P A U L O R L A N D O , A S S I S T A N T D I R E C T O R R A D I A T I O N P R O T E C T I O N A N D R E L E A S E P R E V E N T I O N
N E W J E R S E Y D E P A R T M E N T O F E N V I R O N M E N T A L P R O T E C T I O N
RADIATION PROTECTION
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
2014 Mid-Atlantic States Meeting
RADIATION PROTECTION & RELEASE PREVENTION ORGANIZATION
Assist Director
Nuclear Power Plant
EP X-ray Rad Materials
Chem. Release
Prevention
M I D - A T L A N T I C M E E T I N G
2 0 1 4
BUREAU OF NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
NPP’S AFFECTING NEW JERSEY
OYSTER CREEK EARLY LICENSE TERMINATION
• December 9, 2010
• Governor Chris Christie announced a comprehensive action plan to address the ecological health of the 660-square-mile Barnegat Bay watershed
• December 9, 2010
• DEP and Exelon sign Administrative Consent Order
• Early Closure of Oyster Creek (December 31, 2019)
• Extension of water discharge permit for the period of operation
OYSTER CREEK EARLY LICENSE TERMINATION
• BNE Continued Involvement
• Concerns of continued safe operation continue to be the main focus of BNE engineering staff
• NRC Reactor Oversight Process
• Exploring needs for modifications for short term operation to ensure plant safety
• Concerns
• Personnel Retention
• Capital Investment for repairs
• Adherence to Routine and Preventive Maintenance Schedules
OYSTER CREEK TRITIUM REMEDIATION PROJECT
• Oyster Creek Tritium Remediation Project
• Commenced in April 2009 (4.5 million pCi/l)
• Leak discovered in underground piping carrying tritiated water.
• NJ BNE and DEP’s Site Remediation Program
• Work with Exelon to develop remedial action plan
• Pumping well installed (Date 09/28/2010)
• Dilute with Intake (Cooling) Water
• Monitor and Discharge to canal
• As of February 2014 – All wells below 20,000 pCi/l
SALEM UNIT 1 TRITIUM INVESTIGATION AND
REMEDIATION • Salem Tritium Remediation Project
• Ongoing since discovery in Late 2002
• Full Scale Remediation System operating since 2005
• Highest Groundwater reading: Approximately: 15 Million pCi/L
• Recent Groundwater Reading: Approximately: 471,000 pCi/L
• Estimated 3.25 Curies of Tritium removed
• Recent discovery of Tritium in a deep aquifer
• Maximum Groundwater Concentration: 13,100 pCi/L
• Spent Fuel Pool Investigation into Source of the Leak (Areva)
PILOT ISOTOPE GENERATION PROJECT HOPE CREEK NPP
• First Harvest attempted in April 2012
• Dropped Rod Segment during initial harvesting.
• Tooling and shipping equipment required redesign based on lessons learned from this experience.
• Recovery of the rod was completed during the week of January 20, 2014.
• Initial Shipment of one Cobalt Rod has been sent to GE ‘Hot Cell’ in Vallecitos, CA
• Left site February 3rd, 2014
PILOT ISOTOPE GENERATION PROJECT HOPE CREEK NPP
• 2009 Short Supply of Medical and Industrial Isotopes
• PSEG Nuclear, Global Nuclear Fuel and GE Hitachi partner in a pilot program to produce CO60 in commercial nuclear reactors
• Clinton Nuclear Station in Illinois and Hope Creek Nuclear Station in NJ are selected for the pilot
PILOT ISOTOPE GENERATION PROJECT HOPE CREEK NPP
• CO59 Target Rods loaded into the reactor core during the Fall 2010 refueling outage
• Pilot included removing targets after various intervals
• Test targets to be shipped to GE’s ‘Hot Cell’ in Vallecitos, CA for evaluation of efficiency for producing CO60
PILOT ISOTOPE GENERATION PROJECT HOPE CREEK NPP
• NJ Bureau of Nuclear Engineering Involvement
• Review and comment on proposes License Amendment request for the pilot project
• Evaluation of handling and shipping containers for the irradiated Cobalt targets
• Notification and tracking of shipments out of the state
M I D - A T L A N T I C M E E T I N G
2 0 1 4
BUREAU OF ENVIRONMENTAL RADIATION
CONTAMINATED SITES
• Town of Sayreville owns former National Lead site
• Contaminated with Ra, Th, U from titanium dioxide production (Dutch Boy paint)
• Large areas of contamination = high disposal cost
• Development plan would benefit Sayreville and NJ
• Developers had ceased cleanup operation because of high costs
PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT “THE LANDING AT THE POINT AT
SAYREVILLE”
