Release limits and decontamination efficacy for tritium: lessons learned outside nuclear power operations.

Various pieces of equipment in use by the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) contain radiation-emitting components. One such piece is a sight knob used on light artillery. At the request of the DND's Director General Nuclear Safety (DGNS-DND's internal nuclear regulatory agency), the authors were contacted to remove the luminous tritium-impregnated paint strip from over 300 sight knobs. This paper discusses the physical description of the sight knobs, the protocol developed for decontaminating the sight knobs, the rationale for the release limits used, and experience gained in using and modifying the decontamination protocol.