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Air Sampling for Radioactive Materials Online Training

Online course introduces participants to methods of testing air for radionuclides

Introduction

ORAU's PTP is now offering an expanded version of the Air Sampling for Radioactive Materials Online Training course.

Participants will now have access to both lecture and lab materials through self-paced modules and pre-recorded videos, developed by the same team that provides the instructor-led training. A request has been sent to the American Academy of Health Physics for 40 Continuing Education Credits for completing this course.

Course description

The use of radioactive materials in industry, research, and medicine has created a need for many facilities to perform routine air sampling in both the workplace and the environment. To help meet the need for trained personnel in this area, ORAU developed the – Air Sampling for Radioactive Materials Online Training course.

The course includes 14 self-paced modules and 12 pre-recorded videos designed to demonstrate the equipment, techniques, and procedures used to collect and analyze air samples. The videos provide an unobstructed view of the instructors conducting each exercise and processing the data that is collected. This course is expected to take 40 hours to complete.  

A list of the modules included in the course is provided below, along with instructions about the registration process. In order to complete the course, you will be required to pass an exam. A passing score is 70+ out of 100. You will have three attempts to successfully complete the exam. Upon successful completion of the exam, a course certificate of completion will be provided.

PTP instructors will be available via email, phone, or Microsoft Teams to answer questions and provide assistance as needed.

Target audience 

This online course is designed for individuals with limited theoretical background and/or practical work experience who must establish and/or are involved with an air sampling program.

Cost

$2,195 - Tuition includes access to the course materials via the ORAU Learning Management System.

Register now

Questions

If you have additional questions about this course, please contact the Registrar.

Impact Areas

Registration Information

These are asynchronous (self-paced) online courses. The training staff recommends that you complete the training within six months of enrollment. Once registration is complete, you will receive an email confirming that your registration has been received. Once your payment has been confirmed, you will receive an email containing your user name and temporary password if this is the first time you have registered for an online course. If you have registered before, you will receive notification that the course is now available.

Each course contains a series of modules/exercises to be completed. When all modules are complete, you will be granted access to the exam. A passing score is 70 out of 100. You will have three attempts to successfully complete the exam. Upon successful completion of the exam, a course certificate of completion will be provided.

Please read the following carefully in its entirety. You must accept these terms and conditions in order to be successfully enrolled in the course. By accepting these terms and conditions, you are legally obligated to act in accordance with this agreement.

Restricted Materials Use Agreement

By registering for this course offered by ORAU's Professional Training Programs (PTP), I understand that I will be provided with PTP-developed course materials. In exchange for receiving these materials, I agree and understand that PTP’s course materials (both electronic or hardcopy) are provided for use by the registered participant only.

Duplication and/or distribution of the course materials, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of ORAU. The participant may retain and use the course materials for personal reference in perpetuity. Publications and other copyrighted materials provided during the course may be subject to additional restrictions as noted within these documents.

Payment Policy

Payment in full is required in advance.

Cancellation and Refund Policy

Once access to the course material has been granted via the Learning Management System, no cancellations will be accepted and no refunds will be issued.

Links to Third-Party Websites

PTP's Online Training may include links to third-party websites that are controlled and maintained by other organizations. Any link to third-party websites is not an endorsement of said websites, and ORAU is not responsible for the content or availability of any such sites.

Recording

Sessions that contain webinars will be recorded.

ORAU Event Attendee Code of Conduct

This ORAU Event Attendee Code of Conduct (“Code of Conduct”) applies at all ORAU live and virtual meetings, conferences, forums, and meeting-related events, including those sponsored by ORAU or in conjunction with other organizations.

Please read the following Code of Conduct linked below in its entirety.

This Code of Conduct may be revised at any time by ORAU and the terms are non-negotiable.

Your registration for or attendance at any ORAU Event, whether it is held in-person or virtually, indicates your agreement to abide by this Code of Conduct.

ORAU Event Attendee Code of Conduct

Ordering Terms and Conditions

The terms and conditions agreed to herein comprise the entirety of the agreement between the customer and ORAU absent any other ORAU commercial contract.

