Assessment of the Radiological Significance of Accidental Releases of Radionuclides to Coastal Waters

摘要

Methods are described which enable the radiological consequences of an accidental release of activity to an estuary or sea to be assessed, assuming the release is in the same physical and chemical form as routine discharges. Critical group and collective exposures are considered for the most important seafood ingestion and external radiation pathways. Detailed consideration is given to the interaction of activity with marine sediments, and this enables a more realistic description of any resulting radiation exposure to be given than is possible by using existing mathematical models more suited to extended releases of radionuclides. The methods employed constitute an interesting use of a powerful technique involving the numerical inversion of Laplace transformed quantities. (ERA citation 13:008849)