Management of Commercially Generated Radioactive Waste - U.S. ...

4.84
(those to which nearly all workers may be repeatedly exposed without adverse effect), and
naturally occurring gaseous concentrations. Consequently, no detrimental effects are
anticipated.
Water withdrawn from the R River for waste management facility operation is not
expected to have adverse effects on local water supplies.
4.7.2.3 Radiological Effects of Reprocessing Fuel Cycle Waste Management
During planned operation of the waste management facilities, the only exposure pathway
to man is via airborne effluents; there are no planned releases to the ground or water. For
transportation of radioactive wastes under normal circumstances, no radioactive materials
will be released via any pathway. However, individuals will receive doses from the direct
radiation from passing rail and truck shipments.
A summary of the 70-year whole-body doses to the regional population for the individual
waste management activities at the example facilities is given in Table 4.7.7.
Ninety percent of the 70-year whole-body dose to the regional population from waste
management operations results from releases from the off-gas system at the FRP. The example
system, which partially collects volatilized ruthenium, iodine, carbon and krypton, results
in a 70-year whole-body dose to the regional population of 8300 man-rem. Should carbon and
krypton be totally released, the dose would be increased to 9900 man-rem, while no treat-
ment, i.e., release of volatilized ruthenium, iodine, carbon and krypton would increase the
whole-body dose to 1.6 x 104 man-rem and result in a thyroid dose of 1 x 10 6 man-rem. The
annual thyroid dose to the maximum individual from FRP off-gas effluents without treatment
would be 0.16 rem compared to 0.002 rem with treatment. Use of the example system provides
reasonable assurance that 8 5 Kr and 1291 releases per gigawatt-year will be within limits
specified in 40 CFR 190.
The example krypton collection and storage system reduces the worldwide 70-year total
body dose due to 8 5 Kr from 2.4 x 105 man-rem to 3.6 x 104 man-rem per FRP. Thus 2.0 x 105
man-rem of exposure is saved by concentrating and storing krypton. The present worth dollar
cost of this savings is estimated to be $230 million; the cost per man-rem saved is thus
approximately $1200. If krypton were totally released during reprocessing, the number of
health effects expected to result from the 8 5 Kr radiation would be 24 to 190 per FRP.
Implementation of the example krypton collection and storage system would reduce the
expected number of health effects to 4 to 29 per FRP. This reduction of from 20 to 160
health effects may be compared to an estimated 60 disabling injuries and about 1 death per
FRP resulting from construction of the krypton collection and storage facilities.
The 70-year whole-body dose to the worldwide population for the example treatment pro-
cesses at one FRP and one MOX-FFP is 2 x 10 5 man-rem, which is less than 10 - 5 of the dose
due to naturally occurring sources during the same 70-year period.
No significant releases of radioactive material are expected during transportation of
the packaged wastes under normal operating circumstances. However, members of the transport
work force and of the population along the shipping route will receive dose from the direct
radiation from the shipments. These doses to the regional population are estimated to be