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APPENDIX IV
EXAMPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
PROGRAMMES
ARGENTINA
Environmental monitoring in the neighbourhood of the
Atucha Nuclear Power Station
1. Introduction
The purpose of the environmental monitoring programme
described below is to check that the Basic Safety Standards and the
ICRP recommendations are being properly observed as regards
exposure of the public during normal operation of the power station.
Monitoring is not an end in itself, but is merely a technique
employed in radiological protection. An essential component of
the monitoring programme is, therefore, that the results should be
interpreted in the light of the ICRP recommendations. The latter
recommendations include 'dose-equivalent limits' and radionuclide
'uptake lim its', and these can be used in interpreting the monitoring
results.
Many of the measurements performed in a monitoring programme
cannot be expressed directly in terms that are comparable with the
recommended ICRP limits. To interpret these results one needs
to use an 'exposure model', which establishes a quantitative relation
between the measured quantities and the resulting dose-equivalents
of radiation. The expression 'Derived Working Limits' (DWL)
describes those values of the monitored quantities that correspond
in the exposure model to the dose limits recommended by ICRP.
In view of the 'super-safe' hypothesis applied in selecting the
'exposure model1, observance of the DWL values gives the virtual
certainty that the recommended ICRP dose limits are observed as
well.
It should be stressed, nevertheless, that environmental monitoring
is not in itself sufficient to ensure adequate protection of the
public. This type of monitoring should be accompanied by suitable
'monitoring of release', in order to be able to estimate the resulting
doses in cases where the environmental levels are difficult to
measure or to distinguish from radioactive fall-out.
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