Occupational Dose Limits

10 C.F.R. Part ..., Subpart C
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01

10 C.F.R. § 20.1201 Occupational dose limits for adults.

(a) The licensee shall control the occupational dose to individual adults, except for planned special exposures under § 20.1206, to the following dose limits. (1) An annual limit, which is the more limiting of— (i) The total effective dose equivalent being equal to 5 rems (0.05 Sv); or (ii) The sum of the deep-dose equivalent and the committed dose equivalent to any individual organ or tissue other than the lens of the eye being equal to 50 rems (0.5 Sv). (2) The annual limits to the lens of the eye, to the skin of the whole body, and to the skin of the extremities, which are: (i) A lens dose equivalent of 15 rems (0.15 Sv), and (ii) A shallow-dose equivalent of 50 rem (0.5 Sv) to the skin of the whole body or to the skin of any extremity. (b) Doses received in excess of the annual limits, including doses received during accidents, emergencies, and planned special exposures, must be subtracted from the limits for planned special exposures that the individual may receive during the current year (see § 20.1206(e)(1)) and during the individual's lifetime (see § 20.1206(e)(2)). (c) When the external exposure is determined by measurement with an external personal monitoring device, the deep-dose equivalent must be used in place of the effective dose equivalent, unless the effective dose equivalent is determined by a dosimetry method approved by the NRC. The assigned deep-dose equivalent must be for the part of the body receiving the highest exposure. The assigned shallow-dose equivalent must be the dose averaged over the contiguous 10 square centimeters of skin receiving the highest exposure. The deep-dose equivalent, lens-dose equivalent, and shallow-dose equivalent may be assessed from surveys or other radiation measurements for the purpose of demonstrating compliance with the occupational dose limits, if the individual monitoring device was not in the region of highest potential exposure, or the results of individual monitoring are unavailable. (d) Derived air concentration (DAC) and annual limit on intake (ALI) values are presented in table 1 of appendix B to part 20 and may be used to determine the individual's dose (see § 20.2106) and to demonstrate compliance with the occupational dose limits. (e) In addition to the annual dose limits, the licensee shall limit the soluble uranium intake by an individual to 10 milligrams in a week in consideration of chemical toxicity (see footnote 3 of appendix B to part 20). (f) The licensee shall reduce the dose that an individual may be allowed to receive in the current year by the amount of occupational dose received while employed by any other person (see § 20.2104(e)).

10 C.F.R. § 20.1202 Compliance with requirements for summation of external and internal doses.

(a) If the licensee is required to monitor under both §§ 20.1502 (a) and (b), the licensee shall demonstrate compliance with the dose limits by summing external and internal doses. If the licensee is required to monitor only under § 20.1502(a) or only under § 20.1502(b), then summation is not required to demonstrate compliance with the dose limits. The licensee may demonstrate compliance with the requirements for summation of external and internal doses by meeting one of the conditions specified in paragraph (b) of this section and the conditions in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section. (b) Intake by inhalation. If the only intake of radionuclides is by inhalation, the total effective dose equivalent limit is not exceeded if the sum of the deep-dose equivalent divided by the total effective dose equivalent limit, and one of the following, does not exceed unity: (1) The sum of the fractions of the inhalation ALI for each radionuclide, or (2) The total number of derived air concentration-hours (DAC-hours) for all radionuclides divided by 2,000, or (3) The sum of the calculated committed effective dose equivalents to all significantly irradiated 1 organs or tissues (T) calculated from bioassay data using appropriate biological models and expressed as a fraction of the annual limit. (c) Intake by oral ingestion. If the occupationally exposed individual also receives an intake of radionuclides by oral ingestion greater than 10 percent of the applicable oral ALI, the licensee shall account for this intake and include it in demonstrating compliance with the limits. (d) Intake through wounds or absorption through skin. The licensee shall evaluate and, to the extent practical, account for intakes through wounds or skin absorption.

10 C.F.R. § 20.1203 Determination of external dose from airborne radioactive material.

Licensees shall, when determining the dose from airborne radioactive material, include the contribution to the deep-dose equivalent, lens dose equivalent, and shallow-dose equivalent from external exposure to the radioactive cloud (see appendix B to part 20, footnotes 1 and 2).

