Recommended Screening Limits for Contaminated Surface Soil and Review of Factors Relevant to Site-Specific Studies

NCRP Report №
129. NCPR, 1999. - 355 p.
The decision regarding the need to cleanup surface soil contaminated with radionuclides can be complicated. The use of this Report is intended to assist in this decision.
The primary purpose of this Report is to provide screening limits (in Bq kg-1) which can be applied to sites where the surface soil is determined to be contaminated with one or more radionuclides. These screening limits, which can be defined as a conservative method of relating an effective dose (E) limit for a critical group to a corresponding soil contamination level, can be used to allow reasonable judgments to be made regarding the need for possible (further) action based on present soil radionuclide levels. It is emphasized that the doses given in this Report are strictly for comparison with a limiting value to establish a screening level and do not represent estimates of doses to particular or typical individuals or threshold values for possible adverse effects. The calculated doses are deliberately designed to conservatively represent the maximum dose to any individual. Thus, these doses are inappropriate for use in calculating population exposures or to estimate health effects. The calculation of doses to actual individuals requires the use of site-specific and individual-specific parameters in the formulas used for the calculations.Recommended Screening Limits for Contaminated Soil
Recommended Screening Limits
Application of Screening Limits
Scientific Basic for Screening Limits
Dose from External Exposure
Dose Model
Discussion of Model Parameters
Summary of Parameter Values for Screening Calculations
Calculated Screening Doses
Dose from Inhaled Radionuclides
Introduction to the Resuspension-Migration Pathway
Resuspension and Dose Models
Discussion of Dose Model Parameters
Summary of Recommended Parameter Values for Inhalation Dose Estimation
Calculated Screening Inhalation Doses
Dose from Ingested Radionuclides
Dose Model
Discussion of Model Parameters
Direct Ingestion of Soil
Dependence of Committed Effective Dose on Age
Summary of Recommended Parameter Values for Screening (Ingestion Pathway)
Calculated Screening Doses
Determination of Radionuclide Concentration in Soil
Factors to Consider in the Design of Screening and Sampling Programs for Radionuclide Concentrations in Contaminated Soil
Instrumental Measurement Techniques
Soil Sampling
Air Sampling
Strategy of Determining Radionuclide Concentrations for Screening
Calculation of Screening Doses
Distribution of Individual Doses
"Maximum" Dose Estimates for Screening
Specific Dose Assessments
Appendix A. Calculated Screening Doses
Appendix B. Radionuclide Decay Data
Appendix C. Dose Factors, Shielding Factors
Appendix D. Transfer Factors