Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: a5cfec96-8785-464b-ada8-dc4424b90606
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Quality Assurance for Radiological Monitoring Programs
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 4
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0630/ML063060429.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-4.15
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
; Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4; Supplements to Parts 1, 2 & 3; Index (supersedes ICRP 2). DG-4010, Page 17 REGULATORY ANALYSIS 1. Statement of the Problem The Energy Policy Act of 20058 provides for enforceable, mandatory reliability standards and encourages more nuclear production by authorizing the U.S. Department of Energy to develop accelerated programs for the production and supply of electricity. As part of this program, and in anticipation of license applications for new nuclear power plants, the NRC is reviewing and updating (when appropriate) its guidance for licensees. The NRC initially issued Regulatory Guide 4.15 in December 1977 and released Revision 1 in February 1979. The primary purpose and focus of the original document was to provide guidance to licensees on specific quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) measures needed for environmental monitoring and sampling. Since then, significant improvements have been made in radioanalytical measurement and sampling methodologies. Various Federal, State, industry, and professional organizations have developed standards and practices that provide guidance and contemporary expectations for QA for radioactive effluent and environmental measurements. The most significant of these advances were published in 2004 by an interagency consortium as the “Multi-Agency Radiological Laboratory Analytical Protocols Manual” (MARLAP). Similarly, national organizations have promulgated industry standards and recommendations for quality systems (ANSI/ASQC E4-1994) and radioanalytical QA and QC (ANSI N42.23-2003); this revision draws heavily from all three documents.9 It is also necessary to update the guide to reflect changes in NRC regulations. The agency completed a major revision of 10 CFR Part 20 in 1991, with changes in radiation protection standards (for example, the NRC revised 10 CFR Part 20 in part based on recommendations and models described by the International Commission for Radiological Protection in ICRP