General approach to assure compliance with ALARA guidelines on direct radiation from a nuclear power plant, January 1979-January 1982

Nuclear Regulatory Commission guide lines specify 10 mrad per reactor as the total yearly direct (gamma) radiation dose at any point external to a nuclear power facility site boundary. Typically a nuclear utility submits only thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD) data unaccompanied by corresponding core sample, ion chamber or other data or analyses to demonstrate compliance. This study considers a standard approach for analyzing the TLD data in terms of semiempirical physical constructs which allow the use of correlations among certain preoperational TLD data to predict or model operational period TLD measures (expected values) in the absence of the source (nuclear facility). These apriori models depend only upon their fit to the observed nonimpacted data for their verification. They are not veridical. The models are used to analyze a CaSO/sub 4/ (TM) thermoluminescence dosimetry system set up in a matrix about the nuclear plant and which records the terrestrial and cosmic radiation background as well as the nuclear plant contribution.