Working conditions and values of average annual effective doses for nondestructive testing operators in the Russian Federation and abroad

The review presents description of the work and the main provisions on the working conditions for nondestructive testing operators from the standpoint of the system for ensuring radiation safety and radiation control. The values of the average annual effective doses of flaw detectorists in the Russian Federation and abroad are indicated. Official sources of information on doses in the Russian Federation and in the world, obtained from the results of individual dosimetric monitoring, were selected for presentation. The data of our own measurements were not included in this review. The difference in the name of the specialty of the studied group of personnel in Russian and English and the difference in the processing of primary measuring information in domestic and foreign sources of information are taken into account. The relevance of the need to resolve the issues of radiation safety and radiation monitoring of personnel involved in nondestructive testing is demonstrated, due to the fact that in the Russian Federation there are regulatory and methodological documents affecting the organization and conduct of individual dosimetric monitoring of personnel in the medical field and the nuclear industry, but they do not include personnel conducting nondestructive testing. Therefore, individual dosimetric control for nondestructive testing operators is carried out by accredited laboratories in accordance with the provisions of Methodical guidelines 2.6.1.3015-12.“Organization and management of individual dosimetry of medical staff”, i.e. without taking into account the exposure scenarios for personnel involved in nondestructive testing and the specifics of it work. The doses estimated in this way are included in the regional and federal databanks of personnel exposure doses. When entering dose values into data banks, there is no division of personnel into the personnel performing nondestructive testing in stationary and nonstationary conditions, therefore, the doses of personnel performing various types of nondestructive testing are averaged.