Alabama Administrative Code › Title 420 - ALABAMA STATE BOARD OF HEALTH › Chapter 420-3-26 - RADIATION CONTROL › Section 420-3-26-.12 - Radiation Safety Requirements For Wireline Service Operations And Subsurface Tracer Studies

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1)
			 Purpose. This Rule establishes radiation safety requirements for persons using
			 sources of radiation for wireline service operations including mineral logging,
			 radioactive markers, uranium sinker bars, subsurface tracer studies, and
			 fishing operations. The requirements of this Rule are in addition to, and not
			 in substitution for, the requirements of Rules
			 420-3-26-.01,
			 420-3-26-.02,
			 420-3-26-.03,
			 420-3-26-.10, and
			 420-3-26-.13 of these
			 rules.
(2) Scope. This Rule applies
			 to all licensees or registrants who use sources of radiation for wireline
			 service operations including mineral logging, radioactive markers, uranium
			 sinker bars, or subsurface tracer studies. This Rule also applies during
			 fishing operations that are performed to recover lost or lodged radioactive
			 sources or devices from a well. This Rule does not apply to the use of
			 radioactive material in tracer studies involving multiple wells, such as field
			 flood studies, or to the use of sealed sources auxiliary to well-logging but
			 not lowered into wells.
(3)
			 Definitions. As used in this Rule, the following definitions apply:
(a) "Energy compensated source (ECS)" means a
			 small sealed source with an activity not exceeding 100 microcuries (3.7
			 megabecquerels), used within a logging tool or other tool components, to
			 provide a reference standard to maintain the tool's calibration when in
			 use.
(b) "Field station" means a
			 facility where radioactive sources may be stored or used and from which
			 equipment is dispatched to temporary job sites.
(c) "Fishing or fishing operations" means
			 those activities associated with the recovery from downhole of a well devices
			 or sources containing radioactive materials which has become lodged and/or
			 disconnected from the equipment normally connecting the source or device with
			 the surface.
(d) "Fresh water
			 aquifer", for the purpose of this rule, means a geological formation that is
			 capable of yielding fresh water to a well or spring.
(e) "Injection tool" means a device used for
			 controlled subsurface injection of radioactive tracer material.
(f) "Irretrievable well-logging source" means
			 any sealed source containing radioactive material that is pulled off or not
			 connected to the wireline that suspends the source in the well and for which
			 all reasonable effort at recovery has been expended.
(g) "Logging assistant" means any individual
			 who, under the personal supervision of a logging supervisor, handles sources of
			 radiation including sealed sources or tracers that are not in logging tools or
			 shipping containers or who performs surveys required by this rule.
(h) "Logging supervisor" means the individual
			 who provides personal supervision of the utilization of sources of radiation at
			 a temporary job site, and who is responsible to the licensee or registrant for
			 assuring compliance with the requirements of the Agency rules and the
			 conditions of the license or registration.
(i) "Logging tool" means a device used
			 subsurface to perform well-logging.
(j) "Mineral logging" means any logging
			 performed for the purpose of mineral exploration other than oil or
			 gas.
(k) "Personal supervision"
			 means guidance and instruction by the logging supervisor who is physically
			 present at a temporary job site and watching the performance of the operation
			 in such proximity that contact can be maintained and immediate assistance given
			 as required.
(l) "Radiation monitor
			 badge" means an individual personnel dosimeter used to measure the radiation
			 dose to the individual's whole body and is processed and evaluated by a
			 dosimetry processor meeting the requirements of
			 420-3-26-.03(17)(c)1.
			 and 2.
(m) "Radioactive marker"
			 means radioactive material placed subsurface or on a structure intended for
			 subsurface use for the purpose of depth determination or direction
			 orientation.
(n) "Safety review"
			 means a periodic review provided by the licensee or registrant for its
			 employees on radiation safety aspects of well-logging. The review may include,
			 as appropriate, the results of internal inspections, new procedures or
			 equipment, accidents of errors that have been observed, and opportunities for
			 employees to ask safety questions.
(o) "Source holder" means a housing or
			 assembly into which a radioactive source is placed for the purpose of
			 facilitating the handling and use of the source in well-logging
			 operations.
(p) "Subsurface tracer
			 study" means the release of unsealed radioactive material or a substance tagged
			 with radioactive material for the purpose of tracing the movement or position
			 of the radioactive material or tagged substance in the well-bore or adjacent
			 formation.
(q) "Surface casing for
			 protecting fresh water aquifers" means a pipe or tube used as a lining in a
			 well to isolate fresh water aquifers from the well.
(r) "Temporary job site" means a location to
			 which radioactive materials have been dispatched to perform wire-line service
			 operations or subsurface tracer studies.
(s) "Tritium neutron generator target source"
			 means a tritium source used within a neutron generator tube to produce neutrons
			 for use in well-logging applications.
(t) "Uranium sinker bar" means a weight
			 containing depleted uranium used to pull a logging tool down toward the bottom
			 of the well.
(u) "Well-bore" means
			 a drilled hole in which wireline service operations and subsurface tracer
			 studies are performed.
(v)
			 "Well-logging" means the lowering and raising of measuring devices or tools
			 which may contain sources of radiation into well-bores or cavities for the
			 purpose of obtaining information about the well and/or adjacent
			 formations.
(w) "Wireline" means a
			 cable containing one or more electrical conductors which is used to lower and
			 raise logging tools in the well-bore.
(x) "Wireline service operation" means any
			 evaluation or mechanical service which is performed in the well-bore using
			 devices on a wireline.