Release of alpha emitters into the environment by nuclear industries of Brazil in Resende

Abstract

During its operation, the Nuclear Fuel Factory of the Nuclear Industries of Brazil (FCN/INB) may generate and disseminate particulate material. Therefor, aiming occupational control, a system of air exhaustion is installed equipped witha system of automatic detection of release of radionuclides into the environment. The present work aims to evaluate the radionuclides released by FCN, in terms of total release and activity concentration (AC). Along 2016, the amount of 4.14∙106 Bq was released, which means a mean of 3.45∙105 Bq.month-1. The largest mean for AC was 4.03 mBq∙m-3. The release data was almost an order of magnitude lower than the annual release limit established by the regulatoryagency, fixed at 1.2∙107 Bq.y-1, proving the adequacy of the atmospheric effluents to the licensing requirements. The largest magnitudes of the two variables (AC and release) were observed in August while the smallest ones, in January.