Technologically enhanced radioactivity: An overview

Abstract

Man first increased his radiation exposure above the natural baseline when he began cave-dwelling and mining and working metals and minerals. Since then the understanding of technologically enhanced radioactivity and of the associated exposure pathways has increased to the present state which is described by UNSCEAR (1993, Sources and effects of ionizing radiation, UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, Report to the General Assembly, UN, New York) as ‘sketchy’ and ‘not sufficient to enable reliable estimates’. This review of present-day knowledge suggests that many non-nuclear industries are indeed capable of generating significant critical group or collective exposures or both. Doses can be delivered to workers and to populations living in the vicinity of industrial sites. Notable amongst these types of industry are the phosphate-processing industries (fertilizers, detergents, chemicals), fossil-fuel burning, oil and gas extraction, mining of almost all kinds, ore and heavy mineral processing and the forest industries, such as pulp making and biofuel use. There is a growing awareness of the problem but a two-tier system of radiation protection and discharge control is liable to continue, particularly in developing countries, with an imbalance in the understanding and limitation of radioactivity emissions from non-nuclear versus nuclear industries and also in radiological protection of workers. This review, covering historical and current aspects, suggests that there is a need for further study of technological enhancement of radioactivity and that the first international conference dedicated to the subject is extremely worthwhile and should become the first landmark meeting in a long and important series.