Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Study on the characteristics of airborne gross alpha and gross beta activities in the vicinity of nuclear facilities

  • Da-Young Gam (Environmental Radioactivity Assessment Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Chae-yeon Lee (Environmental Radioactivity Assessment Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Ji-Young Park (Environmental Radioactivity Assessment Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Hyuncheol Kim (Environmental Radioactivity Assessment Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Jong-Myoung Lim (Environmental Radioactivity Assessment Team, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
  • Received : 2023.03.17
  • Accepted : 2023.08.21
  • Published : 2023.12.25
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Abstract

Continuous monitoring of radioactive substances over a prolonged duration can yield crucial insights into the levels of radiation exposure through inhalation, both in the vicinity of nuclear facilities and/or general environments. In this study, we evaluated long-term measurements (2012-2022) of gross alpha-beta activities in the air in the vicinity of nuclear facilities and reference site, distribution characteristics of temporal trends and spatial fluctuations, and factors affecting radioactivity levels. The average airborne gross-α (in mBq m-3) for onsite and off-site were 0.124 and 0.117, respectively, and the average airborne gross-β (in mBq m-3) measurements were 1.10 and 1.04, respectively. The activity ratio (AR) of gross-α and gross-β were calculated as a ratio of 0.12. The distribution characteristics of gross-α and gross-β activities in this study area are likely influenced by the meteorological factors and variations in airborne PM concentrations rather than the operation of the nuclear facility.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by the KAERI R&D Program (No. 521520) and was presented at the International Conference on Nuclear Analytical Techniques in 2022 (NAT2022), which was held in Daejeon, Korea, from Dec. 7 to 9, 2022.

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