Radiation levels, uranium mill

The presence of radiation in the workplace - which is an inevitable consequence of the radioactivity of uranium - requires that additional safety precautions be taken over and above those observed in other similar workplaces. There are generally three sources from which radiation exposure may occur (i) radiation emitted from uranium ore in-situ and/or during handling (ii) airborne radiation resulting from the decay of radon gas released from the ore and uranium dust and (iii) contamination by ore dust or concentrate. Radiation levels around uranium mining and milling facilities are quite low - for the most part only a few times the natural background levels - and they decrease rapidly as the distance from... 

Table II Range of Observed Radiation Levels and Radionuclide Concentrations at Uranium Mill Tailings Vicinity Properties...

The radiation paradigm also is applied to other situations including cleanup of sites contaminated with uranium or thorium mill tailings, mitigation of indoor radon, remediation of elevated levels of naturally occurring radionuclides other than radon, and responses to radiation accidents. In these applications, the maximum acceptable risk has a value in the range of about 10 1 to 10 3 (Kocher, 1999). 

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