Quantitative Assessment of Gaseous Effluents during Routine Operation: A Comparative Study of Planned Nuclear Power Plants at Lubiatowo-Kopalino and Pątnów Sites in Poland

On September 2021, Polish government declared that six pressurized water reactors with combined capacity of 6–9 GWe will be built by 2040 to reduce Poland’s reliance on coal. Due to the adopted schedule, construction of the first nuclear power plant will begin in 2026, with the first reactor capacity of 1–1.6 GWe to be operational in 2033. The Polish authorities announced in 2022 the selection of two locations and technologies for Poland’s first commercial nuclear power plants. Westinghouse AP1000 reactor was selected by Polish government to be built as the first plant in the location of Lubiatowo-Kopalino, on the coast of the country. In the meantime, Poland’s ZE PAK, Polska Grupa Energetyczna, and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power have signed the letter of intent to collaborate on the project that evaluates the feasibility of building South Korean APR1400 on Pątnów site in central Poland. The objective of this study was to acquire and examine the gaseous effluents released during the standard operation of the AP1000 and APR1400 reactor technologies, with the primary goal of focusing on estimating the potential exposure of the general public. The effluents were calculated by using the GALE code based on each nuclear reactor technical specification. The obtained results were compared with those included in the Design Control Document for each reactor. Subsequently, the HotSpot software was used to calculate the radiation risk for downwind areas by utilizing GALE code results as source terms together with specific meteorological data corresponding for each localization. The results for AP1000 at Lubiatowo-Kopalino site and for APR1400 at Pątnów site were analysed and compared in the study. As the study findings were evaluated with the Polish radiation limits for the general public, all doses remained below the legal thresholds. With no previous alike studies conducted, this research begins the analysis of radiation impacts associated with the planned nuclear power plant in Poland during normal operation.