Section 0400-20-05-.32 - DEFINITIONS(1) "Absorbed dose" means the energy imparted by ionizing radiation per unit mass of irradiated material. The units of absorbed dose are the rad and the gray (Gy).(2) "Act" means the Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, Chapter 202, as amended.(3) "Activity" is the rate of disintegration (transformation) or decay of radioactive material. The units of activity are the curie (Ci) and the becquerel (Bq).(4) "Adult" means an individual 18 or more years of age.(5) "Airborne radioactive material" means radioactive material dispersed in the air in the form of dusts, fumes, particulates, mists, vapors or gases.(6) "Airborne radioactivity area" means a room, enclosure, or area in which airborne radioactive materials, composed wholly or partly of licensed material, exist in concentrations: (a) In excess of the derived air concentrations (DACs) specified in Schedule RHS 8-30; or(b) To such a degree that an individual present in the area without respiratory protective equipment could exceed, during the hours an individual is present in a week, an intake of 0.6 percent of the annual limit on intake (ALI) or 12 DAC-hours.(7) "Air-purifying respirator" means a respirator with an air-purifying filter, cartridge or canister that removes specific air contaminants by passing ambient air through the air-purifying element.(8) "ALARA" (acronym for "as low as is reasonably achievable") means making every reasonable effort to maintain exposures to radiation as far below the dose limits in these standards as is practical consistent with the purpose for which the activity is undertaken and taking into account:(a) The state of technology;(b) The economics of improvements in relation to:1. The state of technology;2. Benefits to public health and safety, and other societal and socioeconomic considerations; and3. Utilization of radiation and radioactive materials in the public interest.(9) "Annual limit on intake" (ALI) means the derived limit for the amount of radioactive material taken into the body of an adult worker by inhalation or ingestion in a year. ALI is the smaller value of intake of a given radionuclide in a year by the reference man that would result in a committed effective dose equivalent of 5 rems (0.05 Sv) or a committed dose equivalent of 50 rems (0.5 Sv) to any individual organ or tissue. ALI values for intake by ingestion and by inhalation of selected radionuclides are given in Schedule RHS 8-30.(10) "Assigned protection factor" (APF) means the expected workplace level of respiratory protection that would be provided by a properly functioning respirator or a class of respirators to properly fitted and trained users. Operationally, the inhaled concentration can be estimated by dividing the ambient airborne concentration by the APF.(11) "Atmosphere-supplying respirator" means a respirator that supplies the respirator user with breathing air from a source independent of the ambient atmosphere, and includes supplied-air respirators (SARs) and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) units.(12) "Background radiation" means radiation from cosmic sources; naturally occurring radioactive material, including radon (except as a decay product of source or special nuclear material), and global fallout as it exists in the environment from the testing of nuclear explosive devices or from past nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl that contribute to background radiation and are not under the control of the licensee. "Background radiation" does not include radiation from sources of radiation subject to licensing or registering by the Division.(13) "Bioassay" ("radiobioassay") means the determination of kinds, quantities or concentrations, and, in some cases, the locations of radioactive material in the human body, whether by direct measurement (in vivo counting) or by analysis and evaluation of materials excreted or removed from the human body.(14) "Byproduct material" means: (a) Any radioactive material (except special nuclear material) yielded in or made radioactive by exposure to the radiation incident to the process of producing or utilizing special nuclear material;(b) The tailings or wastes produced by the extraction or concentration of uranium or thorium from ore processed primarily for its source material content, including discrete surface wastes resulting from uranium solution extraction processes. Underground ore bodies depleted by these solution extraction operations do not constitute "byproduct material" within this definition;(c)1. Any discrete source of radium-226 that is produced, extracted, or converted after extraction for use for a commercial, medical, or research activity; or2. Any material that- (i) Has been made radioactive by use of a particle accelerator; and(ii) Is produced, extracted, or converted after extraction for use for a commercial, medical, or research activity; and(d) Any discrete source of naturally occurring radioactive material, other than source material, that- 1. The Commission, in consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the head of any other appropriate Federal agency, determines would pose a threat similar to the threat posed by a discrete source of radium-226 to the public health and safety or the common defense and security; and2. Is extracted or converted after extraction for use in a commercial, medical, or research activity.