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Concentration of Radiocarbon and Its Chemical Forms in Gaseous Effluents, Environmental Air, Nuclear Waste and Primary Water of a Pressurized Water Reactor Power Plant in Hungary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Mihály Veres ,
Ede Hertelendi ,
György Uchrin ,
Eszter Csaba ,
István Barnabás ,
Péter Ormai ,
Gábor Volent  and
István Futó
Mihály Veres
Affiliation:
Institute of Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 51, H-4001 Debrecen, Hungary
Ede Hertelendi
Affiliation:
Institute of Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 51, H-4001 Debrecen, Hungary
György Uchrin
Affiliation:
Institute of Isotopes of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 77, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary
Eszter Csaba
Affiliation:
Institute of Isotopes of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 77, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary
István Barnabás
Affiliation:
Paks Nuclear Power Plant, P.O. Box 71, H-7031 Paks, Hungary
Péter Ormai
Affiliation:
Paks Nuclear Power Plant, P.O. Box 71, H-7031 Paks, Hungary
Gábor Volent
Affiliation:
Paks Nuclear Power Plant, P.O. Box 71, H-7031 Paks, Hungary
István Futó
Affiliation:
Institute of Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 51, H-4001 Debrecen, Hungary
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Abstract

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We measured airborne releases of 14C from the Paks Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). Two continuous stack samplers collect 14C in 14CO2 and 14CnHm chemical forms. 14C activities were measured using two techniques; environmental air samples of lower activities were analyzed by proportional counting, stack samples were measured by liquid scintillation counting. 14C concentration of air in the stack varies between 80 and 200 Bqm−3. The average normalized yearly discharge rates for 1988–1993 were 0.74 TBqGW−1ey−1 for hydrocarbons and 0.06 TBqGW−1ey−1 for CO2. The discharge rate from Paks Nuclear Power Plant is about four times higher than the mean discharge value of a typical Western European PWR NPP. The higher 14C production may be apportioned to the higher level of nitrogen impurities in the primary coolant. Monitoring the long-term average excess from the NPP gave D14C = 3.5‰ for CO2 and D14C = 20‰ for hydrocarbons. We determined 14C activity concentration in the primary coolant to be ca. 4 kBq liter−1. The 14C activity concentrations of spent mixed bed ion exchange resins vary between 1.2 and 5.3 MBqkg−1 dry weight.

Type
IV. 14C as a Tracer of the Dynamic Carbon Cycle in the Current Environment
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , 1995 , pp. 497 - 504
Copyright
Copyright © the Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona 

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