Virginia Law

Article 6
Surveys and Monitoring

A. Licensees shall make or cause to be made surveys of areas, including the subsurface, that:

1. Are necessary for the licensee to comply with this chapter; and

2. Are reasonable under the circumstances to evaluate:

a. The magnitude and extent of radiation levels;

b. The concentrations or quantities of radioactive material; and

c. The potential radiological hazards of the radiation levels and residual radioactivity detected.

B. Notwithstanding 12VAC5-481-1000 A, records from surveys describing the location and amount of subsurface residual radioactivity identified at the site shall be kept with records important for decommissioning, and such records shall be retained in accordance with 12VAC5-481-450 C 8.

C. Licensees shall ensure that the survey instruments used to show compliance with this chapter are calibrated before first use, annually (not to exceed 12 months), except when a more frequent interval is specified in another applicable part of this chapter or a license condition, and following a repair that affects the calibration. These calibrations shall include:

1. Use of a radiation source on all scales;

2. At energies appropriate for the use;

3. For linear scale instruments, at two points located approximately one-third and two-thirds of full-scale on each scale; for logarithmic scale instruments, at mid-range of each decade, and at two points of at least one decade; and for digital instruments, at three points between 2 and 1000 mrem (0.02 and 10 millisieverts) per hour;

4. For dose rate instruments, so that an accuracy within plus or minus 20% of the true radiation dose can be demonstrated at each point checked; and

5. Conspicuously note on the instrument the date of calibration.

D. Licensees may not use survey instruments if the difference between the indicated exposure rate and the calculated exposure rate is more than 20%.

E. All personnel dosimeters, except for direct and indirect reading pocket ionization chambers and those dosimeters used to measure the dose to the extremities, that require processing to determine the radiation dose and that are used by the licensee to comply with 12VAC5-481-640, with other applicable provisions of this chapter, or with conditions specified in a license shall be processed and evaluated by a dosimetry processor with the following:

1. Holding current personnel dosimetry accreditation from the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and

2. Approved in this accreditation process for the type of radiation or radiations included in the NVLAP program that most closely approximates the type of radiation or radiation for which the individual wearing the dosimeter is monitored.