Fission products permissible concentration

For example, in fission product effluents where radio-contaminants having longer half-lives are present, the emphasis should be on very high volume reduction with permissible/acceptable decontamination factors so that the permeate could be directly discharged. For effluents contaminated with radionuclides of short half-lives, a good decontamination with reasonable volume reduction may be acceptable because the concentrate could be stored tiU the activities decay before discharge. The radioactive effluents requiring treatment may vary with respect to the type of radionuclide, its chemical nature, concentration, pH, concentration of inactive solutes, and presence of suspended matter. 

General tolerance levels for unknown mixtures of fission products are roughly as follows (as taken from Maximum Permissible Amounts of Radioisotopes in the Human Body and Maximum Concentrations in Air and Water [Nl]) ... 

Commission) and Brookhaven National Laboratory, for instance, that in addition to the above concentration requirements, no more than 1.5 curies per year of mixed fission products will be discharged to the local environment. Using this level as a guide, it will probably be permissible to discharge no more than one or two curies per year to the environment in populated areas. In relatively unpopulated areas, these requirements may be relaxed to perhaps 100-1000 curies per year. In cases where specific nuclides of short half-life are released, as for example, A41 from air-cooled reactors, the amounts permissible for release even in populated areas, are likely to be greatly in excess of 1000 curies per year. 

Radioactive waste is any waste material—gas, liquid, or solid—whose radioactivity exceeds certain limits. These limits have been established by governments or by local authorities, guided by the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP). The ICRP recommendations define the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) for each individual radionuclide and for mixtures of radionuclides in water or air. The U.S. regulation defines such limiting concentration as the radioactivity concentration limit (C), which is the terminology used in this text, Values of C for selected actinides and long-lived fission products in water or air are given in App. D. 

---