REMEDIATION EXEMPTION REQUEST
• Sayreville applied to CORP for exemption from cleanup rule that prohibits mixing to meet remediation standards
• Staff prepared plan that included upper limits on mixing (30 pCi/g of Ra-226 and 20 pCi/g of Th-232)
• Staff supported request and presented to CORP
• CORP voted unanimously to approve exemption
• Revised Remedial Action Work Plans were submitted incorporating mixing to restricted use standards
• Work at the site is currently mobilizing
RADON – EXCHANGE NETWORK
• New Jersey was part of the EPA Radon Data Exchange Workgroup which developed a set of core data elements to promote radon data exchange
• DEP used the core data elements and added a New Jersey radon module to the EPA’s National Environmental Information Exchange Network to listen for data requests and to respond to data requests about radon
• Some of the outputs developed are available for reuse by other states that would like to implement their own module
• Information about the Radon Data Exchange is available at http://www.exchangenetwork.net
PREPARATION FOR SUPER BOWL XLVIII
• Super Bowl XLVIII was held this year at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
• Due to additional security measures, informational notices were sent to all NJ agreement licensees.
• Provided licensing information to NJSP, FBI and National Nuclear Security Administration Aerial Measuring System team
• Provided weekly reciprocity schedule to NJSP and FBI
• Participated in passenger screening operations at Secaucus Junction train station
SECAUCUS JUNCTION
SUPER BOWL XLVIII HEROES
M I D - A T L A N T I C M E E T I N G
2 0 1 4
BUREAU OF X-RAY COMPLIANCE
RECENT BXC ACTIVITIES
• Dental Cone Beam Computed Tomography
• New License Category for “Fusion Imaging”
• Dental D-speed Initiative
• Security X-ray Scanners in Prisions
I-CAT
Dental Cone Beam CT
DENTAL CONE BEAM CT
• Dental CBCT classified as CT equipment by FDA
• Presented two issues: • Restricts who can operate equipment. NJ Technologist Licensure
regulations prohibit dental technologists from operating CT and Fluoroscopic Equipment
• Subject to NJ Quality Assurance Regulations (NJAC 7:28-22)
• New Jersey Dental Association – submitted an exemption and received approval to permit Dental Technologists to operate certain CBCT units • Must document training
• Utilize protocols verified by a NJ certified physicist
• Demonstrate competency on five patients under the direct supervision of a physician, hygienist or previously trained dental technologist
DENTAL CBCT
• New Jersey Dental Association- Submitted a request for approval of an alternative QA program for all CBCT used in NJ
• Approved alternative QA program requires:
• Initial & Annual Medical Physicist Testing
• Purchase of a QC phantom and daily testing for CT Number for Water and Field Uniformity
• QA program must be implemented by June 30, 2014
QC TESTING FOR CBCT
NEW RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGIST
LICENSURE CATEGORY
• August 2013, Governor signed law – Creating a the first new licensure category since 1968:
“Fusion Imaging”
• Department must promulgate regulations within one year of the new law
• Permits a nuclear medicine technologists –that receives additional training to perform PET/CT and SPECT
• Under Current law two licensed individuals or one individual holding both and NMT and RT license needed to perform these procedures
DENTAL D-SPEED REDUCTION INITIATIVE
Dental Facilities account for 59% of registered x-ray machines(17,621 units) in New Jersey
Reduce patient radiation dose at dental facilities without new regulations and/or little/no costs
NEW INSPECTION PROTOCOL
Dentist Involvement- Ensured that dentist was present during the inspection
BXC Purchased F-speed film Created an Inspection Worksheet
Demonstrate dose savings and image quality using side-by-side comparison
RESULTS
606 Machines Inspected
Average reduction in patient radiation exposure is 204mR
15 % disposed of equipment
43% switched to faster imaging systems
42% Kept D-speed Film- However they reduced their ESE from greater than 325 mR to less than 265 mR
WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON?
• Use of Body Scanners in Prisons
Smiths
Detection