Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-l4ctd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-06T13:35:03.694Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Natural Analogue Approach for Estimating the Health Risks from Release and Migration of Radionuclides from Radioactive Waste.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

Thomas L. Gilbert
Thomas L. Gilbert*
Affiliation:
Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, U.S.A. Research sponsored by Oak Ridge Operations, U.S. Department of Energy, under Contract No. W-31-109-ENG-38.
Get access

Abstract

The health risks from radioactive waste may be expressed as a sum of products of transfer factors that characterize the causal chain of events between disposal of radionuclides in a waste field and the consequent health effects. “Model” estimates for the transfer factors are commonly obtained by modeling transport and other mechanisms in the subsystems that form the links in the causal chain. “Natural” estimates of some transfer factors for naturally occurring radionuclides can be obtained from data on the concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides in soil, food, and the human body. These “model” and “natural” estimates can be used with scaling procedures to estimate the uncertainties and to obtain better estimates of the transfer factors. The scaling procedures take into account the differences in the source characteristics for radionuclides in a waste field of limited size and for radionuclides generally distributed in the natural environment. The ratios of the natural estimates to the model estimates for several transfer factors and several radionuclides belonging to the U-238 decay series have been determined. These ratios range from 1/8 to 4/1 for food-concentration/sourceconcentration transfer factors for the food pathways and from 1 to 77 for dose-rate/source-concentration transfer factors for the internal radiation dose pathways to various organs.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 26: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VII , 1983 , 935
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Gilbert, T.L. et al. , Pathways Analysis and Radiation Dose Estimates for Radioactive Residues at Formerly Utilized MED/AEC Sites, ORO-832 (U.S. Department of Energy, 1983).Google Scholar
2. Nathwani, J.S. and Phillips, C.R., Water Air Soil Pollut. 9, 453–456 (1978);Google Scholar
2a 11, 301–308, 309–317 (1979).Google Scholar
3. U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Calculation of Annual Doses to Man from Routine Releases of Reactor Effluents for the Purpose of Evaluating Compliance with 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix I, Regulatory Guide 1.109 (Washington, DC, 1977).Google Scholar
4. Momeni, M.H., Yuan, Y.C., and Zielen, A.J., The Uranium Dispersion and Dosimetry (UDAD) Code, Version IX, NUREG/CR-0553; ANL/ES-72, (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, 1979).Google Scholar
5. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Final Generic Environmental Impact Statements on Uranium Milling, NUREG-0706, 3 vol. (Washington, DC,1980).Google Scholar
6. ational Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Natural Background Radiation in the United States, Report No. 45 (Washington, DC, 1975).Google Scholar
7. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Environmental Radiation Measurements, Report No. 50 (Washington, DC, 1976).Google Scholar
8. Bowen, H.J.M., Environmental Chemistry of the Elements (Academic Press, New York, NY, 1979).Google Scholar
9. Welford, G.A. and Baird, R., Health Phys. 13, 1321–1324 (1967).Google Scholar
10. Fisenne, I.M. and Keller, H.W., Radium-226 in the Diet of Two U.S. Cities, HASL-224 (U.S. Health and Safety Laboratory, New York, NY, 1970).Google Scholar
11. Morse, R.S. and Welford, G.A., Health Phys. 21, 53–55 (1971).Google Scholar
12. United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, lonizing Radiation: Levels and Effects. Volume 1. Levels (New York, NY, 1972).Google Scholar
13. United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation,Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation (New York, NY, 1972).Google Scholar
14. Vaughn, B.E. et al. , Environ. Health Perspect. 42, 149–161 (1981).Google Scholar