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Monte Carlo program to calculate the exposure rate from airborne radioactive gases inside a nuclear reactor containment building

Journal Article · · Health Phys.; (United States)
A program was developed to calculate the exposure rate resulting from airborne gases inside a reactor containment building. The calculations were performed at the location of a wall-mounted area radiation monitor. The program uses Monte Carlo techniques and accounts for both the direct and scattered components of the radiation field at the detector. The scattered component was found to contribute about 30% of the total exposure rate at 50 keV and dropped to about 7% at 2000 keV. The results of the calculations were normalized to unit activity per unit volume of air in the containment. This allows the exposure rate readings of the area monitor to be used to estimate the airborne activity in containment in the early phases of an accident. Such estimates, coupled with containment leak rates, provide a method to obtain a release rate for use in offsite dose projection calculations.
Research Organization:
Porter Consultants Inc., Ardmore, PA
OSTI ID:
6890772
Journal Information:
Health Phys.; (United States), Journal Name: Health Phys.; (United States) Vol. 6; ISSN HLTPA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English