MAM-D - Novel Ideas in Health Physics 2 North 226ABC 11:00 - 12:00
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MAM-D.1
11:00 Revision of Department of Energy (DOE) Institutional Controls Implementation Handbook KE McLellan*, Department of Energy
; D Favret, Department of Energy; A Wallo III, Department of Energy
Abstract: Department of Energy (DOE) has developed a new Handbook to replace and revise the former Institutional Controls Implementation Guide to assist DOE programs and field offices in understanding what is necessary and acceptable for implementing Institutional Controls provisions of DOE P 454.1, Use of Institutional Controls, DOE O 458.1 Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment, and DOE O 435.1 Radioactive Waste Management. DOE P 454.1 establishes Departmental Policy for the use of Institutional Controls in situations where unrestricted use or unrestricted release of property is not desirable, practical, or possible. The primary purpose of this Policy is to frame a consistent approach to the use of Institutional Controls throughout the Department and to underscore the Department’s commitment to use Institutional Controls as an integrated component of overall site management. DOE O 458.1 establishes requirements to protect the public and the environment against undue risk from radiation associated with radiological activities, conducted under the control of DOE pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended. DOE O 435.1 ensures that all DOE radioactive waste is managed in a manner that is protective of worker and public health and safety and the environment.
The Handbook provides additional clarity for the role of Institutional Controls in a DOE site’s Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) and Environmental Management System (EMS) as their use, implementation, periodic reviews/evaluations, and maintenance align closely with the four key ISMS/EMS phases of the Plan–Do–Check–Act cycle. Institutional Controls are essential elements of ISMS/EMS, related to radioactive waste disposal and waste management activities, facility operations, property storage areas, restoration and closure, land use planning, cultural and natural resources management, and legacy management at sites that will require use restrictions. Incorporation of Institutional Controls considerations in a site ISMS/EMS will help facilitate cost-effective planning, implementation, and management review of site-wide protection activities across different programs and activities.
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MAM-D.2
11:15 Implementation of a Virtual Reality Game about Radiation Protection in Unity for an Oculus Quest X Zheng*, University of Michigan
; DB Calco, University of Michigan; N Abbaraju, University of Michigan; AJ Sable, University of Michigan; ME Trager, University of Michigan; BJ Saltus, University of Michigan; JD Noey, University of Michigan; KJ Kearfott, University of Michigan
Abstract: Although virtual reality (VR) is a relatively new, there are several free platforms supporting game development. In creating a radiation training experience, the features of each display device, game engine, and VR integration pipeline were considered to create a suitably lifelike experience. This research project uses the Unity game engine and Unity’s XR Interaction Toolkit with the Oculus Quest as the target device. Unity, Unreal, and WebVR were considered for the game engine, but Unity was chosen due to its versatility, with multiple VR integration packages available on its platform. Build support and prewritten scripts for basic user interactions (pushing buttons, picking up items) for Oculus devices are included on multiple game engines. In contrast with web- and phone-based VR, VR headsets like the Oculus quest provides these basic user interactions. Despite these advantages, development of the game in the Unity game engine did present challenges, including long downtimes between building and running iterations of the game. Along with this, the Quest also features a high price point and an inability to test and run games within the Unity development environment. Working around this required creating an Oculus Developer account and enabling developer mode on the Quest, which allowed the game files to be run directly on the device. Experimentation with Oculus-specific VR integration led to conflicts with previously written code, resulting in a switch to the XR Interaction Toolkit, a beta VR integration package on Unity, which still contains bugs and has only basic online documentation. Online resources and documentation were essential during development, as they provided most of the learning material and information about common hardware and software issues. Since VR is rapidly evolving technology and there is no universal pipeline from game engine to VR device, creating a desired product requires careful planning and concessions with the tools available.
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MAM-D.3
11:30 Three-dimensional Rendering of Radiation Sources, Shields, and Detectors for Extended Reality and Other Applications N Abbaraju*, University of Michigan
; AJ Sable, University of Michigan; DB Calco, University of Michigan; X Zheng, University of Michigan; ME Trager, University of Michigan; BJ Saltus, University of Michigan; JD Noey, University of Michigan; KJ Kearfott, University of Michigan
Abstract: Virtual Reality has a unique ability to immerse its audience into an extensive 3D world, brimming with vibrant wildlife, soaring skyscrapers, and more, all of which was carefully crafted to make the 3D environment appear authentic. Great fear, excitement, stress, and a sense of elation may accompany highly immersive, photorealistic experiences. The more realistic the models’ shading, lighting, and textures, the more memorable the participant’s experience becomes. Highly interactive games are often created using libraries of existing scenes and stylized versions of items that are available for free or for purchase. A portion of this work deals with creating realistic three-dimensional renderings of highly specialized objects such as radioactive sources, radiation detectors, shields, and other unique items that are not easily found in existing asset libraries. The different software tools available for modeling these items for gameplay and extended reality experiences are reviewed. These models relating to health physics were ultimately created in Blender due to its ample online documentation, ease of access, and compatibility with the Unity game development software. While accuracy is crucial to create a game with meaningful training elements, it is also important that the game runs efficiently. Unfortunately, current technology limits the level of realism possible within games since more detailed models require more polygons and vertices and consequently decrease in-game performance. Strategies such as maintaining a low polygon and vertex count while limiting the use of textures can improve performance. Once completed, the health physics three-dimensional asset library can be incorporated into nearly any type of 3D game or platform.
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MAM-D.4
11:45 Implications of COVID masks for fecal bioassay monitoring JA Klumpp*, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Abstract: In this presentation, we consider the implication o the widespread use of cloth masks by plutonium workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic on plutonium inhalations and dose assessment. Research indicates that cloth masks have a wide ranging and almost impossible to predict filtration efficiency for particles in respirable size range. In the worst case, they may be almost completely ineffective at filtering respirable particles. However, they are much more reliable at filtering particles larger than 10 m. In a plutonium inhalation scenario, this can lead to a reduction in early fecal excretion without a corresponding reduction in dose. For suspected plutonium inhalations in which cloth masks are worn, urinary excretion should be the preferred method of inferring dose immediately after the inhalation, and fecal excretion should be considered unreliable for up to 10 days.
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