(15) "Class" (or "lung class" or "inhalation class") means a classification scheme for inhaled material according to its rate of clearance from the pulmonary region of the lung. Materials are classified as D, W, or Y, which applies to a range of clearance half-times: for Class D (Days) of less than 10 days, for Class W (Weeks) from 10 to 100 days, and for Class Y (Years) of greater than 100 days.(16) "Collective dose" is the sum of the individual doses received in a given period of time by a specific population from exposure to a specific source of radiation.(17) "Committed dose equivalent" (CDE) (Ht,50) is the dose equivalent to organs or tissues of reference (T) that will be received from an intake of radioactive material by an individual during the 50 year period following the intake.(18) "Committed effective dose equivalent" (CEDE) (He 50) is the sum of the products of the weighting factors applicable to each of the body organs or tissues that are irradiated and the committed dose equivalent to these organs or tissues (He50=(SWTHt50).(19) "Constraint" (or "dose constraint") means a value above which specified licensee actions are required.(20) "Declared pregnant woman" means a woman who has voluntarily informed her employer, in writing, of her pregnancy and the estimated date of conception. The declaration remains in effect until the declared pregnant woman withdraws the declaration in writing or is no longer pregnant.(21) "Deep-dose equivalent" (DDE) (Hd), which applies to external whole-body exposure, is the dose equivalent at a tissue depth of 1 cm (1000 mg/cm2).(22) "Demand respirator" means an atmosphere-supplying respirator that admits breathing air to the facepiece only when a negative pressure is created inside the facepiece by inhalation.(23) "Department" refers to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.(24) "Derived air concentration" (DAC) means the concentration of a given radionuclide in air which, if breathed by the reference man for a working year of 2,000 hours under conditions of light work (inhalation rate 1.2 cubic meters of air per hour), results in an intake of one ALI. DAC values are given in Schedule RHS 8-30.(25) "Derived air concentration-hour" (DAC-hour) is the product of the concentration of radioactive material in air (expressed as a fraction or multiple of the derived air concentration for each radionuclide) and the time of exposure to that radionuclide, in hours. A licensee may take 2,000 DAC-hours to represent one ALI, equivalent to a committed effective dose equivalent of 5 rems (0.05 Sv).(26) "Disposable respirator" means a respirator for which maintenance is not intended and that is designed to be discarded after excessive breathing resistance, sorbent exhaustion, physical damage, or end-of-service-life renders it unsuitable for use. Examples of this type of respirator are a disposable half-mask respirator or a disposable escape-only self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).(27) "Division" means the Division of Radiological Health of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.(28) "Dose or radiation dose" is a generic term that means absorbed dose, dose equivalent, effective dose equivalent, committed dose equivalent, committed effective dose equivalent, or total effective dose equivalent, as defined in other paragraphs of this rule.(29) "Dose equivalent" (Ht) means the product of the absorbed dose in tissue, the quality factor, and all other necessary modifying factors at the location of interest. The units of dose equivalent are the rem and sievert (Sv).(30) "Dosimetry processor" means an individual or an organization that processes and evaluates individual monitoring equipment in order to determine the radiation dose delivered to the equipment (SHe,50=(WtHt,50).(31) "Effective dose equivalent" (EDE) (He) is the sum of the products of the dose equivalent to the organ or tissue (Ht) and the weighting factors (Wt) applicable to each of the body organs or tissues that are irradiated (He=(SWtHt).(32) "Embryo/fetus" means the developing human organism from conception until the time of birth.(33) "Entrance or access point" means any location through which an individual could gain access to radiation areas or to sources of radiation. This includes entry or exit portals of sufficient size to permit human entry, irrespective of their intended use.(34) "Exposure" means being exposed to ionizing radiation or to radioactive material.(35) "External dose" means that portion of the dose equivalent received from sources of radiation outside the body.(36) "Extremity" means hand, elbow, arm below the elbow, foot, knee, or leg below the knee.(37) "Filtering facepiece" ('dust mask') means a negative pressure particulate respirator with a filter as an integral part of the facepiece or with the entire facepiece composed of the filtering medium, not equipped with elastomeric sealing surfaces and adjustable straps.