Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: d812c779-c17b-4eb3-9d66-b532cd68bd03
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Decommissioning Planning During Operations + HISTORY - HISTORY 12/2011 – DG-4014 , Proposed New Guide
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 4
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1115/ML111590642.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-4.22
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
NRC presumes that licensees’ current ALARA and health and safety programs are adequate to identify radioactivity requiring remediation to meet unrestricted use criteria. The DPR requires action only if there are fluids (gases or liquids), dispersible powders, aerosols, or nanoparticles in site processes, including hoods. 4. Affected licensees should review, and adjust if necessary, procedures and practices to ensure early identification of potential or actual radiological releases to the environment and take timely action to minimize the spread of radioactivity in accordance with the DPR. Section 20.1406(c) requires all licensees to minimize the introduction of radiological contamination into the environment. To do so, licensees should implement procedures and practices that minimize the occurrence of leaks and spills. It should also have procedures and practices that will identify leaks and spills throughout the facility soon after they occur. As part of the ALARA program, licensees should have procedures to minimize to the extent practicable the spread of leaks and spills that do occur, especially when the residual radioactivity could migrate to inaccessible areas and eventually to the subsurface. Licensees should review, and update if necessary, the actions to ensure a timely and effective response to unplanned releases of radiological material. 5. Licensees should periodically conduct surveys in accordance with 10 CFR 20.1501(a) to identify the horizontal and vertical extent of significant residual radioactivity throughout the site. As part of this identification effort, licensees may use results from a model that has been demonstrated to be DG-4014, Page 13 representative of the physical conditions of the site. Licensees do not need to conduct formal, comprehensive site characterization. The required surveys should include, but are not limited to, the following: a. building interiors, including in and around joints, drains, hoods, exhaust stacks, and other