10 C.F.R. § 20.1204 Determination of internal exposure.

(a) For purposes of assessing dose used to determine compliance with occupational dose equivalent limits, the licensee shall, when required under § 20.1502, take suitable and timely measurements of— (1) Concentrations of radioactive materials in air in work areas; or (2) Quantities of radionuclides in the body; or (3) Quantities of radionuclides excreted from the body; or (4) Combinations of these measurements. (b) Unless respiratory protective equipment is used, as provided in § 20.1703, or the assessment of intake is based on bioassays, the licensee shall assume that an individual inhales radioactive material at the airborne concentration in which the individual is present. (c) When specific information on the physical and biochemical properties of the radionuclides taken into the body or the behavior or the material in an individual is known, the licensee may— (1) Use that information to calculate the committed effective dose equivalent, and, if used, the licensee shall document that information in the individual's record; and (2) Upon prior approval of the Commission, adjust the DAC or ALI values to reflect the actual physical and chemical characteristics of airborne radioactive material (e.g., aerosol size distribution or density); and (3) Separately assess the contribution of fractional intakes of Class D, W, or Y compounds of a given radionuclide (see appendix B to part 20) to the committed effective dose equivalent. (d) If the licensee chooses to assess intakes of Class Y material using the measurements given in § 20.1204(a)(2) or (3), the licensee may delay the recording and reporting of the assessments for periods up to 7 months, unless otherwise required by §§ 20.2202 or 20.2203, in order to permit the licensee to make additional measurements basic to the assessments. (e) If the identity and concentration of each radionuclide in a mixture are known, the fraction of the DAC applicable to the mixture for use in calculating DAC-hours must be either— (1) The sum of the ratios of the concentration to the appropriate DAC value (e.g., D, W, Y) from appendix B to part 20 for each radio-nuclide in the mixture; or (2) The ratio of the total concentration for all radionuclides in the mixture to the most restrictive DAC value for any radionuclide in the mixture. (f) If the identity of each radionuclide in a mixture is known, but the concentration of one or more of the radionuclides in the mixture is not known, the DAC for the mixture must be the most restrictive DAC of any radionuclide in the mixture. (g) When a mixture of radionuclides in air exists, licensees may disregard certain radionuclides in the mixture if— (1) The licensee uses the total activity of the mixture in demonstrating compliance with the dose limits in § 20.1201 and in complying with the monitoring requirements in § 20.1502(b), and (2) The concentration of any radionuclide disregarded is less than 10 percent of its DAC, and (3) The sum of these percentages for all of the radionuclides disregarded in the mixture does not exceed 30 percent. (h)(1) In order to calculate the committed effective dose equivalent, the licensee may assume that the inhalation of one ALI, or an exposure of 2,000 DAC-hours, results in a committed effective dose equivalent of 5 rems (0.05 Sv) for radionuclides that have their ALIs or DACs based on the committed effective dose equivalent. (2) When the ALI (and the associated DAC) is determined by the nonstochastic organ dose limit of 50 rems (0.5 Sv), the intake of radionuclides that would result in a committed effective dose equivalent of 5 rems (0.05 Sv) (the stochastic ALI) is listed in parentheses in table 1 of appendix B to part 20. In this case, the licensee may, as a simplifying assumption, use the stochastic ALIs to determine committed effective dose equivalent. However, if the licensee uses the stochastic ALIs, the licensee must also demonstrate that the limit in § 20.1201(a)(1)(ii) is met.

10 C.F.R. § 20.1206 Planned special exposures.

A licensee may authorize an adult worker to receive doses in addition to and accounted for separately from the doses received under the limits specified in § 20.1201 provided that each of the following conditions is satisfied— (a) The licensee authorizes a planned special exposure only in an exceptional situation when alternatives that might avoid the dose estimated to result from the planned special exposure are unavailable or impractical. (b) The licensee (and employer if the employer is not the licensee) specifically authorizes the planned special exposure, in writing, before the exposure occurs. (c) Before a planned special exposure, the licensee ensures that the individuals involved are— (1) Informed of the purpose of the planned operation; (2) Informed of the estimated doses and associated potential risks and specific radiation levels or other conditions that might be involved in performing the task; and (3) Instructed in the measures to be taken to keep the dose ALARA considering other risks that may be present. (d) Prior to permitting an individual to participate in a planned special exposure, the licensee ascertains prior doses as required by § 20.2104(b) during the lifetime of the individual for each individual involved. (e) Subject to § 20.1201(b), the licensee does not authorize a planned special exposure that would cause an individual to receive a dose from all planned special exposures and all doses in excess of the limits to exceed— (1) The numerical values of any of the dose limits in § 20.1201(a) in any year; and (2) Five times the annual dose limits in § 20.1201(a) during the individual's lifetime. (f) The licensee maintains records of the conduct of a planned special exposure in accordance with § 20.2105 and submits a written report in accordance with § 20.2204. (g) The licensee records the best estimate of the dose resulting from the planned special exposure in the individual's record and informs the individual, in writing, of the dose within 30 days from the date of the planned special exposure. The dose from planned special exposures is not to be considered in controlling future occupational dose of the individual under § 20.1201(a) but is to be included in evaluations required by § 20.1206 (d) and (e).

10 C.F.R. § 20.1207 Occupational dose limits for minors.

The annual occupational dose limits for minors are 10 percent of the annual dose limits specified for adult workers in § 20.1201.

10 C.F.R. § 20.1208 Dose equivalent to an embryo/fetus.

(a) The licensee shall ensure that the dose equivalent to the embryo/fetus during the entire pregnancy, due to the occupational exposure of a declared pregnant woman, does not exceed 0.5 rem (5 mSv). (For recordkeeping requirements, see § 20.2106.) (b) The licensee shall make efforts to avoid substantial variation above a uniform monthly exposure rate to a declared pregnant woman so as to satisfy the limit in paragraph (a) of this section. (c) The dose equivalent to the embryo/fetus is the sum of— (1) The deep-dose equivalent to the declared pregnant woman; and (2) The dose equivalent to the embryo/fetus resulting from radionuclides in the embryo/fetus and radionuclides in the declared pregnant woman. (d) If the dose equivalent to the embryo/fetus is found to have exceeded 0.5 rem (5 mSv), or is within 0.05 rem (0.5 mSv) of this dose, by the time the woman declares the pregnancy to the licensee, the licensee shall be deemed to be in compliance with paragraph (a) of this section if the additional dose equivalent to the embryo/fetus does not exceed 0.05 rem (0.5 mSv) during the remainder of the pregnancy.

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