(38) "Fit factor" means a quantitative estimate of the fit of a particular respirator to a specific individual, and typically estimates the ratio of the concentration of a substance in ambient air to its concentration inside the respirator when worn.(39) "Fit test" means the use of a protocol to evaluate qualitatively or quantitatively the fit of a respirator on an individual.(40) "Generally applicable environmental radiation standards" means standards issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the authority of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, that impose limits on radiation exposures or levels, or concentrations or quantities of radioactive material, in the general environment outside the boundaries of locations under the control of persons possessing or using sources of radiation.(41) "Government agency" means any executive department, commission, independent establishment, corporation wholly or partly owned by the United States of America, which is an instrumentality of the United States, or any board, bureau, division, service, office, officer, authority, administration, or other establishment in the executive branch of the Government.(42) "Gray" (See subparagraph (1)(a) of Rule 0400-20-05-.33) .(43) "Helmet" means a rigid respiratory inlet covering that also provides head protection against impact and penetration.(44) "High radiation area" means an area, accessible to individuals, in which radiation levels from radiation sources external to the body could result in an individual receiving a dose equivalent in excess of 0.1 rem (1 mSv) in 1 hour at 30 centimeters from the source of radiation or from any surface that the radiation penetrates.(45) "Hood" means a respiratory inlet covering that completely covers the head and neck and may also cover portions of the shoulders and torso.(46) "Individual" means any human being.(47) "Individual monitoring" means:(a) The assessment of dose equivalent by the use of devices designed to be worn by an individual;(b) The assessment of committed effective dose equivalent by bioassay (see Bioassay) or by determination of the time-weighted air concentrations to which an individual has been exposed, i.e., DAC-hours; or(c) The assessment of dose equivalent by the use of survey data.(48) "Individual monitoring devices" ("individual monitoring equipment") means devices designed to be worn by a single individual for the assessment of dose equivalent, such as film badges, thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLDs), pocket ionization chambers, and personal ("lapel") air sampling devices.(49) "Internal dose" means that portion of the dose equivalent received from radioactive material taken into the body.(50) "Lens dose equivalent" applies to the external exposure of the lens of the eye and is taken as the dose equivalent at a tissue depth of 0.3 centimeter (300 mg/cm2).(51) "License" means a license issued under the regulations in Chapter 0400-20-10.(52) "Licensed material" means radioactive material received, possessed, used, transferred or disposed of under a general or specific license issued by the Division.(53) "Licensee" means the holder of a license.(54) "Limits" ("dose limits") means the permissible upper bounds of radiation doses.(55) "Loose-fitting facepiece" means a respiratory inlet covering that is designed to form a partial seal with the face.(56) "Lost" or "missing radioactive material" means radioactive material whose location is unknown. It includes material that has been shipped but has not reached its destination and whose location cannot be readily traced in the transportation system.(57) "Member of the public" means any individual except when that individual is receiving an occupational dose.(58) "Minor" means an individual less than 18 years of age.(59) "Misadministration" means an event that meets the criteria in Rule 0400-20-05-.145.(60) "Monitoring" ("radiation monitoring", "radiation protection monitoring") means the measurement of radiation levels, concentrations, surface area concentrations or quantities of radioactive material and the use of the results of these measurements to evaluate potential exposures and doses.(61) "Nationally tracked sources" means a sealed source containing a quantity equal to or greater than Category 1 or Category 2 levels of any radioactive material listed in Rule 0400-20-05-.164. In this context a sealed source is defined as radioactive material that is sealed in a capsule or closely bonded, in a solid form and which is not exempt from regulatory control. It does not mean material encapsulated solely for disposal or nuclear material contained in any fuel assembly, subassembly, fuel rod, or fuel pellet. Category 1 nationally tracked sources are those containing radioactive material at a quantity equal to or greater than the Category 1 threshold. Category 2 nationally tracked sources are those containing radioactive material at a quantity equal to or greater than the Category 2 threshold but less than the Category 1 threshold.(62) "Negative pressure respirator" ("tight fitting") means a respirator in which the air pressure inside the facepiece is negative during inhalation with respect to the ambient air pressure outside the respirator.