Dear Radiation Protection Managers and Regulators,
Re: 2023 International ISOE ALARA Symposium, January 31-February 2, 2023 - Fort Lauderdale North Marriott
On behalf of the NATC NPRE Technical Program Committee, I am pleased to invite you to attend the 2023 International ISOE ALARA Symposium to be held January 31- February 2,2023. The 2023 Symposium will be held in-person at the Fort Lauderdale North Marriott located at 6650 North Andrews Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, Fl 33309, USA.
The 2023 Symposium will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Information System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE) global ALARA Information Exchange, OECD NEA/IAEA.
NATC NPRE became the host university for the Canadian, Mexican and USA nuclear utilities and regulatory authorities in 1992. NATC founded the ISOE ALARA symposium in 1997 and has held annual ALARA symposia since 1999. The symposium program is designed to provide solutions to ALARA and RP management problems experienced in 2022 especially during refueling or maintenance outages. Please let the Technical Program Committee know if you have a topic to be presented. The US NRC health physicists from headquarters and regions will be providing highlights of new health physics topics of interest to nuclear licensees and the summary of the ALARA and RP findings. This program has proven to be of high interest to North American RPMs to prevent the reoccurrence of RP OEs.
NATC continues to have a meeting insurance policy from Lloyd’s of London for registered attendees experiencing weather-related airport travel cancelations, medical illness, and terrorism events.
The NATC NPRE Technical Program Committee has been expanded for the 2023 Symposium to facilitate careful planning of the PEP Continuing Education Course, Symposium and Region III & IV RPM meeting. The 2023 International ISOE ALARA Symposium will again be the premier regulatory/RPM meeting of the year. Over 15 US NRC regulators from headquarters and regions plan to attend the January 2023 Symposium.
The Technical Program Committee has decided to move the first day of the symposium to Tuesday, January 31, 2023, to allow travel on Monday. Wednesday afternoon, February 1, 2023, will be a regulatory forum for RPMs from 2 pm to 5 pm. If you have questions for the US NRC, please provide them to Amy Moeller by January 20, 2023.
The 2023 agenda will be sent by early November 2022 for your planning purposes. Please note that proposed speakers and panels members are in the process of being contacted and confirmed.
Nominations for 2022 World Class ALARA Performer, 2022 RP Professional of the Year and John M. Palms Outstanding Innovation Awards are being solicited in October to December 2022. Please watch for the respective nomination forms/questionnaires.
The January 2023 symposium will include the following schedule:
Tuesday, January 31, 2023, 8 am - 5 pm*
Day 1 including Plenary speakers (US NRC Commissioner TBA, 2022 World Class Performance ALARA Award, and RPM presentations on outage OEs lessons learned.
Wednesday, February 1, 2023, 8 am – 5 pm*
Day 2 including US NRC regulatory presentations on observations from US NRC ALARA inspection programs, revisions to regulations and NRC RP/ALARA findings in 2021-2022.
Thursday, February 2, 2023, 8 am – 12 pm*
ISOE ALARA Symposium – Day 3 (RPM Operating Radiological Events & Lessons Learned).
Thursday, February 3, 2023, 1pm to 5 pm*
Region III & IV RPM Meeting(Observations from NRC Branch Chief & RP Inspectors in Control of RP Programs)(*all times are New York-Eastern Standard Times, EST)
Symposium Objectives:
Since 1997, the annual North American ISOE ALARA Symposium has steadily grown with utility RP managers attending from U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The NATC Board knows the symposia could not have been so successful without your willingness to share radiological events, good practices and lessons learned from recent spring and fall refueling outages in Mexico and the US and maintenance/refurbishment outages in Canada. The 2023 Symposium will focus on 2022 outage experience and include the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the ISOE Global ALARA Program. The meeting plans will incorporate safe meeting practices for flu and COVID-19 pandemic safety in accord with US government recommendations and requirements. RPMs have found it valuable to bring young health physicists, ALARA Committee Members, outage, and maintenance managers to past ALARA Symposia to enhance knowledge transfer to the next generation of health physicists and increase awareness of Station ALARA Committee Members on the latest NRC regulations and RP OEs. The feedback from maintenance and outage managers has been positive.
The 2023 winter ALARA symposium will continue to be the premier utility/ regulatory meeting for Radiation Protection Managers and health physics professionals to exchange the latest good practices and lessons learned from innovative technology and regulatory ALARA revisions. In 2020-2022, NATC staff have developed over 15 ISOE Information Sheets (IFS) and analyses of major refueling outage tasks to share consolidated benchmarking RWP/REP dose & person-hours information in preparation for spring 2023 refueling and maintenance outages. The IFS will be made available to attendees.
The symposium plans to feature technical papers on the latest approaches in work management, dose control, pixelated 3D CZT technology, remote monitoring, AI, source term reduction, personnel dosimetry QA lessons learned and dose rate measurements. The symposium is held early in the calendar year at the suggestion of nuclear utility Radiation Protection Managers to assist individual plants in setting annual and refueling outage ALARA dose goals/targets.
Call for Papers:
Authors of papers for the 2023 International ISOE ALARA Symposium are requested to send their paper titles and abstracts to the Technical Program Committee by December 1, 2022. Please send the title, authors and abstract to Amy Moeller at almoeller88@gmail.com. Additional information for authors will be provided to you.
Symposium Registration:
The Symposium Registration Fee is $675 USD. The fee can be paid for by credit card on the square link provided, mailing a check to NPRE, University of Illinois or wiring the funds (contract Amy Moeller for wire instructions). The registration fee includes continental breakfasts, lunches (Tuesday to Thursday) and vendor reception on Tuesday evening. (Hotel banquet costs have increased in 2023 which necessitated a modest increase in the registration fee from prior years.) Also, registration grants access to the NATC Continuing Education courses from February to December 2023 for your station.
