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NPP Nuclear Power Reactors as 14C Sources

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Atomic Energy Aims and scope

Research has determined the actual 14C emissions from all types of reactors. The average emissions are (TBq/yr): VVER-440 (V-179, -230) 3.1 ± 1.5; VVER-440 (V-213) 1.3 ± 0.5; VVER-1000 2.0 ± 0.7; RBMK-1000 2.4 ± 1.6. The obtained data agree satisfactorily with the calculations, so that they can be used to predict the emissions from commissioned power reactors. The normalized 14C emissions from different types of foreign reactors, which approximately correspond to domestic reactors, are presented in UNSCEAR reports. The total atmospheric emissions of 14C by NPP reactors over the entire period of their operation (in 2015) equaled ~1.34 PBq. Over this same period about 54 PBq of native 14C entered the carbon cycle of the Earth’s biosphere; this is almost 50 times greater than the surveyed NPP.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Burnazyan Federal Medical-Biological Center, Federal Medical-Biological Agency, Moscow, Russia

    V. P. Rublevskii & V. N. Yatsenko

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  1. V. P. Rublevskii
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  2. V. N. Yatsenko
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Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 121, No. 2, pp. 113–118, August, 2016.

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Rublevskii, V.P., Yatsenko, V.N. NPP Nuclear Power Reactors as 14C Sources. At Energy 121, 148–154 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-016-0175-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-016-0175-y

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