplace those used from the binder to be ready for the nextII facility analysis.DEVELOPMENT OF THE RHAMANUALThere are existing methodologies for risk assessments ofspecific processes, and a few for multi-function facilities.The Nevada Operations Office of the DOE produced the 150 page"Radiological Safety Functional Appraisal and Program ReviewGuide," in 1990. (Do90) This has direct application to DOE/NVOfacilities. It is based upon a radiological environmentalprogram. A method for determining hazard classifications of DOEfacilities was developed at Battelle PNL (Lu9i). The hazardclassification required a walkthrough by an inspection team ofpersons with considerable expertise in the various disciplines.More than one DOE Operations Office required the technique to beused by operating contractors of DOE facilities, to determinegross hazard classification values for their facilities. Thesedeterminations were not sufficiently in-depth to provide thelevel of detail LANL felt to be necessary for our operationalhazard evaluations. The technique also did not provide usefuldata regarding operational hazards routinely faced by facilityoperations personnel, or health and safety support personnel.The concept of the Standardized Radiological Hazard AnalysisManual was originated b l" one of the authors (LA). With accessto a consultant with a broad spectrum of "hands-on" experiencein the field of Health Physics, Industrial Hygiene, andRadiological Environmental Monitoring Programs, the project wasundertaken.The manual was conceived as a light-weight, notepad-sizeddocument with outline formatted "reminders" for review whiledoing field facility walk-throughs. The document is now about300 single side printed pages, maintained in a three inch thickbinder, and requires training in its use to provide familiarityand a reasonable level of surety that it will be used uniformlyby the trained staff.Each type of radiological facility or operation was consideredas an independent unit during the drafting of the RHA Manual.Details from observations, physical measurements, radiologicalmeasurements, locatiols of components, and similar pertinentdata, are called out in the text of each hazard analysissection. In the initial draft, in both the manual and thesoftware, each hazardous item was separate, as was eachmitigation process, and was considered only for that room,building, or process. Subsequently, common items, such as gloveboxes, filtrations, detection and alarm systems, were coded inthe relational database software. This served to provide morerapid input, reduction in errors, and conservation of RAM andstorage required by the computer program.Hazard levels, risk assessments and hazard mitigating equipmentor engineered features are analyzed in the software. All valuesobtained from the analytical results, relate to hazards presentduring normal operational circumstances. No attempt has beenmade to extend the analysis into accident scenarios. With theavailability of _-_--__ ___ _a_n,_c1_des_ inventoryon hand, physical and/or chemical form, and details of theimonitoring systems, and ventilation systems, assessing limitedaccident scenarios remains a possibility.Each developmental iteration has only expanded the size of theoverall program, both software and Manual. Some futureconsideration may be to purchase the relational database"engine", and write the specific RHA database applicationsprogram. Several advantages would be, easier commercial orpublic domain releases of the software component which couldsave 50% of the RAM occupied by features that are not used fromthe standard database product. Time savings could be realizedby having direct page access to pertinent input requirements,rather than have to page through irrelevant subject matter toarrive at the appropriate page for the next input.TYPES OF FACILITIES INCLUDEDThe RHA Manual is designed to be used to evaluate radiologicalhazards associated with the following programmatic elements:Research and Experimentation: explosion dynamics; armor, anti-armor; criticality; weapons enhancement; controlledthermonuclear reactions; free electron lasers,Routine Operations: reactor operations; radioactive wastemanagement; weapons production related operations; weaponstesting operations; retirement storage operations,Production: quality control; materials purity; lathe and millingshop operations; purification; enrichment; weapons relatedactivities; medical aspects of LAMPF operations; X-raycrystallography confirmations,Non-Destructive Examination or Testing: fixed X-Ray radiographicfacilities; fixed facility Van de Graaf radiography; highspeed x-ray of explosive events; portable radiographic unitsafety; eddy current testing of radioactive materials;magnaflux testing of radioactive materials; betatron narrowbeam, thick target radiography,Isotope Produced Radiations: calibrations; sealed sourceradiography; activated accelerator component radiologicalprotection; heat source radiological protection; incidentalweapons component exposure control; weapons debrisanalysis; reactor fuel processing hot cell operations,Machine Produced Radiations: Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility;IBF tandem Van de Graaf; single stage Van de Graaf; freeelectron laser; plasma focus devices; pulsed powerconversion; health center x-rays; neutron generatorfacility; electron guns; ion implantation,Chemistry: analytical; alloy; quality control; qualityassurance; medical isotope purification hot celloperations,Metallurgy: analytical; developmental; design improvement;stability improvement; yield improvement; inductionheating; laser isotope separation,Transportation: On-site, inter-area, intra-area, for safety andcompliance with State and Federal shipping requirements onpublic roads,Compliance Assessment: Confirm compliance with Health and Safety!!5II cy retirementsla srs.i_! in the above I0 major areas, each of the 56 categories of||! operation, project, or facility has its own set of RHA forms.||! Each analysis must be independent in-so-far that it is not a"I|iI component of a larger complex. If the latter is the case, theRRHA forms are grouped into a facility package. The results ofthe full analysis of the units as a system will result in adifferent hazard rating because of the concurrent and dependentmode of operation.CONCLUSIONSPresent operating facility inspections are performed with aperspective focused on the problem of immediate concern. Theuse of the RHA Manual will provide consistency for suchevaluations. Performing full facility radiological hazardsanalyses will accomplish several objectives: Advance knowledgeof the facility's or operation's hazards; provide a globalperspective of concurrent but unrelated hazards of adjacentoperations; consistent or uniform upproach to evaluations andsolutions; applications of "lessons learned"; greater confidenceto younger professionals in the Health Physics Groups; a cross-training tool for professionals and technicians not familiarwith areas outside of their duty areas; a computerized databasewith rapid access for rapid retrieval for the line organization,security, fire, and emergency response teams. Two peripheraluses of the RHA Manual may be:i. The RHA may have use as a formal tool during the draftingof facility Safety Analysis Reports (SAR) and UpdatedSafety Analysis Reports (USAR).2. There may be some value in training the facilitysupervision to use the system, to provide them with thecapability to perform more frequent reviews of theirfacilities than can the limited staff of operational HealthPhysicists. This is beneficial for the Laboratory throughthe heightened awareness for radiological hazards in theworkplace.1 Private Consultant to LANL. 2 LANL HS-12 Health PhysicistREFERENCESDo90 U.S. Department of Energy, Nevada Operations Office,Environmental Compliance Branch, Environmental ProtectionDivision, Las Vegas, Nevada. "Radiological SafetyFunctional Appraisal and Program Review Guide". (1990)Lu91 Lucas, D.E., A Practical Approach to Hazard Classification,Rev 1., Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland,Washington. March 1991.This work was performed under the auspices of the University ofCalifornia operated Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Standarized radiological hazard analysis for a broad based operational safety program

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Standarized radiological hazard analysis for a broad based operational safety program

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