Facility Operations, Equipment, and Security
Operating controls
Know the role of technical specifications, operating procedures, surveillance requirements, limiting conditions for operation, and action statements. A trap is treating a surveillance as optional when a limiting condition for operation is entered; the action statement governs what must happen and by when.
Equipment and calibration
Understand source and device accountability, leak testing intervals for sealed sources, calibration of survey instruments, and checks of interlock and warning systems. Know that instrument response depends on energy and that a meter calibrated for one radiation type may not be suitable for another. Questions often test whether a check is a daily operability check or a periodic calibration.
Security and access
Understand access control, dosimetry issuance, area posting, key control, and the principle that security measures protect sources from unauthorized removal as well as protecting people from radiation. Know that security requirements are conditions of the license, not suggestions.
Worked example
A survey meter fails its daily check. The correct reasoning is that the instrument is not operable, so any procedure depending on it cannot proceed unless an acceptable alternative is available and permitted. The answer is not to recalibrate on the spot or to continue because the failure was small.