Radioactive emissions and radiation exposures resulting from nuclear power production

Abstract

Release of small quantities of radioactive materials to the environment occurs at each stage of the nuclear fuel cycle. The paper reviews, on the bases of the assessments carried out by UNSCEAR, the releases and resultlng collective doce contributions of mining, milling, fuel fabricatión, reactor operation, reprocessing and waste management, normalized per gigawatt-year of electric energy generated. The collective dose from all stages of the cycle, delivered in few years after the releases is estimated to be about 6 man Sv/GW(e )a. The longterm components of the collective dose from all stages are estimated to amount to 15, 25 and 300 man Sv/GWre )a for periods extending to 100, 500 and 10 000 years, respectively. According to these assumptions the complete normalized collective dose is about 3000 man-Sv/GW (e) a, distributed over millions of years. However, this extremely long-term assessment is quali-fied by the corresponding very large uncertainties. Its only merit is to provide perspective to the problem; the estimated complete collective dose, with the risk factors currently used, suggests that only a few tens of severe health effects Will result from each gigawatt-year of electricity currently generated.