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At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Retrospective dosimetry: dose evaluation using unheated and heated quartz from a radioactive waste storage building.

In the assessment of dose received from a nuclear accident, considerable attention has been paid to retrospective dosimetry using heated materials such as household ceramics and bricks. However, unheated materials such as mortar and concrete are more commonly found in industrial sites and particularly in nuclear installations. These materials contain natural dosemeters such as quartz, which usually is less sensitive than its heated counterpart. The potential of quartz extracted from mortar in a wall of a low-level radioactive-waste storage facility containing distributed sources of 60Co and 137Cs has been investigated. Dose-depth proliles based on small aliquots and single grains from the quartz extracted from the mortar samples are reported here. These are compared with results from heated quartz and polymineral fine grains extracted from an adjacent brick, and the integrated dose recorded by environmental TLDs.

Construction Materials↗
PubMed2003

Bioindication of the anthropogenic effects on micropopulations of Pinus sylvestris, L. in the vicinity of a plant for the storage and processing of radioactive waste and in the Chernobyl NPP zone.

Results of a comparative analysis of the frequency and spectrum of cytogenetic anomalies are presented for reproductive (seeds) and vegetative (needles) samples taken from Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris, L.) micropopulations growing at sites with differing levels of radioactive contamination in the Chernobyl NPP 30 km zone, and at the location of a facility for the processing and storage of radioactive wastes (the 'Radon' LWPE, near the town of Sosnovy Bor in the Leningrad Region). The data obtained indicate the presence of genotoxic contaminants in the environment of the tree micropopulations. Chemical toxins make the main contribution to the environmental contamination in the Sosnovy Bor area as compared with the influence of ionising radiation in the Chernobyl 30 km zone. The higher radioresistance of seeds of Scotch pine growing on the area of the 'Radon' LWPE and in the centre of Sosnovy Bor town was revealed with acute gamma-radiation.

Air Pollution, Radioactive↗
PubMed2005

Non-destructive method of characterisation of radioactive waste containers using gamma spectroscopy and Monte Carlo techniques.

During the decommissioning of the SATURNE accelerator at CEA Saclay (France), a number of concrete containers with radioactive materials of low or very low activity had to be characterised before their final storage. In this paper, a non-destructive approach combining gamma ray spectroscopy and Monte Carlo simulations is used in order to characterise massive concrete blocks containing some radioactive waste. The limits and uncertainties of the proposed method are quantified for the source term activity estimates using 137Cs as a tracer element. A series of activity measurements with a few representative waste containers were performed before and after destruction. It has been found that neither was the distribution of radioactive materials homogeneous nor was its density unique, and this became the major source of systematic errors in this study. Nevertheless, we conclude that by combining gamma ray spectroscopy and full scale Monte Carlo simulations one can estimate the source term activity for some tracer elements such as 134Cs, 137Cs, 60Co, etc. The uncertainty of this estimation should not be bigger than a factor of 2-3.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1998

Radiation protection recommendations as applied to the disposal of long-lived solid radioactive waste. ICRP Publication 81.

The present publication deals with the radiological protection of members of the public following the disposal of long-lived solid radioactive waste using the 'concentrate and retain' strategy. It covers options including shallow land burial and deep geological disposal. The recommendations made in this report apply to new disposal facilities.The main protection issue concerns exposure that may or may not occur in the far future, i.e. a situation of potential exposure. Constrained optimisation is the central approach to evaluating the radiological acceptability of a waste disposal system. In this context optimisation of protection is a judgmental process with social and economic factors being taken into account and should be conducted in a structured essentially qualitative way.Two broad categories of exposure situations have to be considered: natural processes and human intrusion. Application of the radiological protection criteria to these two categories of exposure situations is different.In the first case, assessed doses or risks arising from natural processes should be compared with a constraint of no more than about 0.3 mSv per year or its risk equivalent of around 10(-5) per year. With regard to human intrusion, understood here as inadvertent human intrusion, the consequences from one or more plausible stylised scenarios should be considered in order to evaluate the resilience of the repository to such events. The Commission considers that in circumstances where human intrusion could lead to doses to those living around the site sufficiently high that intervention on current criteria would almost always be justified, reasonable efforts should be made at the repository development stage to reduce the probability of human intrusion or to limit its consequences. In this respect, the Commission has previously advised that an existing(1) annual dose of around 10 mSv per year may be used as a generic reference level below which intervention is not likely to be justifiable. Conversely, an existing(1) annual dose of around 100 mSv per year may be used as a generic reference level above which intervention should be considered almost always justifiable. Similar considerations apply in situations where the thresholds for deterministic effects in relevant organs are exceeded.The conclusion of the report is that in the Commission's view, provided reasonable measures have been taken both to satisfy the constraint for natural processes and to reduce the probability or the consequences of inadvertent human intrusion, and technical and managerial principles have been followed, then radiological protection requirements can be considered to have been complied with.

Journal Article↗