Uranium mill tailings and radon

Technical Report · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6712622· OSTI ID:6712622

Hanchey, L A

The major health hazard from uranium mill tailings is presumed to be respiratory cancer resulting from the inhalation of radon daughter products. A review of studies on inhalation of radon and its daughters indicates that the hazard from the tailings is extremely small. If the assumptions used in the studies are correct, one or two people per year in the US may develop cancer as a result of radon exhaled from all the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Program sites. The remedial action should reduce the hazard from the tailings by a factor of about 100.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 6712622
• Report Number(s): SAND-80-2142
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

054000* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Health & Safety
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
560161 -- Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology-- Man
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACTINIDES
BODY
DAUGHTER PRODUCTS
DISEASES
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELEMENTS
FEED MATERIALS PLANTS
FLUIDS
GASES
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HUMAN POPULATIONS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INHALATION
INTAKE
ISOTOPES
LUNGS
METALS
MILL TAILINGS
NEOPLASMS
NONMETALS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ORGANS
POPULATIONS
RADIATION HAZARDS
RADON
RARE GASES
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
REVIEWS
RISK ASSESSMENT
SOLID WASTES
TAILINGS
URANIUM
WASTES