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Title: An Overview of the Regulation of Low Dose Radiation in the Nuclear and Non-nuclear Industries

Abstract

Now that increasing numbers of nuclear power stations are reaching the end of their commercially useful lives, the management of the large quantities of very low level radioactive material that arises during their decommissioning has become a major subject of discussion, with very significant economic implications. Much of this material can, in an environmentally advantageous manner, be recycled for reuse without radiological restrictions. Much larger quantities--2-3 orders of magnitude larger--of material, radiologically similar to the candidate material for recycling from the nuclear industry, arise in non-nuclear industries like coal, fertilizer, oil and gas, mining, etc. In such industries, naturally occurring radioactivity is artificially concentrated in products, by-products or waste to form TENORM (Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material). It is only in the last decade that the international community has become aware of the prevalence of TENORM, specially the activity levels and quantities arising in so many non-nuclear industries. The first reaction of international organizations seems to have been to propose different standards for the nuclear and non-nuclear industries, with very stringent release criteria for radioactive material from the regulated nuclear industry and up to thirty to a hundred times more liberal criteria for the release/exemption of TENORM from themore » as yet unregulated non-nuclear industries. There are significant strategic issues that need to be discussed and resolved. Some examples of these are: - Disposal aspects of long-lived nuclides, - The use of radioactive residues in building materials, - Commercial aspects of differing and discriminating criteria in competing power industries in a world of deregulated electric power production. Of even greater importance is the need for the discussion of certain basic issues, such as - The quantitative risk levels of exposure to ionizing radiation, - The need for in-depth studies on populations of the naturally high background dose level areas of the world, - The validity of the various calculation codes currently used to arrive at mass specific clearance levels for redundant material. The paper discusses these and other strategic issues regarding the management of redundant low radiation material from both the nuclear and non-nuclear industries, underlining the need for consistency in regulatory treatment.« less

Authors:
; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
OECD/NEA Co-operative Program on Decommissioning, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (DE); Belgoprocess (BE)
Sponsoring Org.:
WM Symposia, Inc. (US)
OSTI Identifier:
825761
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: Waste Management 2003 Symposium, Tucson, AZ (US), 02/23/2003--02/27/2003; Other Information: PBD: 27 Feb 2003
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS; ACTIVITY LEVELS; BUILDING MATERIALS; ELECTRIC POWER; INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS; IONIZING RADIATIONS; ISOTOPES; MANAGEMENT; NUCLEAR INDUSTRY; NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS; RADIATIONS; RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS; REGULATIONS; WASTE MANAGEMENT; WASTES

Citation Formats

Menon, Shankar, Valencia, Luis, and Teunckens, Lucien. An Overview of the Regulation of Low Dose Radiation in the Nuclear and Non-nuclear Industries. United States: N. p., 2003. Web.
Menon, Shankar, Valencia, Luis, & Teunckens, Lucien. An Overview of the Regulation of Low Dose Radiation in the Nuclear and Non-nuclear Industries. United States.
Menon, Shankar, Valencia, Luis, and Teunckens, Lucien. 2003. "An Overview of the Regulation of Low Dose Radiation in the Nuclear and Non-nuclear Industries". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/825761.
@article{osti_825761,
title = {An Overview of the Regulation of Low Dose Radiation in the Nuclear and Non-nuclear Industries},
author = {Menon, Shankar and Valencia, Luis and Teunckens, Lucien},
abstractNote = {Now that increasing numbers of nuclear power stations are reaching the end of their commercially useful lives, the management of the large quantities of very low level radioactive material that arises during their decommissioning has become a major subject of discussion, with very significant economic implications. Much of this material can, in an environmentally advantageous manner, be recycled for reuse without radiological restrictions. Much larger quantities--2-3 orders of magnitude larger--of material, radiologically similar to the candidate material for recycling from the nuclear industry, arise in non-nuclear industries like coal, fertilizer, oil and gas, mining, etc. In such industries, naturally occurring radioactivity is artificially concentrated in products, by-products or waste to form TENORM (Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material). It is only in the last decade that the international community has become aware of the prevalence of TENORM, specially the activity levels and quantities arising in so many non-nuclear industries. The first reaction of international organizations seems to have been to propose different standards for the nuclear and non-nuclear industries, with very stringent release criteria for radioactive material from the regulated nuclear industry and up to thirty to a hundred times more liberal criteria for the release/exemption of TENORM from the as yet unregulated non-nuclear industries. There are significant strategic issues that need to be discussed and resolved. Some examples of these are: - Disposal aspects of long-lived nuclides, - The use of radioactive residues in building materials, - Commercial aspects of differing and discriminating criteria in competing power industries in a world of deregulated electric power production. Of even greater importance is the need for the discussion of certain basic issues, such as - The quantitative risk levels of exposure to ionizing radiation, - The need for in-depth studies on populations of the naturally high background dose level areas of the world, - The validity of the various calculation codes currently used to arrive at mass specific clearance levels for redundant material. The paper discusses these and other strategic issues regarding the management of redundant low radiation material from both the nuclear and non-nuclear industries, underlining the need for consistency in regulatory treatment.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/825761}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Feb 27 00:00:00 EST 2003},
month = {Thu Feb 27 00:00:00 EST 2003}
}

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