Role of Canister Integrity on Ocean Bed Disposal of Solid Radioactive Wastes: Part 2 - Daughter Radionuclides

Abstract

To compute spatial and temporal distribution of daughter radionuclide concentration in ocean waters during dumping and post-dumping periods arising out of continuous release of parent radionuclides onto sea bed for 1000 y, uni dimensional model has been used. The computations are carried out for different canister stabilities. The model includes oceanic processes like diffusion and geochemical elimination along with reflection at boundaries. Effective dose equivalent (EDE) estimates indicate that the contribution of dose to man from daughters in a chain can be 2-10 time higher than that of parents. For long-lived alpha emitting parent radionuclides, canister integrity does not seem to have much effect on EDE, whereas for nuclides having short and intermediate half-lives, EDE is substantially reduced by increase in canister stability. For some commonly encountered radionuclides, the limiting discharge rates (LDR) are also evaluated.