Decommissioning Health Physics: A Handbook for MARSSIM Users

Decommissioning Health Physics presents many of the technical issues and challenges that arise during the planning and implementation of decommissioning and decontamination (D&D) projects. The focus is on the final status survey performed during the later stages of decommissioning projects. It expands upon and provides greater technical detail than Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM) in areas of survey design strategies.

Featuring a number of completely worked examples of final status survey strategies, the book prepares the reader for the real-world application of MARSSIM at D&D projects. One chapter is devoted to the specific decommissioning concerns relevant to specific facility types, power reactors, uranium and thorium facilities and sites, and universities or other research facilities. The book thoroughly discusses practical applications of statistics in the context of decommissioning projects, from elementary statistics to hypothesis testing for a number of applications including data comparisons between the regulator and licensee, normality testing of the data, and survey unit compliance decisions.

Decommissioning Health Physics will be beneficial for the planners, designers, and reporters of final status survey results as well as health physics technicians who will benefit from practical chapters on instrumentation and survey procedures.

After reading, I felt as though I could be the managing health physicists for a D&D project, even if I were just thrown into the job. ... So, if you are newly moving into the D&D field, this textbook will guide you, helping you avoid common pitfalls. If you have many years of experience, it provides tools to use the MARSSIM process and reminds you of the many facts you've already learned.
- Debra McBaugh, CHP, Health Physics Society Newsletter

This work will prove most valuable to those struggling to understand how to implement MARSSIM and use it effectively.
- Larry Boing

Provides the practicing health physicist with a great reference to many of the stumbling blocks that often plague those dealing with decommissioning ... provides the reader with practical discussions on statistical processes and guidelines for performing and documenting final status surveys ... and worked out examples that could be useful in any setting ... excellent value for those performing regulated decommissioning activities.
- D.H. Denham, CHP