A Model for the Approximate Calculation of Safe Rates of Discharge of Radioactive Wastes into Marine Environments

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Abstract
Prior to embarking upon an extensive programme of investigations into marine waste disposal, a preliminary assessment is useful to determine, approximately, the potential of the marine environment to receive a given radioactive waste. Attention is directed to identifying that return route of the disposed activity to man which is most likely to be limiting in terms of exposure to radiation, and establishing the critical radionuclide or radionuclides involved. Derived working limits for the concentration of activity in seawater for 142 radionuclides are given, based on four return routes via flesh of fish, crustacea and molluscs and edible algae assuming that the entire dietary protein requirement of an individual is obtained from these sources, and using generalised concentration factors for the concentration of activity from seawater to edible marine organisms. Taking account of the removal of activity by radioactive decay, the derivation of a weighted mean replacement value for a mixture of radionuclides is given. The application of these values to a determination of the number of discharges, or rate of discharge, per annum which could be made into a given volume of receiving water, for a waste of approximately known composition and activity, is illustrated with specific examples. It is concluded that such approximations would not exceed accurately assessed values by as much as an order of magnitude and in most cases, due to inherently conservative assumptions used in the assessment, would be an order of magnitude or more lower.

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