## Appendix G.3 - Prenatal Exposure

########## Regulatory Guide 8.13

(Draft was issued as DG-8014)

########## Revision 3 JUNE 1999

- 7. INTRODUCTION

TheCodeofFederalRegulationsin10CFRPart19, 'Notices , InstructionsandReportstoWorkers: Inspection and Investigations, ' in Section 19.12, 'Instruction s to Workers, ' requires instruction in 'th e health protection problems associated with exposure to radiation and/or radioactive material, in precautions or procedures to minimize exposure, and in the purposes and functions of protective devices employed. ' The instructions must be 'commensurat e with potential radiological health protection problems present in the work place.'

########## The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) regulations on radiation protection are specified in

10 CFR Part 20, 'Standard s for Protection Against Radiation' ; and 10 CFR 20.1208, 'Dos e to an Embryo/Fetus, ' requires licensees to 'ensur e that the dose to an embryo/fetus during the entire pregnancy, due to occupational exposure of a declared pregnant woman, does not exceed 0.5 rem (5 mSv). ' Section 20.1208 also requires licensees to 'mak e efforts to avoid substantial variation above a uniform monthly exposure rate toa declared pregnant woman. ' A declared pregnant woman is defined in 10 CFR 20.1003 as a womanwhohas voluntarily informed her employer, in writing, of her pregnancy and the estimated date of conception. This regulatory guide is intended to provide information to pregnant women, and other personnel, to help them make decisions regarding radiation exposure during pregnancy. This Regulatory Guide 8.13 supplements RegulatoryGuide8.29, 'Instructio nConcerningRisksfromOccupationalRadiationExposure ' (Ref. 1), which contains a broad discussion of the risks from exposure to ionizing radiation. OthersectionsoftheNRC'sregulationsalsospecifyrequirementsformonitoringexternalandinternaloccupational dose to a declared pregnant woman. In 10 CFR 20.1502, 'Condition s Requiring Individual Monitoringof External andInternalOccupational Dose, ' licensees are required tomonitortheoccupationaldoseto a declared pregnant woman, using an individual monitoring device, if it is likely that the declared pregnant woman will receive, from external sources, a deep dose equivalent in excess of 0.1 rem (1 mSv). According toParagraph (e) of 10 CFR 20.2106, 'Record s of Individual Monitoring Results, ' the licensee must maintain records of dose to anembryo/fetus if monitoring wasrequired, and the records of dose to the embryo/fetus must be kept with the records of dose to the declared pregnant woman. The declaration of pregnancy must be kept on file, but may be maintained separately from the dose records. The licensee must retain the required form or record until the Commission terminates each pertinent license requiring the record.

The information collections in this regulatory guide are coveredbytherequirements of 10CFRParts19 or 20, which were approved by the Office of Management and Budget, approval numbers 3150-0044 and 3150-0014, respectively. The NRC may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMBcontrol number.

########## 8. DISCUSSION

AsdiscussedinRegulatoryGuide8.29(Ref.1),exposuretoanylevelofradiationisassumedtocarry with it a certain amount of risk. In theabsence of scientific certainty regarding the relationship betweenlowdoseexposure and health effects, and as a conservative assumption for radiation protection purposes, the scientific community generally assumesthatany exposuretoionizing radiation maycauseundesirablebiological effects andthat the likelihood of these effects increases as the dose increases. At the occupational dose limit for the whole body of 5 rem (50 mSv) per year, the risk is believed to