An Overview of the Regulation of Low Dose Radiation in the Nuclear andNon-nuclear Industries

摘要

Now that increasing numbers of nuclear power stations are reaching the end of their commerciallyuseful lives, the management of the large quantities of very low level radioactive material that arisesduring their decommissioning has become a major subject of discussion, with very significanteconomic implications. Much of this material can, in an environmentally advantageous manner, berecycled for reuse without radiological restrictions. Much larger quantities – 2-3 orders of magnitudelarger – of material, radiologically similar to the candidate material for recycling from the nuclearindustry, arise in non-nuclear industries like coal, fertiliser, oil and gas, mining, etc. In such industries,naturally occurring radioactivity is artificially concentrated in products, by-products or waste to formTENORM (Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material).It is only in the last decade that the international community has become aware of the prevalence ofTENORM, specially the activity levels and quantities arising in so many non-nuclear industries. Thefirst reaction of international organisations seems to have been to propose different standards for thenuclear and non-nuclear industries, with very stringent release criteria for radioactive material fromthe regulated nuclear industry and up to thirty to a hundred times more liberal criteria for therelease/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 theseare:?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 aworld 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 ionising radiation,?The need for in-depth studies on populations of the naturally high background dose level areasof the world,?The validity of the various calculation codes currently used to arrive at mass specific clearancelevels for redundant material.The paper discusses these and other strategic issues regarding the management of redundant lowradiation material from both the nuclear and non-nuclear industries, underlining the need forconsistency in regulatory treatment.