Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory Dose Reconstruction Project
SRA conducted a major portion of the work performed under Phase I of the dose reconstruction project for historical operations at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The goal of this effort was to identify and catalog all documents and references deemed relevant to dose reconstruction and to screen for important episodic events or chronic release pathways (for both radionuclide and chemical effluents). This project was conducted from September of 1992 to September of 1994.
SRA was the lead organization for Task 7, development and maintenance of the database. A document management system was configured for use by the project and a relational database was written using Clarion Professional Developer Software. The database development activity also included development of forms for manual entry of data (this proved particularly useful in classified areas). Numerous software products were developed to provide convenient summaries of database contents and to automatically generate box documentation forms with data from INEL databases. Seventeen procedures were written and maintained by SRA for the project. SRA assumed a lead role in providing administrative support to the project, including issuance of several hundred memoranda through the course of the 24 month project. SRA staff was also responsible for conducting the source term evaluation for the production and processing facilities (ICPP), for ANL-W and for historical facilities previously operated by ANL-W (EBR-I and the Boiling Water Reactor experiments). Additionally, SRA developed the methodology, procedures, software and quality assurance and provided management and two field team analysts for review of over 40,000 boxes of INEL records stored at the Central Facilities Area Records Storage Facility and at the Seattle Federal Records Center. Specialized software was developed for processing and maintaining the box lists. Approximately 15,000 boxes were reviewed during this effort, including approximately 1000 classified boxes. Finally, SRA staff was responsible for conducting field interviews with pioneers (retirees and long-time employees). This involved development of a questionnaire, procedures, and publicity to identify pioneers. Heavy emphasis was placed on quality control and assurance activities. SRA was responsible for the prime deliverable, a 650 megabyte database of the documents.
Dr. Shonka also organized one of the more successful public information activities associated with the Phase I INEL Dose Reconstruction. During this activity, members of the model advisory committee, including community activists, were provided with a tour and briefing of the documentation search efforts at the INEL Central Records Facility. Samples of boxes were available, and the committee members were able to see the process in action. A few hours in the records center provided the committee with a thorough understanding of the process along with insight into the nature of the material that was available.
