Radiological Consequences of Notional Accidental Releases of Radioactivity from Fast Breeder Reactors: Sensitivity to the Choice of Atmospheric Dispersion Model

摘要

The radiological consequences of a wide range of notional accidental releases from a 1300 MW(e) LMFBR were assessed in a study published in 1977 (NRPB - R53). In that study representative values were in general adopted for each of the important parameters while recognising that in reality they could vary considerably. The present study is concerned with the sensitivity of the predicted consequences to the choice of atmospheric dispersion models. A comparison is made of the air concentrations predicted by a number of atmospheric models (which have found broad application) for releases of activity in selected meteorological conditions. The implications, in terms of the radiological consequences of particular releases, of differences in the air concentrations predicted by the respective models are assessed semi-quantitatively. In general the radiological consequences are shown to be relatively insensitive to the choice of atmospheric dispersion model. This is particularly so for the incidence of late biological effects; for early biological effects the sensitivity is more pronounced although of the models considered, that adopted in the initial study would yield results at the upper end of the predicted range. (Atomindex citation 11:541293)