[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
RE: Krypton-85
Oh--so YOU'RE the one who started this collective dose garbage. :-) The
criticism should have been heeded by others.
Jack Earley
Radiological Engineer
-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Cohen [mailto:jjcohen@PRODIGY.NET]
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 7:29 PM
To: Franz Schoenhofer; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject: Re: Krypton-85
Franz,
Thank you for the information on current Kr-85 release practices. My
curiosity was aroused recently when , while rummaging through some old
files, I found a paper on the subject that I gave at a 1973 conference on
the noble gases. This paper indicated that Kr-85 release might be the most
serious radiological consequence of the nuclear fuel cycle. I had predicted
that assuming reasonably ambitious development of nuclear power, including
fuel reprocessing, total release of Kr-85 to the atmosphere would result in
an average global dose of about 0.1 mrem/a by year 2000. Assuming a world
population of ~2 billion, the collective dose would be ~200,000 person-rem
per year. A criticism of the approach was that it was like multiplying zero
times infinity and assuming the result to be meaningful.
Back then I was naive enough to believe that LNT might actually be a
reasonable concept. Of course, I no longer believe in LNT, but I still
think that those who do believe in LNT ought to worry about Kr-85 releases
to the atmosphere. Apparently, they don't. Jerry
----- Original Message -----
From: Franz Schoenhofer <franz.schoenhofer@chello.at>
To: Jerry Cohen <jjcohen@PRODIGY.NET>; <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 4:27 AM
Subject: Re: Krypton-85
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Jerry Cohen <jjcohen@PRODIGY.NET>
An: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>
Datum: Samstag, 23. Februar 2002 21:24
Betreff: Krypton-85
At the operating fuel reprocessing plants in Europe, are they retaining &
storing noble gases such as
Kr-85, or releasing them to the atmosphere? Could anyone provide
information on this? Thank you.
----------------------------------------------------------------
I read your mail after I had been four weeks in Japan. Maybe you have
already received comprehensive information.
Both Sellafield and La Hague do not retain Kr-85, but discharge it. The new
reprocessing plant at Rokkasho in Japan, which I visited 10 days ago, will
not retain it either after operation will start. The small experimental
Japanese reprocessing plant in Tokai discharges it.
Germany once planned to construct a reprocessing plant in Wackersdorf,
Bavaria. This plant would most probably have been equipped with a removal
system for Kr-85 - not so much because of radiation protection
considerations, but more of political reasons to please the Austrian
government, which pleaded for one. The Nuclear Research Center in Karlsruhe
had developed two or three methods for removing it on a large scale,
together with elegant methods to immobilize it and store it safely for
decay. The Wackersdorf plant was cancelled about 15 years ago.
I have to admit, that I do not really know about reprocessing for military
purposes in France and Great Britain, but would be more than surprised if
they would separate Kr-85. During the cold war the superpowers used the
Kr-85 concentrations in air to estimate, how much plutonium the "enemy"
produced!
Hope this helps.
Franz
************************************************************************
You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,
send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the text "unsubscribe
radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.
You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/
************************************************************************
You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,
send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the text "unsubscribe
radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.
You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/