Ecology and stable development of the region containing the novovoronezh nuclear power plant

Abstract

Risk analysis applied to public health is used to evaluate the ecological safety of the territory of VoronezhOblast, where the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant is located and a new plant is under construction. It is found that for the population of the territory of Voronezh the individual risk of developing cancer because of the contamination of air by chemical carcinogens and the risk of death due to pollutants are 1000-10000 times higher than the risk of developing cancer from the additional irradiation of the population of Novovoronezh associated with the operation of the nuclear power plant. The results obtained showed that modern nuclear technologies have no effect on the public health as compared with sources of chemical risk.Positive worldwide practical experience shows that the most effective measures are adoption of ecologically acceptable technologies and the application of modern schemes for controlling environmental quality which are based on risk analysis and control.A project whose objective was to evaluate the ecological safety of the territory of Voronezh Oblast, where the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant operates and a new plant is under construction, using risk analysis for public health and designating the ecological reference points of its stable development, has been completed at the Institute of Problems in the Safe Development of Nuclear Energy (IBRAE).The following were considered as mandatory conditions for implementing the project: 1) use of risk analysis for public health, adopted in international practice, adapted for the territory of our country and recommend for use by the Federal Service for Consumer Protection and Human Well-being (Rospotrebnadzor);2) participation of the leading Russian specialists in the evaluation and analysis of chemical risks; and 3) participation of specialists from the Rospotrebnadzor office for Voronezh Oblast. The risk analysis methodology is a modern scientific approach to evaluating and controlling technogenic effects. The application of risk analysis to public health makes it possible to quantify the possible harm, compare the consequences

The phenomenon of perception of the nuclear energy hazard in social consciousness

“…The radiation risks from nuclear power plants are 10 -9 to 10 -7 , which are four to five orders of magnitude lower than the risks associ ated with the work of coal fired thermal power plants of similar capacity [9]. Equally great is the difference in the magnitude of population risks.…”

“…According to estimates made by Russian research ers [9] from the air pollution data collected by the Fed eral Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmen tal Monitoring, the annual individual risk of death from air pollution with volatile coal ash in Russian cit ies with large power plants (Reftinskaya TPP in Asbest, Rostov TPP in Novocherkassk, etc.) is around 10 -4 to 10 -3 .…”

Hygienic Evaluation of Exposure Doses for the Voronezh Region Population From the Natural and Technogenously Modified Background

“…Как показывает ряд региональных исследований, из-за ограниченного числа измерений повышение объектив-ности учета и оценки доз от природного и техногенного ионизирующего излучения может быть достигнуто за счет накопления и анализа данных в процессе ежегодного мо-ниторинга радиационной обстановки на конкретной тер-ритории [1,4,12,13].…”