Analysis of causes and countermeasures against marine organisms blocking event at cold source intake of coastal nuclear power plant / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

The cold source system of a nuclear power plant, as important part of a nuclear power project, is of great significance to guarantee the safe operation of a nuclear power plant. In recent years, there have been some cases of marine organism blockage at cold source intake at coastal nuclear power plants in China, which has adversely affected the safety and economy of nuclear power plants. According to the research result of cold source safety in coastal nuclear power plants in China and in compliance with the requirements of nuclear safety regulatory control and the engineering practice experience, the causes of, and countermeasures against, marine organism blockage at cold source intake are analyzed to further improve the safety and economy of nuclear power plants.

Investigation on radionuclide deposition during primary loop overhaul at a nuclear power plant / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective:To investigate radionuclide deposition in the systems related to the primary loop during the overhaul and refueling at a nuclear power plant.Methods:The radionuclides deposited in the main piping system, the primary loop coolant purification system, the volume and boron control system, the waste heat export system, and the inner wall of pipe in boron-containing water system were measured by using the low and medium radiation field high-purity germanium (HPGe) in-situ γ source term measurement system, the strong radiation field cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) in- situ γ source term measurement system, and the portable radiation monitoring instrument Radiagem-2000. Results:The result had shown that the major radionuclides deposited in the systems related to primary loop were mainly 58Co, 60Co, 95Nb, 95Zr, 51Cr, 124Sb, 54Mn, 110Ag *, 59Fe, and those with higher deposition were 60Co, 58Co, 124Sb, 95Zr. Of them, the largest deposition was 60Co up to 21 200 Bq/cm 2 in extra strong pipe below the safety valve, 58Co up to 8 480 Bq/cm 2 in the pipeline of hot section in the state of full water in the main pipeline. 124Sb was 4 910 Bq/cm 2 in pipeline before the filter of the primary loop purification system and 4 680 Bq/cm 2 in the chemical capacity drainage pipeline, respectively, and 95 Zr was 2 500 Bq/cm 2 in the pipeline of hot section in the state of full water in the main pipeline. The radionuclides deposited, after the filter of the purification system, in the pipe upstream of the boron-containing pump were significantly lower than those in other systems. Conclusions:The types of radionuclides in the systems associated with primary loop at a nuclear power plant are basically identical, but their amount deposited varies greatly. Attention should be paid to the removal of radionuclides in primary loop through the filter of purification system.

Sistema de Comando de Incidentes e comunicação de risco: reflexões a partir das emergências nucleares / Incident Command System and risk communication: reflections from nuclear emergencies

RESUMO Usinas nucleares são projetadas com sistemas dedicados a oferecer um alto grau de proteção aos seus trabalhadores, à população e ao meio ambiente. Entre os níveis de proteção da população e do meio ambiente, encontra-se o plano de emergência nuclear. Este plano deve conter um segmento específico relacionado com o gerenciamento da comunicação de risco à população. Historicamente, técnicas de comunicação de risco surgiram para minimizar danos às pessoas, por meio de estratégias de controle de pânico da população. Entretanto, essa questão atualmente é pouco desenvolvida no Brasil na área de segurança nuclear. Dessa forma, este trabalho visou estabelecer uma proposta inicial no uso da teoria de Sistema de Comando de Incidentes como estratégia de gerenciamento da comunicação de risco em caso de acidentes na Central Nuclear Almirante Álvaro Alberto, localizada no Brasil.

ABSTRACT Nuclear power plants are designed with systems dedicated to offering a high degree of protection to their workers, the population, and the environment. Between the levels of protection of the population and the environment, there is the nuclear emergency plan. This plan must contain a specific segment related to the management of risk communication to the population. Historically, risk communication techniques have emerged to minimize harm to people, through population panic control strategies. However, this issue is currently underdeveloped in Brazil in the field of nuclear safety. Thus, this work aimed to establish an initial proposal on the use of the theory of Incident Command System as a strategy for managing risk communication in the event of accidents at the Almirante Álvaro Alberto Nuclear Power Plant located in Brazil.

Estimates of Radiation Doses and Cancer Risk from Food Intake in Korea

The aim of this study was to estimate internal radiation doses and lifetime cancer risk from food ingestion. Radiation doses from food intake were calculated using the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the measured radioactivity of 134Cs, 137Cs, and 131I from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Korea. Total number of measured data was 8,496 (3,643 for agricultural products, 644 for livestock products, 43 for milk products, 3,193 for marine products, and 973 for processed food). Cancer risk was calculated by multiplying the estimated committed effective dose and the detriment adjusted nominal risk coefficients recommended by the International Commission on Radiation Protection. The lifetime committed effective doses from the daily diet are ranged 2.957-3.710 mSv. Excess lifetime cancer risks are 14.4-18.1, 0.4-0.5, and 1.8-2.3 per 100,000 for all solid cancers combined, thyroid cancer, and leukemia, respectively.

Cancer Risk in Adult Residents near Nuclear Power Plants in Korea: A Cohort Study of 1992-2010

This study evaluated cancer risk for adult residents near Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) in Korea through a valid prospective cohort study during 1992-2010. The study cohort was composed of 11,367 adults living within a five km radius from the NPPs for the exposed and 24,809 adults for the non-exposed or reference cohort set at two different levels of proximity; 5-30 km radius and more than 30 km radius away from NPPs. In 303,542.5 person-years of follow-up, a total of 2,298 cancer cases of all sites, or 1,377 radio-inducible cancers diagnosed during 1992-2008 were ascertained. Multiple adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using multivariate Cox proportional hazard model. There were no epidemiological evidence for increased risk of cancer due to radiation from NPPs. Radiological study results or surveillance data of radiation doses around NPPs could be well documented for risk estimation of radio-inducible cancers, instead of epidemiological study results of the long-time required. Continuous surveillance of quantitative measures of dose levels around NPPs and radiation exposures to the residents is warranted.

Reliability of a Questionnaire in an Epidemiological Study for Nuclear Power Plants Workers in Korea / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to evaluate the reliability of a questionnaire from an epidemiological study for nuclear power plants workers in Korea. METHODS: Among a total of 8,832 nuclear power plants workers who participated in the questionnaire survey, we selected 646 workers who repeatedly submitted the self-reported questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire for the categorical items was measured using kappa statistics and percentages of exact agreement, false disagreement and positive disagreement. Significance was evaluated for the continuous items by paired t-tests and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs). RESULTS: The questionnaire was observed to be highly reliable for the smoking history (kappa=0.85), which is known as an important confounding factor in assessing the cancer risk among radiation workers. Education level as a surrogate for the socio-economic status also appeared to be highly reliable with a kappa=0.89 and 95.09% of exact agreement. The history of alcohol drinking, medical exams and diseases showed more than moderately good agreement between the first and second responses (kappa>0.4). The self-reported values for physical measurements, the smoking period and smoking amount, and the period of alcohol drinking were highly correlated between the two responses (ICC>0.7). CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire from an epidemiological study for nuclear power plants workers in Korea was found to be reliable for most items. To estimate the cancer or noncancer risk for nuclear power plants workers, we need to use the national database for incidence of diseases or death from diseases and the exposure history, and the medical records as well as the data collected from this study.

Ionizing Radiation-induced Diseases in Korea

Radiation risk has become well known through epidemiological studies of clinically or occupationally exposed populations, animal experiments, and in vitro studies; however, the study of radiation related or induced disease has been limited in Korea. This study is to find the level of occupational radiation exposure for various kinds of accidents, compensated occupational diseases, related studies, and estimations on future occupational disease risks. Research data of related institutions were additionally investigated. About 67% of 62,553 radiation workers had no exposure or less than 1.2 mSv per year. The 5 reported cases on radiation accident patients in Korea occurred during nondestructive testing. According to the recent rapid increase in the number of workers exposed to radiation, a higher social recognition of cancer, and an increasing cancer mortality rate, it is expected that occupational disease compensation will rapidly increase as well. Therefore, it is important to develop scientific and objective decision methods, such as probability of causation and screening dose in the establishment of an exposure and health surveillance system.

Adequação estratégica de projetos: o caso da Eletronuclear / Strategic fit of project management: the Eletronuclear case

Na literatura menciona-se perda significativa de recursos devido à implementação de projetos que não contribuem para os objetivos principais da empresa, por, geralmente, não terem uma conexão clara com sua estratégia. A falta de adequação dos projetos à estratégia acaba tendo assim um impacto negativo no desempenho e competitividade da empresa. Este artigo compartilha os resultados de um estudo sobre o gerenciamento de projetos (GP), na empresa estatal chamada Eletronuclear, que foi criada em 1997 para construir e operar as usinas termonucleares do país. O estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a adequação estratégica do GP na empresa e identificar fatores que contribuíam e os que dificultavam a desejada adequação. Observe que por adequação estratégica entende-se alinhamento, orientação e aderência à estratégia. Utilizou-se como principal método de pesquisa o estudo de caso, coletando dados de várias fontes e por diferentes meios - investigação documental, questionário estruturado e entrevistas - para assegurar sua consistência. Os resultados apontaram fraquezas em GP na empresa, no sentido de inconsistências com sua estratégia, que evidenciaram uma falta de adequação estratégica do GP. Destacaram-se os recursos - notadamente alocação e qualidade inapropriadas - e a dificuldade de mudar para uma cultura de GP, com visão estratégica, como os maiores problemas. Ao mesmo tempo, revelaram-se iniciativas recentes, pertinentes à adoção de processos de mediação no nível estratégico de projetos e de um planejamento de portfólio de projetos, que se forem traduzidas em ações concretas, poderiam contribuir para uma melhor adequação estratégica de GP. O estudo forneceu assim subsídios para outras empresas que procuram aprimorar seu gerenciamento de projetos.