This standard provides bioassay program requirements for long-lived uranium isotopes (half-life greater than ²³⁴U), including criteria for determining:

a) the conditions requiring bioassay;

b) the selection of individuals to be included in a bioassay program;

c) the sampling and measurement frequencies; and

d) the action levels and corresponding actions that are appropriate for different compounds, measurements, and sampling frequencies.

Procedures for quality assurance and records requirements are provided in other bioassay program standards, and in applicable federal, state, and local regulations.

The appendices to this standard are not a part of the standard. However, they provide the bases and rationale for the quantitative provisions of the standard. They are also provided to assist in establishing bioassay programs by presenting technical information, procedures, and literature references that are helpful in developing the sample collection and analytical procedures necessary to bioassay programs. The appendices also include guidance for the estimation of internal radiation doses from bioassay data, and methods of estimating internal chemical exposures for comparison with toxic limits.

This standard does not specify preferred chemical, radiometric, or in-vivo counting procedures for measuring uranium. This standard also does not specify quantitative performance criteria for the accuracy and precIsion of analytical or measurement procedures; another standard is referenced for these criteria.

Purpose

This standard provides criteria for establishing and managing a bioassay program to monitor and evaluate intakes from uranium, distributions of uranium within the body following intake, and the resulting radiation doses or possible chemical effects. Action levels are also provided in terms of measured bioassay quantities, in order to help ensure, for various uranium compounds and isotopic enrichments, that exposure to workers from internally deposited uranium will be maintained below acceptable limits.