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1 - Any IAEA document on Radiation Protection is
based, to the extend possible, on the ICRP recommendations, as the IAEA BSS
115.
2 - Please take a look in the ICRP 82 - Protection
of the Public in situations of Prolonged Radiation Exposure.
3 Concerning IAEA doc on
Commodities
A - Radioactivity in Material not requiring Regulation
for Purposes of Radiation Protection DRAFT SAFETY GUIDE DS161, April 2002
- The activity concentrations in this document do
not apply to:
-
foodstuffs, drinking
water, animal feed and any material intended for use in food or
-
animal feed. Specific levels for drinking water are contained
in [5] and specific levels
-
for foodstuffs (applicable up to one year after an accident)
are found in [6];
-
radon, as action levels are
provided in the BSS; and
-
potassium-40 in the
body, which is already excluded from the BSS.
B - Derivation of Scope-Defining Values for Commodities,
April 2002
4) Collective Dose and Risk
Assessment from Brazil Nut Consumption
Radiat. Prot. Dosim. 67(3), pp 229-230
(1996)
G. Hiromoto, J. Oliveira, J.S. Carvalho, R. Vicente and S.A.
Bellintani
Commercial samples of Brazil nut were analysed to determine the natural
radionuclide content and to assess the radiological risk resulting from its
ingestion by members of the general public. Mean values of 1.4 ± 0.4
Bq.kg-1 for 238U, 26.3 ± 4.1 Bq.kg-1 for
226Ra, 4.7 ± 1.8 Bq.kg-1 for 210Pb, 16.5 ± 4.3
Bq.kg-1 for 232Th, 31.3 ± 6.4 Bq.kg-1 for
228Ra and 12.3 ± 5.1 Bq.kg-1 for 228Th were
found in the samples analysed. Taking into account the annual production of
Brazil nuts, the collective committed effective dose resulting from the
ingestion of nuts corresponding to one year of production is estimated to be 8.6
x 102 man.Sv.
5 - About your remark "If you were to
eat a bag of 100-200g of nuts per week" My personal problem
is not the natural radioactivity in the Brazilian Nut, however the
high calorie of this delicious nut.
Jose Julio
Rozental
Israel
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2003 12:21
AM
Subject: RE: Brazil Nut Radwaste
Standard
To add a European view to this, UK Environmental
Legislation has an exemption level of 0.4Bq/g ( 11pCi/g) for
disposal of wastes. As in the US, Brazil nuts are theoretically a
radioactive substance and the man selling them in our local market would be
breaking the law in disposing of them if they weren't Brazil nuts. The
fact he is doing this in an uncontrolled way, and he is selling these
dangerous products for human consumption, says a lot about people's
concern for radioactive materials. They do taste good though.
If you were to eat a bag of 100-200g of nuts per week (not
really a lot, about 30-40 nuts) then your resultant dose in a year has
been estimated to be 0.2 mSv (20mRem)*. 20 mRem with no
controls...
Of more interest may be a DRAFT
IAEA document on commodities that is trying rationalise the international
approach to dealing with trade with materials that are potentially
contaminated with radioactive materials. They have recommended values of 1
Bq/g (27pCi/g) ,10 Bq/g (270 pCi/g) and 100 Bq/g (270 pCi/g) for alpha, long
lived beta, and others isotopes, are used for exempt materials. This a
potential sign that there may be some rationality being applied to this
subject. Whether this gets issued and adopted by our respective governments is
of course the $64K question.
George Sallit
These views are purely my own and do not
represent those of my employer.
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