2.
‘
.
The protective clothing prescribed for Pu operations may
range from shoe covers and a surgical mask to a full compliment of shoe
covers, coveralls, gloves, head covers and facepieces with either filters
or air lines. Although it is proper to don adequate protective clothing,
there are numerous reasons for not overdressing.
For example,
full suiting
may be intorerable when worn for extended periods in the warm, humid
climate indigenous to Enewetak. The "protection" provided by the
clothes could in fact cause harm by leading to heat injuries.
Thus,
there is an incentive to wear just what is necessary and no more.
The
proper and minimum clothiag however, will only be determined after an
- evaluation of on-site conditions against permissible ccntamination
ie
e
epe
oe Behl
limits (See Enclosure 4).
.3. The local conditions will be determined by analysis of lowvolume (about 2 cubic feet per minute flow rate) air samplers operating
in the vicinity of each site which might have resuspendable Pu-contaminated
soil at concentrations exceeding 40 PCi/s. The air samplers will be similar
to the "Gelman Vacuum Pump Samplers" described in Reference 11 and used at
the Nevada Test Site. The air filters will be collected at the end of
each work day and counted by alpha proportional counting. If readings
indicate high air concentrations,
the filters will be collected on a more
frequent basis. A representative number_of air filters will be forwarded
to the USAF/MCL for more detailed radiochemical analysis.
4.
With perhaps the exception of certain areas on Runit (Yvonne),
no surface locations at Enwetak Atoll have a sufficiently high Pu concentration to pose a hazard to persons merely walking on them;
1.e., ordinary
"foot traffic" is assumed to not -reate any resuspension problems and
accordingly it requires no protective measures. Runit is currently
quarantined and any persons who walkthere are required to wearSurgical
masks and observe other radiological safety precautions.
The quarantine will
continuein
in
force, or be made more stringent as appropriate, untilRunit “is ~
certifiedasclean,
ot
og
oe
tm
5. Operations which are likely tostir up dust however, such as soil
excavation, loading and disposal, couldpose problems. Air sampling will be
done before and during these operations to establish appropriate protective
clothing requirements. Further, since any resuspended Pu might be spread
downwind from these operations, all personnel_inthe_immediate downwind area
will also wear appropriate protective clothing. Cotton swab nosesmears
will be“taken from each person workingnearr_resuspendiblePu-csontaminated
soil ateach time their protective clothingis removed, to check on the
adequateness of protective measures. These swabswill be analyzed in the
Radiological Laboratory by liquid scintillation counting.
~~
-I,
DECONTAMINATION
.
,
Fo TE
*
1. In addition to making the atoll safe for resettlement, an
objective of Cleanup is to prevent_contaminated. debris frombecoming available
on the world market, Since decontamination of contaminated debris is not a —
viable alternative, allsuchdebriswhich_is collected_will bedisposedof as
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.