Janet A. Johnson, PhD, CHP, CIH

President, Sopris Environmental, Inc.

EDUCATION

PhD, Microbiology / Environmental Health, Colorado State University, 1986

MS, Health Physics, AEC Health Physics Fellow, University of Rochester, 1959

BS, Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, 1958

REGISTRATIONS/CERTIFICATIONS

Certified in the Comprehensive Practice of Health Physics, American Board of Health Physics since 1976

Certified Industrial Hygienist (Radiological Aspects) since 1986

EXPERIENCE SUMMARY

Dr. Johnson has extensive experience in radiation health physics including radiation worker training, NRC and Agreement State radioactive materials license applications; uranium recovery facility environmental and occupational radiation protection; radiation safety for naturally occurring radioactive materials; Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) training; radiation risk assessment; radon measurements and radon risk assessment; radiological site surveys Including MARSSIM-based characterization and RESRAD dose analyses.

Dr. Johnson has evaluated radiation dose and risk from facilities with residual radioactive materials from both licensed activities and from naturally occurring radioactive materials, with a primary focus for the last fifteen years on uranium recovery facilities and mine remediation.  She has developed and implemented radiation safety training programs for workers and radiation safety officers.  Dr. Johnson taught in the Department of Radiological Health Sciences at Colorado State University for fourteen years, and is a member of the Department’s Advisory Board (currently the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences).  She is working on radiological aspects of the reclamation plans for several uranium mills and has performed risk assessments for a variety of uranium recovery facilities.  She is the Radiation Safety Officer of record for the Dawn Mining Company Millsite.

Dr. Johnson was a member of the Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board (SAB) Radiation Advisory Committee (RAC) from 1995 to 2003.  She chaired the RAC from 1999 through 2003.  During her tenure on the committee the RAC reviewed the Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM) and the Multi-Agency Radiation Laboratory Analytical Protocols Manual (MARLAP) as well as the EPA’s approach to diffuse NORM.  In 2011 she served on an EPA SAB Panel providing advice to the Multi-Agency work group on revisions to MARSSIM.

Dr. Johnson is a member of Scientific Committee 64-22 of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) updating the NCRP Report on Environmental Surveillance.  She is currently a member of ANSI N 13.8 Committee redeveloping standards for the protection of uranium miners. She is part of a team that annually presents refresher training classes for uranium recovery facility RSOs.  In 2011 the team presented a four weeks of uranium-specific training for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Dr. Johnson managed the environmental health and safety program at Colorado State University from 1993 to 1995.  The program included industrial hygiene, radiation protection, hazardous waste management, and biosafety.  Dr. Johnson served on the Westinghouse Government Operations Nuclear Safety and Environmental Oversight Committee. In that capacity she visited six of the major facilities for which Westinghouse was a contractor during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Representative PROJECT EXPERIENCE

♣Radiological Site Assessment.  Background radiation measurement and assessment of impacts of uranium recovery operations in regard to the reclamation plan.

♣MARSSIM Site Characterization.  Preparation and oversight of site characterization based on MARSSIM.

♣Risk Assessment for Uranium Mill Reclamation Plans. Preparation of dose/risk assessment under routine operating conditions and potential accident scenarios for a reclamation plan.

♣Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Program Health and Safety Audit.  Industrial hygiene and radiation protection.

♣Westinghouse Government Operations Nuclear Safety and Environmental Oversight Committee.  Review of safety and environmental programs at DOE sites managed and operated by Westinghouse, including evaluation of Total Quality Management programs as they pertained to environmental protection and safety.

♣Health Risk Assessment Panel Subcommittee.  Preparation of toxicity profiles and radiation risk assessment (Cotter Corporation Canon City Uranium Mill)

♣Radiation Training. Development and presentation of Radiation Safety Training and Hazardous Waste Operations Training, including training and regulatory compliance for radioactive materials licensees.

♣NORM Risk Assessment.  Risk assessment for Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM).

♣University Environmental Health and Safety Program.  Managed the environmental health and safety program for Colorado State University including routine operations, strategic planning, budgeting and personnel.

♣University Hazardous Waste Program.  Managed hazardous waste program for Colorado State University including routine disposal, environmental restoration and emergency response.

♣Industrial Hygiene Course.  Taught basic industrial hygiene course.

♣Radiation Courses.  Taught radiation physics and radiochemistry laboratories and radiation chemistry course.

♣Occupational Health and Safety Review. Occupational health and safety review for a gold mine in Peru.

♣Radiological Survey. Baseline radiological survey for an in situ uranium recovery operation in Kazakhstan.

