CBz Radiological Response for Dummies - What's Acceptable Radiation Levels?

Do you still have one of these sitting in a box collecting dust?

I'm betting that like most firefighter's, hazmat and specifically radiological contamination is the last thing on your mind. You watched the events unfold in Japan that continue to cause problems, we just don't hear much about it anymore. Recent extreme weather causing significant flooding compounded by earthquakes didn't make things much better and the good news was that nothing radiologically significant happened requiring emergency responders to even think twice about dusting off their radiological detectors. But what if something does happen? Now what?

Obviously, training is needed for you to fully grasp the level of response needed and the equipment for mitigating the incident. The problem is that for many fire departments across the country, training and equipment purchases for this kind of incident isn't necessarily as high on the list as retaining firefighters, learning the basics of firefighting, EMS, USAR and on and on... We simply are overwhelmed by too much information.

So what can you do to be better prepared? You need to simply know what the normal background radiation levels are for your response area. That's it...

Of course now this brings up the questions as to how one determines what their normal background radiation is. Here are some suggested web links to give you this information:

EPA RadNet

The Environmental Protection Agency’s RadNet system is designed to detect radiation from accidents like the Fukushima disaster in Japan and from foreign nuclear tests. It displays a map of the United States with monitoring stations highlighted. Click on one for a graphic representation of its data.

But when the system is working, it collects data from more than 140 monitoring stations that sniff the air at three times the rate of normal human breathing. The stations collect particles on filters, analyze their radioactivity and transmit data hourly to EPA, where officials review the numbers and post the graphs online within two hours.

RadNet also issues a daily report, which almost always says, “EPA’s RadNet radiation air monitors across the U.S. show typical fluctuations in background radiation levels. The levels detected are far below levels of concern.”

Nevada Program

If there’s a benefit to having 928 nuclear explosions in your state, it might be having the nation’s greatest concentration of radiation monitoring stations.

A legacy of the Nevada Proving Grounds, Nevada’s radiation monitoring program was reinvigorated after Sept. 11. Operated by the Department of Energy and the Desert Research Institute, the Community Environmental Monitoring Program only covers Nevada and Utah, but it should be of interest to states downwind.

Click on a station for historical results. Click “most recent results” for more detail. While you’re at it you can learn air temperature, soil temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, wind direction, and more.

The government depends on volunteers—many of them high-school science teachers—to visit its radiation monitoring stations, collect air filters, and bring them in for testing. Thanks to them, Nevadans can keep close watch—with some delay—on radiation levels in the air they breathe.

Radiation Network (map above) Non-Government Related Monitoring Sites

“a nationwide grass roots effort to monitor the radiation in our environment.”

The network collects data from private citizens nationwide who keep their geiger-counters running, with data uploading automatically to the website in real time. The site recently added citizen monitors in Europe and Japan.

The Radiation Network’s map also displays potential sources of radiation across the U.S., including nuclear power plants, testing sites, waste collection facilities, etc.

Here's the most recent guidelines below from the U.S. Department of Health Services, Radiation Emergency Medical Treatment Guidelines:

Less than 2 times background radiation as target for acceptable level of residual contamination after decontamination procedures

In a large mass casualty setting with scarce resources and many victims, the target for acceptable levels of residual external contamination may need to be revised upward (from <2 times background) by authorized response leaders^1, 2
Acceptable levels of residual external contamination: origin of the target levels for decontamination
- Originally specified in a key 1992 EPA document as <2 times existing background levels³
- Newer guidance documents recommend considering a value of counts per minute (CPM) over background, taking into account several factors including^1, 2, 4
  - The number of people who need to be surveyed
  - The type and settings of the survey equipment used
  - The type of contamination identified (alpha, beta, gamma)
Guidance from HPA is particularly helpful for evaluating and triaging after inhalation of radionuclides.⁵
Guidance from NCRP is also useful in managing contaminated patients.^6, 7