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Health effects of airborne effluents released from the nuclear cycle (1983)

Author
Date	1983
Classification	6.01.4.80/09 (RADIATION - DISCUSSION ON LOW-LEVEL RADIATION)
Front

1. INTRODUCTION

It is well known that in nuclear plants and more generally in the so-called "nuclear
cycle" large quantities of radioactive substances are produced. Thus raising the
problem of the health effects due to effluent release into the biosphere.
The general approach to coping with the problem, developed over the years under
the guidance of the International Commission on Radiological Protection ICRP, 1958,
1959, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1977), has led to a twofold policy. On the one hand,
whenever reasonably achievable, the procedure is to concentrate and to isolate from
the biosphere, as far as possible, the radioactive substances: on, the other hand,
when the alternative appears impracticable or too costly, such substances are diluted
and dispersed into the environment CNEA. 1977).
In this second case, the release is in principle subject to the condition that nowhere
in the environment must the prescribed dose limits or the derived operative limits
and in particular the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) be exceeded (see. e.g .,
ICRP. 1959; European Atomic Energy Commission (EURATOM), 1976; Italian Health
Ministry, 1968, 1971). In practice this condition requires the adoption of
sophisticateddispersion models (see for instance Turner, 1973; Cagnetti and Ferrara.
1980; Bottino et al ., 1982) based on a manifold analysis: meteorological, geological,
hydrological, etc. The outcome is the determination of the environmental receptivity,
for each radionuclide, defined as .. the quantity of the nuclide which can be released
in the environment in a given time without exceeding the dose limits deemed
acceptable .. (Comitato Nazionale Energia Nucleare (Italy) (CNEN), 1973: Bramati
1977) and eventually of a "discharge formula" (see, for instance, Commission of
European Communities, 1978) fulfilling, within the given approximation, the required
condition.

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