WILL THE NEXT RELEASE OF RADIATION KILL POWER OFF?
Author Robert Hargraves via RealClear Wire,
July 10, 2023
Two AP1000 nuclear power reactors are operating in Georgia, and several joint ventures are developing next-generation reactors. The prospects for more nuclear power look bright. But will there be an incident in the future that will leak radioactive material out? Yes, perfection is impossible; plane crash.
Would such a radioactive event kill off nuclear power, like the harmless accident at Three Mile Island?
Yes, if we are guided by unfounded fear. Regulators declare any exposure to radiation potentially harmful and therefore set unreasonably low limits. Media headlines scare people about any radioactive leak, no matter how small. This article will compare current regulatory limits with published, proposed protective actions to avoid harm to the public following radiation from a nuclear reactor incident.
Ionizing radiation causes harm by displacing electrons, breaking molecular bonds in cells. It is measured in Sieverts (Sv) or Grays, which is watt-seconds of energy absorbed per kilogram of body weight. A strong, short dose of 10 Sv can be deadly, 1 Sv carries a risk of acute radiation sickness, and such a dose above 0.1 Sv may slightly increase future cancer risk.
US regulations limit annual public radiation exposure from nuclear energy to 0.001 Sv. Limit 100 times smaller than a short, intensive dose maybe carcinogenic and 1000 times smaller than required medical attention. This huge margin of safety was created politically by reducing the limits to reassure those in fear, but as a result most people consider 0.001 Sv to be dangerous. Worse, regulators exaggerate fears with ALARA (lowest reasonably achievable), claims even lower exposures can cause cancer.
The regulator’s 0.001 Sv limit counts not only a single dose, but all of the radiation absorbed for an entire year, as if harm were cumulative without any biological correction for the year. In fact, repair takes place at the DNA, cellular, and tissue levels over a period of hours to days. ADN Repair begins seconds to minutes after exposure and cell repair within hours. How long does it take for your cut finger to heal?
Radiation from the explosions of three Fukushima nuclear reactors killed no citizens, but the Japanese government was killed More than 1,600 people were forced to evacuate unnecessarily. To prevent such mistakes in the future, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published Action to protect the public during an emergency due to extreme conditions at the light water reactor to protect the public from physical radiation harm, avoid fear-based harm based on regulatory authority limits. This written advice from the IAEA is directed at accident scene responders working to protect the life and health of people, regardless of radiation limits issued by officials. .
Figure 1 helps guide accident response teams and the public. IAEA blue SAFE FOR EVERYONE, year, the dose rate is 25 microSv/hour. The rate of dose exposure to this radiation for the whole year totals 0.2 Sv, 200X the limit of the regulator is 0.001 Sv/year, but it’s safe because the body repairs damage much faster than the 25 microSv/hour that damages it.
by Jack Devanney sub stack The article tabulates the observed harms and doses of radiation to actual people in many studies. He observed that dose rates below 0.01 Sv/day did not exhibit detectable, statistically significant harm. The body’s intrinsic repair rate exceeds the rate of radiation damage. Using a 10:1 safety margin, he suggested a safety limit of 0.001 Sv/day. This is 40 microSv/hr, which is close to the IAEA SAFE PERSON rate of 25 microSv/hr.
CHERNOBYL. The deadly Chernobyl accident; 30 on-site workers with concentrated doses above 2 Sv died. Cleaning workers exposed to 0.3 Sv or more had a slightly higher rate of cancer. Radioactive iodine released into the food chain causes 1,400 thyroid cancer kills 15 children; No other increases in public cancer rates were observed. Perhaps 200,000 people were evacuated. Radiation rate in Chernobyl to exclude, to expel the area is now less than 10 microSv/hour, no harm to 1,000 stubborn babushka and others still living there.
FUKUSHIMA. In the area affected by the Fukushima power plant, radiation peaked at 10,000 microSv/hour, 90% reduction after 10 hours. Outside the IAEA plant report The measured peak radiation was 170 microSv/hr 30 km northwest of the site. By the next month, the radiation dropped below 91 microSv/hr anywhere, temporarily safe according to Chart 1 except for points where radiation can still exceed 25 microSv/hr. No need to evacuate 164,000 won people, leading to the death of more than 1,600 people, and there’s certainly no need to do it in a hurry.
THREE WIRE ISLAND. Around the Three Mile Island reactor accident accumulation the average dose is only 15 microSv (maybe less than 25 microSv/hour everywhere), so there is no need to evacuate anyone. However, the accident was a factor in ending nuclear power plant construction in the US
NATURAL RADIATION. The back of Graph 1 shows that the average annual dose rates from natural sources of radiation exposure range from about 0.2 microSv/hr, but in some locations up to 15 microSv/hr.
It’s the dosage ratio, not the dose, that matters. Harmful results when the dosage ratio exceeds the repair rate. Regulatory agencies and the multi-billion dollar radiation protection industry exaggerate the harmful effects of radiation to large extents:
100X: The regulatory limit 0.001 Sv/year compared with the observed 0.1 Sv cancer-intensive threshold.
52X: assumes a prescribed year-long biological repair compared to a typical cure time.
ALARA: unknown preference.
Regulatory agencies should ditch the cumulative, year-long dose cap and instead set dose rate limits consistent with the biological fixation period. The ALARA rule should be dropped. What should be the limit?
IAEA chart 1 shows the dose rate limit of 25 microSv/hour. Jack Devanney’s paper recommends 40 microSv/hour. In 1934, NCRP (National Commission for Radiation Protection) advise 40 microSv/hour (0.1 R/day in old units). Nearly 50 years later, NCRP founder Lauriston Taylor Written “Nobody suffered a identifiable radiation injury while working on the first numerical standards set forth by the NCRP and ICRP in 1934.”
Nuclear energy growth will end with the next radioactivity unless we replace the regulators with observers of reality and consequences. Nearly a century of concessions to changing the radiation limit in 1934 from 40 microSv/hour to 0.001 Sv/year did not reduce harm in the slightest, but also increased public fear of the restrictive limits. than there is no clear evidence base. The fear of nuclear power has killed more people than radiation.
Nuclear energy would be cheaper, more abundant, and less intimidating if regulators introduced fact-based limits instead of giving in to opponents.
Dr. Hargraves teaches energy policy at Dartmouth’s Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning and is the co-founder of a nuclear engineering company.
This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available through RealClearWire.
HT/Yooper
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