Section 680. Determination of prior occupational dose

A. For each individual who may enter the licensee's or registrant's restricted area and is likely to receive, in a year, an occupational dose requiring monitoring pursuant to 12VAC5-481-760, the licensee or registrant shall determine the occupational radiation dose received during the current year.

B. Prior to permitting an individual to participate in a planned special exposure, the licensee or registrant shall determine:

1. The internal and external doses from all previous planned special exposures; and

2. All doses in excess of the limits, including doses received during accidents and emergencies, received during the lifetime of the individual.

C. In complying with the requirements of subsection A or B of this section, a licensee or registrant may:

1. Accept, as a record of the occupational dose that the individual received during the current year, a written signed statement from the individual, or from the individual's most recent employer for work involving radiation exposure, that discloses the nature and the amount of any occupational dose that the individual received during the current year;

2. Accept, as the record of lifetime cumulative radiation dose, an up-to-date occupational radiation exposure form provided by the agency or equivalent, signed by the individual and countersigned by an appropriate official of the most recent employer for work involving radiation exposure, or the individual's current employer, if the individual is not employed by the licensee or registrant; and

3. Obtain reports of the individual's dose equivalent from the most recent employer for work involving radiation exposure, or the individual's current employer, if the individual is not employed by the licensee or registrant, by telephone, telegram, facsimile, or letter. The licensee or registrant shall request a written verification of the dose data if the authenticity of the transmitted report cannot be established.

D. Do the following:

1. The licensee or registrant shall record the exposure history, as required by this section on an occupational radiation exposure form provided by the agency, or other clear and legible record, of all the information required on that form. The form or record shall show each period in which the individual received occupational exposure to radiation or radioactive material and shall be signed by the individual who received the exposure. For each period for which the licensee or registrant obtains reports, the licensee or registrant shall use the dose shown in the report in preparing the occupational radiation exposure form provided by the agency or equivalent. For any period in which the licensee or registrant does not obtain a report, the licensee or registrant shall place a notation on the occupational radiation exposure form provided by the agency or equivalent indicating the periods of time for which data are not available.

2. Licensees or registrants are not required to partition historical dose between external dose equivalent(s) and internal committed dose equivalent(s). Further, occupational exposure histories obtained and recorded on the occupational radiation exposure form provided by the agency or equivalent before September 20, 2006, might not have included effective dose equivalent, but may be used in the absence of specific information on the intake of radionuclides by the individual.

E. If the licensee or registrant is unable to obtain a complete record of an individual's current and previously accumulated occupational dose, the licensee or registrant shall assume:

1. In establishing administrative controls pursuant to 12VAC5-481-640 for the current year, that the allowable dose limit for the individual is reduced by 12.5 mSv (1.25 rem) for each quarter for which records were unavailable and the individual was engaged in activities that could have resulted in occupational radiation exposure; and

2. That the individual is not available for planned special exposures.

F. The licensee or registrant shall retain the records on an occupational radiation exposure form provided by the agency or equivalent until the agency terminates each pertinent license or registration requiring this record. The licensee or registrant shall retain records used in preparing the occupational radiation exposure form provided by the agency or equivalent for three years after the record is made.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 22, Issue 25, eff. September 20, 2006; amended, Virginia Register Volume 24, Issue 18, eff. June 12, 2008.

Statutory Authority

§ 32.1-229 of the Code of Virginia.