ESTIMATED POTENTIAL RADIATION DOSE FROM TRITIUM IN GASOLINE PRODUCED FROM OIL SHALE BY USE OF NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVES

摘要

Recovery of oil from shale by use of nuclear explosives has been proposed. The principal radiological impact of this application of nuclear explosives would be expected to result from introduction of tritium into hydrocarbon products, including gasoline. We estimated the potential radiation dose that could result from tritiated gasoline by assuming that all gasoline used in the metropolitan Denver area in 1971 contained 5 microcuries of tritium per gallon. The tritium would be converted to HTO and released from automobile exhausts at ground level. Traffic counts at various locations in the area together withna national average value for gasoline consumption was used to estimate tritium release rates in each of 400 four-km2 areas into which the metropolitan area was divided. This information, together with annual average metrological data from the Denver area, provided input to the AIRDOT computer code which calculates doses from dispersed atmospheric radioactivity releases. The estimated highest potential dose to a continuously exposed individual is 0.006 millirem/year and the potential population dose to 1.06 million people living in the area is 2.3 man-rem/year. These figures can be compared with the estimated background radiation dose from natural sources in Colorado of 164.6 millirem/year which results in a population dose to 1.06 million people of 175,000 man-rem/year.