Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

AN INVESTIGATION INTO RADIATION LEVELS ASSOCIATED WITH DISMANTLING THE KOREA RESEARCH REACTOR

  • Received : 2009.10.15
  • Accepted : 2010.05.31
  • Published : 2010.08.31
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

We confirmed that the dismantling of two research reactors with thermal power of $2MW_{th}$ and $100kW_{th}$, respectively, reveals no significant difference between the radiation levels of the research reactor site and the surrounding environment far away from it, from the radiation level aspect. Radiation dose and radioactivity were measured at monitoring points around the research reactor site of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) in Seoul and comparison points 0.5 km to 3.3 km from the site. To grasp trends in the radiation levels during dismantling from the end of 2002 to the end of 2007, the gamma radiation dose rate, the accumulated dose, and the radioactivity of the strontium, tritium, and gamma isotopes were statistically treated and estimated. The averages of these items between the two groups, the research reactor site and comparison points, were assessed by applying a T-test with a significance level of 0.05. P-values found by using the T-test were from 0.12 to 0.83 where the values were much higher than the significance level. As a result, no difference was observed between the radiation levels at the research reactor site and at the comparison points by this T-test. This study showed that dismantling activity of the Korea Research Reactor of the Seoul site did not expose the public or the environment to harmful levels of radiation.

Keywords

References

  1. A. R. Ware and C. W. Fern, “The Need and Requirements for Environmental Monitoring”, Nuclear Europe 3 (4), (1988).
  2. W. Peters, “Radiation monitoring and local authorities”, ATOM 378, (1988).
  3. D. van Lith, “Dutch Environmental Monitoring for Nuclear Emergencies”, Nuclear Europe 5 (6), (1989).
  4. Peter Shebell and Kevin M. Miller, “Analysis of Eighteen Years of Environmental Radiation Monitoring Data”, Environmental International, 22, Suppl. 1, (1996).
  5. H. Kimura, et al., “Monitoring of environmental radiation and radionuclides around nuclear fuel cycle facilities from 1989 to 1995”, J. of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 226 (1-2), (1997).
  6. Thomas G. Hobbs, “Environmental Radiation Monitoring at NBS/NIST From 1960 Through 2000”, J. of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 106 (5), (2001).
  7. Kee Jung Jung, et al, “Environmental Impact Assessment Report” , KAERI/TR-1655/2000, KAERI report, (2000) (in Korean).
  8. Choi Geun Sik, et al, “Environmental Radiation Monitoring around the Nuclear Facilities”, KAERI/RR-2979/2008, KAERI report, (2008) (in Korean).
  9. Herman Cember, Introduction to Health Physics, 3rd ed., p. 181, McGraw-Hill, New York, (1996).
  10. Moffat, “Describing the uncertainties in experimental results”, Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 1, (1988).
  11. Kim, Yong Tae, et al, “A Study on Teaching Method of Two-Sample Test for Population Mean Difference”, J. Korea Soc. Math. Ed. Ser. A: The Mathematical Education, 45 (2), (2006) (in Korean).
  12. Murray, Theory and Problems of Statistics, p. 188, Double Six Press, ( 1981).
  13. Eurachem, “Quantifying Uncertainty in Analytical Measurement”, EURACHEM/CITAC Guide, (2000).