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

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7.4 SYSTEM RADIOLOGICAL IMPACTS<br />

7.38<br />

Both the regional and worldwide 70-year whole-body dose accumulations from normal oper-<br />

ations for the proposed program, the alternative program, and the no-action alternative are<br />

compared for the once-through cycle in Table 7.4.1. Somewhat higher dose accumulations are<br />

indicated for the alternative program than for the proposed program. However, the differ-<br />

ences are not large enough to be significant. The dose accumulation for the no-action<br />

alternative is somewhat less than for the other alternatives, but considering the time<br />

period involved, the differences are not significant. (There is a limit to how long spent<br />

fuel can be safely stored in water basins without further treatment. The assumption here<br />

is that this limit is not reached within the time frame <strong>of</strong> this analysis.) As would be<br />

expected, thu dose increases with increasing size <strong>of</strong> the nuclear systems served.<br />

TABLE 7.4.1. Comparison <strong>of</strong> 70-Year Whole-Body Dose Accumulations from Normal Operations<br />

for the Program Alternatives Using the Once-Through Cycle, man-rem<br />

Proposed Program Alternative Program<br />

(Geologic Disposal (Disposal Starting<br />

Nuclear Power Starting 1990 - 2010) 2010 - 2030) No-Action Alternative<br />

Case Growth Assumption Regional Worldwide Regional Worldwide Regional Worldwide<br />

1 Present Inventory<br />

Only 36 48 36 48 0.2 4<br />

2 Present Capacity 200 to 290 to 250 to 370 to<br />

Normal Life 250 370 260 380 90 160<br />

3 250 GWe System by<br />

Year 2000 and 940 to 1400 to 1200 to 1800 to<br />

Normal Life 1200 1800 1300 1900 480 800<br />

4 250 GWe System by<br />

Year 2000 and<br />

Steady State 1400 2100 1800 2600 NA(a) NA<br />

5 500 GWe system by<br />

Year 2040 1900 2800 2400 3400 NA NA<br />

Dose Accumulation<br />

from Natural Rad- 7 10 7 10 7 10<br />

iation Sources 1 x 10 4.5 x 10 1 x 10 4.5 x 10 1 x 10 4.5 x 10<br />

(a) NA = not applicable.<br />

The regional and worldwide 70-year whole-body dose accumulations from normal operations<br />

for the proposed and alternative programs are compared for the case <strong>of</strong> reprocessing in<br />

Table 7.4.2. (The no-action alternative is not a consideration here because we assume that<br />

reprocessing would not be undertaken in that alternative.) The doses are much larger here<br />

than in the once-through cycle. However, considering the time period over which the dose<br />

is accumulated and comparing it to the dose to the regional and worldwide population that<br />

results from naturally occurring sources during the same period, 1 x 107 man-rem and<br />

4.5 x 1010 man-rem, respectively, the dose is only a small fraction <strong>of</strong> the naturally occur-<br />

ring dose even in the highest nuclear growth case (Case 5); i.e., 0.5% <strong>of</strong> the regional dose

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