(63) "Nonstochastic effect" means health effects, the severity of which varies with the dose and for which a threshold is believed to exist. Radiation-induced cataract formation is an example of a nonstochastic effect (also called a deterministic effect).(64) "NRC" means the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or its duly authorized representatives.(65) "Occupational dose" means the dose received by an individual in the course of employment in which the individual's assigned duties involve exposure to radiation or to radioactive material from registered, unregistered, licensed and unlicensed sources of radiation, whether in the possession of the licensee, registrant or other person. Occupational dose does not include dose received from background radiation, from any medical administration the individual has received, from exposure to individuals administered radioactive material and released in accordance with Rule 0400-20-07-.35, from voluntary participation in medical research programs, or as a member of the public.(66) "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation (including a government corporation), partnership, association, state, municipality, commission, political subdivision of a state, any interstate body, any governmental agency of this state and any department, agency or instrumentality of the federal government.(67) "Planned special exposure" (PSE) means an infrequent exposure to radiation, separate from and in addition to the annual dose limits.(68) "Positive pressure respirator" means a respirator in which the pressure inside the respiratory inlet covering exceeds the ambient air pressure outside the respirator.(69) "Powered air-purifying respirator" (PAPR) means an air-purifying respirator that uses a blower to force the ambient air through air-purifying elements to the inlet covering.(70) "Pressure demand respirator" means a positive pressure atmosphere-supplying respirator that admits breathing air to the facepiece when the positive pressure is reduced inside the facepiece by inhalation.(71) "Public dose" means the dose received by a member of the public from exposure to radiation or to radioactive material released by a licensee, or to any other source of radiation under the control of a licensee or registrant. Public Dose does not include occupational dose or doses received from background radiation, from any medical administration the individual has received, from exposure to individuals administered radioactive material and released in accordance with Rule 0400-20-07-.35, or from voluntary participation in medical research programs.(72) "Qualitative fit test" (QLFT) means a pass/fail fit test to assess the adequacy of respirator fit that relies on the individual's response to the test agent.(73) "Quality factor" (Q) means the modifying factor (see Tables RHS 5-1 and RHS 5-2) that is used to derive dose equivalent from absorbed dose.(74) "Quantitative fit test" (QNFT) means an assessment of the adequacy of respirator fit by numerically measuring the amount of leakage into the respirator.(75) "Quarter" means a period of time equal to one-fourth of the year observed by the licensee or registrant (approximately 13 consecutive weeks), providing that the beginning of the first quarter in a year coincides with the starting date of the year and that no day is omitted or duplicated in consecutive quarters.(76) "Rad" (See Rule 0400-20-05-.33(1)(b) ) .(77) "Radiation" includes all ionizing electromagnetic waves and corpuscular emissions such as, but not necessarily limited to, gamma rays and x-rays, alpha and beta particles, electrons, neutrons, and protons, and other nuclear particles, but not radio waves or visible, infrared, or ultraviolet light.(78) "Radiation area" means an area, accessible to individuals, in which radiation levels could result in an individual receiving a dose equivalent in excess of 0.005 rem (0.05 mSv) in 1 hour at 30 centimeters from the source of radiation or from any surface that the radiation penetrates.(79) "Reference man" means a hypothetical aggregation of human physical and physiological characteristics arrived at by the Division after considering among others data and information published by the International Commission on Radiation Protection and the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.(80) "Rem" (See Rule 0400-20-05-.33(1)(c) ) .(81) "Respiratory protective device" means an apparatus, such as a respirator, used to reduce the individual's intake of airborne radioactive materials.(82) "Restricted area" means an area, access to which is limited by the licensee or registrant for the purpose of protecting individuals against undue risks from exposure to radiation and radioactive materials. Restricted area does not include areas used as residential quarters, but separate rooms in a residential building may be set apart as a restricted area.(83) "Sanitary sewerage" means a system of public sewers for carrying off waste water and refuse, but excluding sewage treatment facilities, septic tanks, and leach fields owned or operated by the licensee.