Analysis of the Human Biohazard of Long-Lived Fission Products and Actinides for BREST-OD-300 Spent Fuel

• Published in: Atomic energy (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2017-12, Vol.123 (2), p.122-126
• Main Authors: Spiridonov, S. I., Perevolotskii, A. N., Perevolotskaya, T. V., Aleksakhin, R. M., Spirin, E. V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Actinides; AMERICIUM; Biohazards; BREST-OD-300 REACTOR; CESIUM 137; Cesium isotopes; Cesium radioisotopes; Earth surface; Ecological balance; Ecology; Energy industry; FISSILE MATERIALS; FISSION PRODUCTS; Fissionable materials; Hadrons; Heavy Ions; Migration; Nuclear Chemistry; Nuclear Energy; Nuclear fuel cycle; NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; Nuclear fuels; Nuclear Physics; Nuclear power plants; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; RADIATION DOSES; RADIOACTIVE WASTES; Radioisotopes; RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION; Safety and security measures; Soil surfaces; SPENT FUELS; Spent nuclear fuels; Spent reactor fuels; Strontium; STRONTIUM 90; Strontium radioisotopes; Technetium; TECHNETIUM 99; URANIUM
• ISSN: 1063-4258; 1573-8205
• DOI: 10.1007/s10512-017-0312-2

The aim of this work is to perform a comparative analysis of the biohazard for the population of long-lived fission products and actinides from BREST-OD-300 reactor spent fuel taking account of the time required for different radionuclides to reach Earth’s surface by migrating from a deep disposal site. It was found that the biohazard of fission products is significantly greater than that of actinides for a long time (20000 years according to the accepted scenario of radionuclide migration). The radiological impact on the population is predicted after 99 Tc – radionuclide with high migration capability – reaches the soil surface. 137 Cs and 90 Sr will not appreciably affect the dose load because of their relatively short half-life. In order to maintain radio-ecological balance between long-lived wastes and native uranium during the entire possible time period, it is sufficient to extract from the BREST-OD-300 spent fuel 90% of the technetium and 75% of the americium with 99.9% of the fissile materials extracted.