Abstract. In January 2009, the IAEA EMRAS II (Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety II) program was launched. The goal of the program is to develop, compare and test models for the assessment of radiological impacts to the public and the environment due to radionuclides being released or already existing in the environment; to help countries build and harmonize their capabilities; and to model the movement of radionuclides in the environment. Within EMRAS II, nine working groups are active; this paper will focus on the activities of Working Group 1: Reference Methodologies for Controlling Discharges of Routine Releases. Within this working group environmental transfer and dose assessment models are tested under different scenarios by participating countries and the results compared. This process allows each participating country to identify characteristics of their models that need to be refined. The goal of this working group is to identify reference methodologies for the assessment of exposures to the public due to routine discharges of radionuclides to the terrestrial and aquatic environments. Several different models are being applied to estimate the transfer of radionuclides in the environment for various scenarios. The first phase of the project involves a scenario of nuclear power reactor with a coastal location which routinely (continuously) discharges 60 Co, 85 Kr, 131 I, and 137 Cs to the atmosphere and 60 Co, 137 Cs, and 90 Sr to the marine environment. In this scenario many of the parameters and characteristics of the representative group were given to the modellers and cannot be altered. Various models have been used by the different participants in this inter-comparison (PC-CREAM, CROM, IMPACT, CLRP POSEIDON, SYMBIOSE and others). This first scenario is to enable a comparison of the radionuclide transport and dose modelling. These scenarios will facilitate the development of reference methodologies for controlled discharges.
This work aimed to estimate the radiation doses to humans and non-human biota arising from the operation of the atomic centre Centro Atómico Ezeiza (CAE), Buenos Aires, Argentina. To this end, atmospheric and liquid average discharges for the period 2014–2016, corresponding to all the facilities of the CAE in normal operation were considered. The PC-CREAM 08 and CROM8 codes were applied taking into account local characteristics and reference values. The radiation doses to both humans and non-human biota estimated were considerably lower than the values recommended to protect people and the environment. Thus, it is possible to conclude that both the environment and the human population near the CAE are extremely unlikely to experience any harmful radiological effects caused by the operation of this atomic centre.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.