♣Radiation Safety Officer Course.  Taught and developed a training manual for a 40-hour radiation safety officer (RSO) training class for NORM and Uranium facilities.

summary of current and previous Professional Affiliations

American Industrial Hygiene Association

American Academy of Health Physics

American Academy of Industrial Hygiene

Colorado Radiation Advisory Committee, 1988-present

Colorado Hazardous Waste Commission, 1993-1997

EPA Science Advisory Board, Radiation Advisory Committee, 1994-2003 (Chair 1999-2003)

EPA Science Advisory Board, Executive Committee, 1999 – 2003

Governor’s Rocky Flats Scientific Panel on Monitoring, 1989-1992. 

Chair, Radiation Committee

Health Physics Society

Fellow

Chair, Nominating Committee, 1990

Chair, Public Education Committee, 1992-1995

Board of Directors, 2000

Secretary-Treasurer, Radon Section, 1996

President, Environmental/Radon Section, 2009-2010

Chair, Ad Hoc Committee, HPS Position Statement on Indoor Radon

2009 Summer School on NORM, faculty and co-author of the text chapter on

uranium recovery

National Academy of Sciences Committee on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Siting, New York State, 1993-1996

NCRP Scientific Committee 64-22 (Environmental Measurements)

REPRESENTATIVE JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS AND PROCEEDINGS

Johnson, J.A.  Riding the RCRA Roller Coaster - Adventures in closing a micro-mixed waste site.  Managing Radioactive and Mixed Waste, Proceedings of the Twenty-seventh Midyear Topical Meeting of the Health Physics Society.  February 1994.

Johnson, J.A., R.M. Buchan and J.S. Reif.  Effect of waste anesthetic gas and vapor exposure on reproductive outcome in veterinary personnel.  American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal 48(1): 62-66, 1987.

Johnson, J.E. and J.A. Johnson:  Radioactivity and detection limit problems of environmental surveillance at a gas-cooled reactor.  ACS symposium Series 361, detection in Analytical Chemistry, Importance, Theory, and Practice.  American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 1988.

Borak, T.B., J.A. Johnson and K.J. Schiager.  A comparison of radioactivity and silica standards for limiting dust exposures in uranium mines.  In Radiation Hazards in Mining:  Control, Measurement and Medical Aspects, M. Gomez, ed.  Society of Mining Engineers.  New York, NY, 1981.

Borak, T.B., E. Franko, K.J. Schiager, J.A. Johnson and R.F. Holub.  Evaluation of recent developments in radon progeny measurements.  In Radiation Hazards in Mining:  Control, Measurement and Medial Aspects, M. Gomez, ed.  Society of Mining Engineers, New York, NY, 1981.

Johnson, J.A., K.J. Schiager, T.B. Borak.  Contribution of human errors to uncertainties in radiation measurements and implications for training.  In Radiation Hazards in Mining: Control, Measurement and Medical Aspects, M. Gomez, ed.  Society of Mining Engineers, New York, NY, 1981.

Schiager, J.J., J.A. Johnson and T.B. Borak.  Radiation monitoring priorities for uranium miners.  In Radiation Hazards in Mining:  Control, Measurement and Medical Aspects, M. Gomez, ed.  Society of Mining Engineers, New York, NY, 1981.

Johnson, J.A.  "Basic Radiation Protection for Use of Radionuclides in Laboratories," 1991.  Teaching manual for forty-hour course.

REPORTS

Hersloff, J., J.A. Johnson and S. Ibrahim.  Radiological Risk Assessment of Abandoned Mine Lands, Radium Land Clean-up Standard.  Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, 1988.

Borak, T.B. and J.A. Johnson.  Estimating the Risk of Lung cancer from Inhalation of Radon Daughters Indoors:  Review and Evaluation.  Colorado State University for USEPA, 1988.

Schiager, K.J., T.B. Borak and J.A. Johnson.  Radiation Monitoring for Uranium Miners:  Evaluation and Optimization.  U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines.  Final Report on contract.

Technical Presentations

Dr. Johnson has presented numerous technical papers at Health Physics Society Annual Meetings, Mid-year Symposia, Mill Tailings Conferences, American Industrial Hygiene Association Conferences, and a meeting of the American Veterinary Medicine Association.  In addition she presented an oral paper and a poster at a conference on uranium in groundwater in Frieburg Germany (1998) and presented an invited paper on uranium mining at a SCOPE Radsite meeting in Munich in September 2000.  Dr. Johnson presented an invited paper on the effects of radon and smoking at the American Radiation Safety Conference and Exposition in San Diego in June 2003.