(84) "Self-contained breathing apparatus" (SCBA) means an atmosphere-supplying respirator for which the breathing air source is designed to be carried by the user.(85) "Shallow-dose equivalent (Hs)", which applies to the external exposure of the skin of the whole body or the skin of an extremity, is taken as the dose equivalent at a tissue depth of 0.007 centimeter (7 mg/cm2).(86) "Sievert" (See Rule 0400-20-05-.33(1)(d) ) .(87) "Site boundary" means that line beyond which the land or property is not owned, leased or otherwise controlled by the licensee or registrant.(88) "Source material" refers to: (a) Uranium or thorium, or any combination thereof, in any physical or chemical form; or(b) Ores which contain by weight, one-twentieth of one percent (0.05%) or more of: uranium, thorium or any combinations thereof. Source material does not include special nuclear material.(89) "Stochastic effects" means health effects that occur randomly and for which the probability of the effect occurring, rather than its severity, is assumed to be a linear function of dose without threshold. Hereditary effects and cancer incidence are examples of stochastic effects.(90) "Supplied-air respirator" (SAR) or "airline respirator" means an atmosphere-supplying respirator for which the source of breathing air is not designed to be carried by the user.(91) "Survey" means an evaluation of the radiological conditions and potential hazards incident to the production, use, transfer, release, disposal, or presence of radioactive material or other sources of radiation. When appropriate, such an evaluation includes a physical survey of the location of a source of radiation and measurements or calculations of levels of radiation or concentrations or quantities of radioactive material present.(92) "Tight-fitting facepiece" means a respiratory inlet covering that forms a complete seal with the face.(93) "Total effective dose equivalent" (TEDE) means the sum of the effective dose equivalent (for external exposures) and the committed effective dose equivalent (for internal exposures).(94) "Unrestricted area" means an area, access to which is neither limited nor controlled by the licensee or registrant.(95) "User seal check" ("fit check") means an action conducted by the respirator user to determine if the respirator is properly seated to the face. Examples include negative pressure check, positive pressure check, irritant smoke check or isoamyl acetate check.(96) "Very high radiation area" means an area accessible to individuals in which radiation levels from radiation sources external to the body could result in an individual receiving an absorbed dose in excess of 500 rads (5 grays) in 1 hour at 1 meter from a source of radiation or 1 meter from any surface that the radiation penetrates. (Note: At very high doses received at high dose rates, units of absorbed dose (e.g., rads and grays) are appropriate, rather than units of dose equivalent (e.g., rems and sieverts)).
(97) "Week" means 7 consecutive days starting on Sunday.(98) "Weighting factor (WT), for an organ or tissue (T)" is the proportion of the risk of stochastic effects resulting from irradiation of the organ or tissue to the total risk of stochastic effects when the whole body is irradiated uniformly. For calculating the effective dose equivalent, the values of WT are: ORGAN DOSE WEIGHTING FACTORS
| Organ or Tissue | WT |
| Gonads Breasts | 0.25 0.15 |
| Red Bone Marrow | 0.12 |
| Lung | 0.12 |
| Thyroid | 0.03 |
| Bone Surfaces | 0.03 |
| Remainder | 10.30 |
| Whole Body | 21.00 |
1 0.30 results from 0.06 for each of 5 "remainder" organs (excluding the skin and the lens of the eye) that receive the highest doses.
2 For the purpose of weighting the external whole body dose (for adding it to the internal dose), a single weighting factor, WT=1.0, has been specified. The use of other weighting factors for external exposure will be approved on a case-by-case basis until such time as specific guidance is issued.
(99) "Whole body" means, for purposes of external exposure, head, trunk (including male gonads), arms above the elbow, or legs above the knee.(100) "Working level" (WL) is any combination of short-lived radon daughters (for radon-222: polonium-218, lead-214, bismuth-214, and polonium-214; and for radon-220: polonium-216, lead-212, bismuth-212, and polonium-212) in 1 liter of air that will result in the ultimate emission of 1.3 x 105 MeV of potential alpha particle energy.(101) "Working level month" (WLM) means an exposure to 1 working level for 170 hours (2,000 working hours per year/12 months per year=approximately 170 hours per month).(102) "Year" means the period of time beginning in January used to determine compliance with the provisions of these standards. The licensee or registrant may change the starting date of the year used to determine compliance by the licensee or registrant provided that the change is made at the beginning of the year and that no day is omitted or duplicated in consecutive years.Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0400-20-05-.32
Original rule filed February 22, 2012; effective May 22, 2012.Authority: T.C.A. §§ 68-202-201 et seq., and 4-5-201 et seq.