On the use of reference areas for prospective dose assessments on populations of wildlife for planned atmospheric discharges around nuclear installations

Lightning rod system: mathematical analysis using the rolling sphere method

“…Depending on the geographical location of the country in which the design of the protection system against atmospheric discharges is carried out, different ways can be found to carry out the design and calculation of the protection or shielding system [9], [10], but be it whichever method is used, in general, all are based on the distance traveled by the ray tracer to contact the surface to determine the protected area [11]. The distance traveled by the ray tracer is determined considering the risk level of the structure.…”

“…Although there are standards and techniques to determine the protection systems against atmospheric discharges [9]- [16], this research work focuses its main objective on the mathematical development of the rolling sphere method, also known as the electro-geometric method, to determine the equations that they govern the behavior of the protection system and thus precisely determine the safe protection area under the electrodes or lightning rod. Usually, the electro-geometric method is used graphically [17], [18].…”

“…Where, 0 < fs < 1 From the previous equation, it is possible to solve for the design separation Ld, and we obtain (9).…”

Radiological impact of the atomic centre Centro Atómico Ezeiza on humans and non-human biota

“…However, very few include reference values for acceptable levels of dose rate in non-human biota in their legislation or require explicit dose calculations. Until now, the only explicit assessment of absorbed dose rates delivered to non-human biota from an Argentine installation was that made for the chronic atmospheric discharges from the Atucha Nuclear Power Plant, Buenos Aires province [14]. Thus, the aim of the present work was to estimate the radiation doses to humans and non-human biota from atmospheric and liquid chronic discharges from the atomic center Centro Atómico Ezeiza (CAE), located in Buenos Aires province.…”

“…Taking into account the recommendations of [13], a reference area of 100-400 km 2 around the installation should be considered to calculate the spatially averaged environmental concentrations to which the biota are exposed. The impact of the choice of the reference area on the average environmental concentrations has been previously studied in [14]. The external component of the absorbed dose rate ( ḊRAP−ext ) is expressed in mGy d −1 and can be estimated using the following equation [14,18,19]:…”