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10 CFR 835 establishes radiation protection standards, limits, and program requirements for protecting individuals from ionizing radiation resulting from the conduct of DOE activities. It is important to maintain the proper documentation to ensure that these standards and requirements are being met. An RCT plays a vital role in supporting these requirements through proper documentation.

In this lesson, we will cover counting room equipment in relation to types used, purpose for, radiation monitored, operational requirements, and specific limitations and characteristics. The RCT uses information from these counting instruments to identify and assess the hazards presented by contamination and airborne radioactivity and establish protective requirements for work performed in radiological areas.

Before the proper internal exposure control methods can be determined for personnel, an estimate of the airborne radioactivity concentration must be obtained. Airborne radioactivity measurements are necessary to ensure that the control measures are effective and continue to be effective. This lesson contains information about widely used air sampling equipment.

Contamination control is used to help minimize the potential for internal contamination. Portable contamination monitoring instruments are used to provide data for the contamination control program. An understanding of these instruments is important to ensure that data obtained is accurate and appropriate for the levels of contamination. This lesson contains information about widely used portable contamination instruments.

External exposure controls used to minimize the dose equivalent to personnel are based on the data taken with portable radiation survey instruments. An understanding of these instruments is important to ensure the data obtained is accurate and appropriate for the source of radiation. This lesson contains information about widely used portable radiation survey instruments.

In our work environment, one of the major concerns of radiological protection is the prevention of personnel contamination. When personnel contamination has been identified, it is the responsibility of RCTs to control or oversee the decontamination of the individual using the best method available.

State that most people have an attitude that "it can't happen here" and don't take incident response planning seriously. Explain that incidents do occur, and experience has shown that best response comes from workers who have prepared themselves with a plan for dealing with incidents. Relate to a car skidding on ice. If the driver has thought about corrective actions for skidding, he will be less likely to panic. State that no plan can give an exact solution to every problem, but that a step-by-step approach to responding to any problem can be used.

The basis behind the regulations governing the packaging and shipping of radioactive material is to keep radiation and radioactive material from affecting the environment during transportation and to keep the environment from affecting the integrity of the radioactive material.

This lesson presents instruction in Radiological Work Permits, various types of postings used in radiological areas, setting up radiological areas, access controls, and releasing of material from radiological areas. All of these are fundamental duties of RCTs.

Environmental monitoring plays a large role in the field of radiological control. Environmental monitoring is used to estimate human population doses, determine the impact a site has on the environment, monitor for unplanned releases as well as quantifying planned releases, and gives us data useful in determining pathway data.