Attendance at the Region III & IV RPM Meeting on Thursday, February 2, 2023, from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm is at no cost. Attendees from other regions and countries are encouraged to attend the Regional RPM meeting. John Moser, LaSalle County RPM, has been the Chair of the Regional RPM meeting since 1988. The symposium registration size is limited to 180 attendees and vendors. Attendees are asked to stay in the North Marriott Hotel because the room block provides the revenue for the ballroom and facility costs. The room cost at the North Marriott is $209 USD plus taxes per night. The link to the N. Marriott will be provided or you can directly call the hotel reservations at 1 800 228-9290. The cutoff date for the special group rate is Friday, December 30, 2022. The group rate is under North American Technical Center (NATC).
Meeting Registration Link: 2023 International ISOE ALARA Symposium
Hotel Reservations: Book your group rate for 2023 International ISOE Alara Symposium
The 2023 ISOE ALARA Symposium is sponsored by the North American Technical Center (NATC/NPRE), The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois. NATC/NPRE The Grainger College of Engineering is one of four ISOE Technical Centers that include Paris, Vienna, and Tokyo.
NATC's occupational dose radiological engineering analysis section is located at The Grainer College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA. In 2022, NATC engaged a McMaster University nuclear engineering intern under the direction of Josip Zic to prepare CANDU dose studies for Canadian RPMs and regulators. In 2022, NATC, also engaged a French engineering intern in cooperation with the University of Michigan Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences Department to prepare US and Mexican PWR and BWR dose studies. The students’ studies will be provided to the symposium attendees. The goal of the NATC student intern program is to develop an effective supply chain of future nuclear power health physicists. The majority of the NATC ISOE analysts over the years are employed at nuclear plants.
The Information System on Occupational Exposure was established in 1992 by the Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) in Paris and since 1994, the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna has co-sponsored the ISOE program, Official participants in the ISOE program include seventy-six utilities in twenty-nine countries (370 operating reactors, eighty shutdown reactors) and regulatory authorities in thirty countries. The ISOE database itself includes information on occupational exposure levels and trends at four hundred operating reactors in twenty-nine countries, covering about 90% of the world's operating commercial nuclear power plants.
NATC/NPRE Continuing Education Sessions: On Monday, January 30, 2023, NATC/NPRE will be offering continuing education courses as a warm-up to the symposium. The courses are focused on RP fundamental training for younger health physicists and RP technicians. Specific courses are being established but may include lessons learned on and revisions to NRC R.G. 1.21, pixelated 3D CZT spectra experience on LWR piping isotopic mapping, NRC inspections ALARA findings, lessons learned on Aging Plant Asset Preservation Technology, Robotics, 20 years of Biological Studies at Chernobyl by Un. of South Carolina Professor, Plant-wide Radiation Monitoring System Replacement, extended range noble gas effluent monitors calibration practices and source term reduction challenges/successes.
Thursday, February 2,2023, Regional III & IV RPM Meetings with Invited Guests: Attendees are invited to attend the Region III & IV RPM meeting on Thursday afternoon. The meeting features observations from health physics Branch Chief and NRC inspectors of RP practices at operating nuclear plants. The meeting offers a “neutral ground” discussion between utility health physicists and regulator health physicists on observations during on-site plant inspections in 2021-2022. The implementation of new RP technology by RPMs is shared with regulatory health physicists. International regulators are encouraged to attend. This is a valuable opportunity for younger utility health physicists to learn from RPM plant status reports and regulator health physics professionals’ plant observations.
Friday, February 3, 2023, 8 am to 12 pm North American Work Management Expert Group Meeting (chaired by Bradley Boyer, TVA RP Director): Attendees are invited to participate in the NATC regulator and utility experts are preparing this new report with new chapters on RP good practices for nuclear plant asset preservation for another 20-40 years, knowledge transfer to next generation of health physicists, ALARA engagement of the workforce and experience with aging plant and start-up of new PWR units. The new NATC NPRE outage major task analysis studies will be discussed. The expert group report is focused on becoming a ALARA management resource for all members of Station ALARA Committees. Please contact Amy Moeller, almoeller88@gmail.com, for information on participating in this working group.
Fleet RPM Utility Retreat Scheduling: Some nuclear utility fleet CFAMs have expressed an interest in reserving meeting rooms for utility fleet RPM planning sessions. Rooms are available on Monday, January 30, Friday, February 4, 2023, at the North Marriot Hotel. Please contact Amy Moeller to reserve a meeting room by December 20, 2022.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact either David W. Miller via cell: 217-855-3238/email: dmiller@illinois.edu or me, via cell: 269-930-0753/email: almoeller88@gmail.com. All attendees and vendors must agree to follow the COVID 19 requirements provided by the Fort Lauderdale city government and the Marriott Hotel.
Hope to see you in Fort Lauderdale in sunny Florida in 2023!
Sincerely yours,
Amy Moeller
NATC Executive Administrator/Event Coordinator
almoeller88@gmail.com
269-930-0753
Cc: Brad Boyer, ISOE Bureau Chair, TVA RP Director
John Palms, Honorary NATC Board Chair, Distinguished President Emeritus, University of South Carolina, Exelon Board Member (retired)
Benjamin Chui, NATC Board Chair & NATC CANDU Data Analysis Working Group/Darington, OPG, Canada
Jennifer Allen, RP, Point Lepreau, New Brunswick Power
Juan Giron, RPM, Laguna Verde Nuclear Plant, Mexico
Rizwan Uddin, Head NPRE, The Grainer College of Engineering, University of Illinois
David W. Miller, NATC Regional Director, Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois
