Exposing America: Comparative assessments of ionizing radiation doses to U.S. populations from nuclear and non-nuclear industries

Abstract

The American public knows little about radiation exposures from either the commercial nuclear fuel cycle or non-nuclear (conventional) industries. Yet, many oppose commercial nuclear energy because of fear of ionizing radiation. Exposing America to education about normal radiation received from non-nuclear industries may help mitigate public concern over commercial nuclear generation, improving acceptance of this source of electricity for an energy-challenged 21st century. Using data and models developed from a variety of reliable sources, this work offers the first comparative assessments of historic and projected population ionizing radiation doses in the U.S. from both the commercial nuclear electricity industry and several non-nuclear industries. In these assessments, it is shown that just a few non-nuclear industries have produced annual radiation doses to millions of Americans for decades that exceed what has been or likely ever will be produced by either the current or expanded use of commercial nuclear electricity. Such information may also be useful in setting acceptance criteria for beyond-design-basis events hypothesized to occur in the nuclear fuel cycle, as well as for public education. From these comparative assessments, it is concluded that current or expanded use of nuclear energy in the U.S. offers no significant threat of population doses from ionizing radiation that even approach the normal radiation doses historically experienced by the public resulting from many other industries.