Hwapyoung Kim, Tae Young Kong, Seongjun Kim, Jinho Son, Changju Song, Jiung Kim, Hee Geun Kim
{"title":"Analysis of carbon-14 discharges from Korean nuclear power plants","authors":"Hwapyoung Kim, Tae Young Kong, Seongjun Kim, Jinho Son, Changju Song, Jiung Kim, Hee Geun Kim","doi":"10.1002/ese3.1849","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The routine practice accompanying the operation of nuclear facilities involves the discharge of radioactive effluents from nuclear power plants (NPPs). Regulation of this discharge to the environment hinges on three criteria: radioactivity concentration, public dose, and radioactivity. Among these, radioactive carbon-14 holds particular significance as it possesses an extensive half-life of 5730 years, making it a primary source of radiation dose to communities residing around NPPs. In Korea, the monitoring of carbon-14 discharges from pressurized water reactors (PWRs) in gaseous effluents has been ongoing since 2012, whereas before 2012, monitoring exclusively focused on carbon-14 discharges from pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs). Analysis of carbon-14 discharges from Korean PHWRs indicates that their emission constituted less than 1% of total radioactive effluents over the past two decades. In the context of Korean PWRs, carbon-14 discharge monitoring was absent from 2002 to 2011, resulting in an absence of data regarding such discharges during that period. After introducing carbon-14 discharge monitoring in gaseous effluents from Korean PWRs, emissions from 2012 to 2021 contributed 3% of the total gaseous effluents. These findings indicate that despite being the primary contributor to public dose, carbon-14 discharges from NPPs constitute a minor portion of the radioactive effluent discharge.</p>","PeriodicalId":11673,"journal":{"name":"Energy Science & Engineering","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ese3.1849","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Energy Science & Engineering","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ese3.1849","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENERGY & FUELS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The routine practice accompanying the operation of nuclear facilities involves the discharge of radioactive effluents from nuclear power plants (NPPs). Regulation of this discharge to the environment hinges on three criteria: radioactivity concentration, public dose, and radioactivity. Among these, radioactive carbon-14 holds particular significance as it possesses an extensive half-life of 5730 years, making it a primary source of radiation dose to communities residing around NPPs. In Korea, the monitoring of carbon-14 discharges from pressurized water reactors (PWRs) in gaseous effluents has been ongoing since 2012, whereas before 2012, monitoring exclusively focused on carbon-14 discharges from pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs). Analysis of carbon-14 discharges from Korean PHWRs indicates that their emission constituted less than 1% of total radioactive effluents over the past two decades. In the context of Korean PWRs, carbon-14 discharge monitoring was absent from 2002 to 2011, resulting in an absence of data regarding such discharges during that period. After introducing carbon-14 discharge monitoring in gaseous effluents from Korean PWRs, emissions from 2012 to 2021 contributed 3% of the total gaseous effluents. These findings indicate that despite being the primary contributor to public dose, carbon-14 discharges from NPPs constitute a minor portion of the radioactive effluent discharge.
期刊介绍:
Energy Science & Engineering is a peer reviewed, open access journal dedicated to fundamental and applied research on energy and supply and use. Published as a co-operative venture of Wiley and SCI (Society of Chemical Industry), the journal offers authors a fast route to publication and the ability to share their research with the widest possible audience of scientists, professionals and other interested people across the globe. Securing an affordable and low carbon energy supply is a critical challenge of the 21st century and the solutions will require collaboration between scientists and engineers worldwide. This new journal aims to facilitate collaboration and spark innovation in energy research and development. Due to the importance of this topic to society and economic development the journal will give priority to quality research papers that are accessible to a broad readership and discuss sustainable, state-of-the art approaches to shaping the future of energy. This multidisciplinary journal will appeal to all researchers and professionals working in any area of energy in academia, industry or government, including scientists, engineers, consultants, policy-makers, government officials, economists and corporate organisations.