Bounding uncertainties around the conceptual representation of species in radiological assessment in the context of routine atmospheric release.
Autor: | Charrasse B; CEA, DES, IRESNE, DTN, Cadarache, F-13108 Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France., Mora JC; Environment Department, CIEMAT, Avda. Complutense, 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain., Anderson T; Radiation Assessments Department, Public Health England-Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Chilton, Didcot, OX11 0RQ Oxon, United Kingdom., Bonchuk Y; Ukrainian Radiation Protection Institute, 53, Melnykova str., 04050 Kyiv, Ukraine., Telleria D; IAEA Assessment and Management of Environmental Releases Unit, Wagramer Str. 5, PO Box 100, 1400 Vienna, Austria. |
---|---|
Jazyk: | angličtina |
Zdroj: | Journal of radiological protection : official journal of the Society for Radiological Protection [J Radiol Prot] 2022 Mar 29; Vol. 42 (2). Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Mar 29. |
DOI: | 10.1088/1361-6498/ac5dd1 |
Abstrakt: | Wildlife protection has become of regulatory interest since the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) developed an approach to assess the level of radiological protection specifically for animals and plants. For the purpose of demonstrating compliance with regulation to protect the environment against routine authorised discharges from nuclear facilities, the wide variety of biota inhabiting an ecosystem needs to be condensed to a limited set of representative organisms, as proposed by the ICRP with a set of 'reference animals and plants' which can be considered representative of many other species. It is now recommended in the International Atomic Energy Agency Safety Standards, and internationally accepted, that the use of such a limited number of organisms to represent a pool of species is adequate for radiation protection purposes, particularly in planned exposure situations. Adding site-specific species to that set of surrogate species can respond to various interests, such as ensuring a site-specific context to the assessment that addresses stakeholder interests and can aid in stakeholder consultation and risk communication. Moreover, there is a need to question whether the use of the set of surrogate organisms is conservative enough to cover a wider range of biodiversity. Previous studies partially answered this question and this paper adds a range of test cases. A selection of hypothetical representations of possible site-specific species are assessed on the basis of possible variations in size (mass) and occupancy habits. Dose rates are evaluated to determine the greatest difference between hypothetical organisms and those for reference organisms (ROs), considering radionuclides (RNs) potentially discharged in atmospheric routine release from different nuclear facilities. Differences observed in the results between hypothetical organisms and ROs were less than one order of magnitude in all cases, the difference being dependent on the RNs considered. These findings do not preclude the inclusion of site-specific species in environmental radiological assessments if it is considered necessary, but they provide reassurance that using ROs for radiological impact assessments in the case of routine atmospheric discharges is sufficient. (© 2022 Society for Radiological Protection. Published on behalf of SRP by IOP Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.) |
Databáze: | MEDLINE |
Externí odkaz: |