  • Module 1: Introduction to Environmental Monitoring Programs
    • Describe how licensees evaluate dose to members of the public from radioactive releases to the environment
    • List and describe the goals of the different types of environmental monitoring programs
    • State the recommended practices for environmental surveillance
  • Module 2: Environmental Standards and Regulations
    • Describe the roles of U.S. federal government agencies and indicate from where they derive their authority
    • Identify key U.S. federal environmental regulatory requirements
  • Module 3: Effluent Monitoring
    • Describe the different types of effluents that are monitored by licensees
    • Discuss the best practices for an effluent monitoring program
    • Compare the published effluent release limits to a licensee’s annual reports
    • Describe the use of the environmental inventory and calculate the inventory for a specific radionuclide
  • Module 4: Introduction to Radionuclide Pathways in the Environment
    • Recognize and describe the important environmental exposure pathways
    • Explain the purpose of commonly used mathematical models and computer codes used for radionuclide pathways analysis
    • Describe the components common to a licensee’s conceptual site model (CSM)
  • Module 5: Air Sampling for Radioactive Materials – Part 1
    • List reasons for licensees to conduct an air sampling program
    • Identify the characteristics and properties associated with airborne radioactivity and their impact on internal radiation dose
    • Recognize the equipment used in an air sampling program
    • Select appropriate sampling media according to radionuclide and form
  • Module 6: Air Sampling for Radioactive Materials – Part 2
    • List problems that are unique to sampling the air for radioactivity
    • List pertinent inspection points and licensing issues with respect to general air sampling
  • Module 7: Lab – Low-Volume Air Sampling Calibration
    • Demonstrate the calibration of a low-volume air sampler flowmeter (e.g., rotameter) with a primary standard
  • Module 8: Lab – High-Volume Air Sampling Calibration
    • Demonstrate the calibration of a high-volume air sampler flowmeter (e.g., rotameter, pressure gauge) with a secondary standard
  • Module 9: Air Sampling Equations
    • Quantify the air concentration of a specific nuclide, making corrections for decay and counting delays, as necessary
    • Quantify the gross alpha or beta air concentration, making corrections for radon and thoron decay products in the sample
  • Module 10: Environmental Air Sampling
    • Discuss sampling considerations when sampling air in the environment (outdoors)
    • Describe the characteristics of an ideal environmental air sampling location
    • Discuss background radionuclides found in the environment and their effect on concentration measurements
  • Module 11: Lab – Alpha Burial Losses
    • Compare the magnitude of counting burial losses between membrane, cellulose, and glass fiber filters
  • Module 12: Lab – Field Calibration of Low-Volume Air Samplers
    • Demonstrate the calibration of air samplers in the 10–100 liters per minute (lpm) range with a dry gas meter
    • Demonstrate the calibration of air samplers in the 20–100 lpm range with a venturi meter
  • Module 13: Lab – Field Calibration of High-Volume Air Samplers
    • Show how a high-volume air sampler flow indicator is calibrated according to methods described in 40 CFR 50, Appendix B
    • Show how flow rates are calculated during sampling according to the same methodology
  • Module 14: Lab – Environmental Air Sampling – Gross Beta Analysis
    • Prepare for, collect, and process an environmental particulate air sample
    • Quantify the gross beta concentration in the atmosphere, making corrections for naturally occurring radon and thoron decay products
  • Module 15: Lab – Environmental Air Sampling – Isotopic Analysis via Gamma Spectrometry
    • Prepare for, collect, and process an environmental particulate air sample
    • Quantify the concentration of beryllium-7 (Be-7) in the atmosphere
  • Module 16: Radon and its Decay Products
    • Recognize the sources of radon and its decay products
    • Describe the properties of radon decay products that make them an inhalation hazard
    • Describe what a working level is and how it relates to an exposure to radon and its decay products
    • Calculate an absorbed dose from a cumulative exposure to radon and its decay products
  • Module 17: Lab – Air Sampling – Radon Concentration Measurements – Charcoal Canisters
    • Measure the radon concentration in a home, apartment, hotel, etc., using the charcoal canister method
  • Module 18: Lab – Air Sampling – Radon Concentration Measurements – Electret Ion Chamber
    • Measure the radon concentration in a home, apartment, hotel, etc., using an electret ion chamber (EIC)
  • Module 19: Lab – Measurement of Radon Decay Products
    • Collect an air sample containing radon decay products and calculate their individual concentrations using a modified Tsivoglou method
    • Determine the collective concentration of radon decay products in working levels using both the modified Tsivoglou and Kusnetz methods
  • Module 20: Stack Sampling
    • Describe the types of stack monitoring and sampling systems, their components, and their purposes
    • Describe how physical conditions of a stack system can impact the representativeness of a collected sample
    • State important requirements and recommendations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and consensus standards organizations for the performance of a stack sampling program
  • Module 21: Lab – Stack Sampling
    • Determine the release rate (Q) of radioactive materials. The release rate is used as the source term in the atmospheric dispersion calculations that predict the concentration of airborne radioactive material in the environment.
    • Determine the concentration (C) of radioactive material in the gaseous effluents in order to demonstrate compliance with the concentration limits set by the regulatory agencies (e.g., 10 CFR 20.1302, Table 2, Appendix B)
  • Module 22: Air Sampling in the Workplace
    • Discuss evaluating the need for air sampling in the workplace
    • Describe the types of air samples collected and air sampling equipment found in the workplace
    • Use air sampling data to estimate worker intakes and internal doses
  • Module 23: Lab – Air Sampling in the Workplace
    • Measure the airflow into and out of the room
    • Qualitatively examine the airflow patterns in a radiochemical laboratory
    • Recommend locations of air samplers based on the given assumptions
  • Module 24: Continuous Air Monitors
    • State the useful purposes of continuous air monitors (CAMs)
    • Define CAM response and sensitivity
    • State the regulatory requirements for and limitations of CAMs
  • Module 25: Airborne Particle Sizing
    • Describe how airborne particle size is measured
    • Describe how particle size distribution impacts internal dose
  • Module 26: Emergency Response
    • Describe the types of incident scenarios that constitute a radiological emergency
    • Describe the framework for radiological emergency response in the United States
    • Describe the three phases of a radiological emergency, the types of measurements needed, and the use of protective action guides (PAGs)

What our students are saying

“All of the hands on interaction, and ability to ask questions directly was incredible. The 'minds' teaching the material were by far the most valuable.”

“This course was very informative. I definitely learned a lot from this course! All the instructors are very intelligent and did an excellent job instructing during this course.”

“Instructors explained everything very clearly and sufficiently. This is a great course—I always enjoy ORAU courses.”

Male student participates in Air Sampling course

Contact us

For more information about ORAU's Professional Training Programs, contact:

Registrar
ORAU Professional Training Programs 
P.O. Box 117, MS-11
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0117
Phone: (865) 576-3576
Fax: (865) 241-9152
registrar@orau.org

ORAU Professional Training Programs flyer

View the PTP course flyer (.PDF, 1.28 MB)