Radiological impact assessment of radioactive effluents emitted from nuclear power plants in Korea and China under normal operation

Abstract

In the present study, the effects of normally operating nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Korea and China on the radiation dose to Korea's major cities were quantitatively analyzed and compared. The annual effective dose to the general public, as incurred from NPPs' radioactive effluents, was evaluated. The results showed that some of the NPP sites in China, such as the Shidao Bay NPP and Hongyanhe NPP, made a larger contribution to the effective dose than those in Korea. It was also found that the effective dose to Korea's major cities was more significantly affected by the NPPs in the Shandong Peninsula than by those in the Liaoning Peninsula. As such, the contribution of China's NPPs to the radiation dose to Korea was not simply inversely proportional to their distance from Korea but also varied from location to location, because atmospheric dispersion patterns were significantly affected by given weather conditions. The effective dose to Korea was calculated considering “all” of China's NPPs (both actual and prospective), including those currently in operation, under construction, and to be built. The results showed that the effective dose should be expected to increase to 1.1E-08 Sv/year, about a 500-fold increase from the 2000 level and a 2.6-fold increase from the 2010 level. Finally, the contributions of the NPPs in China and Korea to the collective dose to Korea's seven major cities were determined. In Seoul, in particular, the contribution of China's NPPs was found to account for more than one-third of the total. The annual effective dose to the Korean general public incurred from the radioactive effluents emitted from normally operating NPPs in China and Korea was measured to just a few or tens of nSv. Given that the total worldwide average effective dose from natural radiation is approximately 2.4 mSv, it was judged to be a very small dose.