Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Site Radionuclide Air Emissions Report for Calendar Year 2012

Abstract

This is the first PNNL Site report to include LSLII and RTL facilities, as incorporated into the Radioactive Air Emissions License-05. This report documents radionuclide air emissions that result in the highest effective dose equivalent (EDE) to an offsite member of the public, referred to as the maximally exposed individual (MEI). The report has been prepared in compliance with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 40, Protection of the Environment, Part 61, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), Subpart H, "National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities" and Washington Administrative Code (WAC) Chapter 246-247, "Radiation Protection-Air Emissions." Federal regulations in 40 CFR 61, Subpart H require the measurement and reporting of radionuclides emitted from DOE facilities and the resulting offsite dose from those emissions. Those regulations impose a standard of 10 mrem/yr EDE, which is not to be exceeded. Washington State adopted the 40 CFR 61 standard of 10 mrem/yr EDE into its regulations that require the calculation and reporting of the EDE to the MEI from both point source emissions and from any fugitive source emissions of radionuclides. WAC 246-247 further requires the reporting of radionuclide emissions, including radon, from all PNNL Site sources. The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1989 revised the NESHAP regulations (i.e., 40 CFR 61, Subpart H) to govern emissions of radionuclides from DOE facilities. Those regulations are intended for the measurement of point source emissions but are inclusive of fugitive emissions with regard to complying with the dose standard. The dose to the PNNL Site MEI due to routine major and minor point source emissions in 2012 from PNNL Site sources is 9E-06 mrem (9E-08 mSv) EDE. The dose from fugitive emissions (i.e., unmonitored sources) is 1E-7 mrem (1E-9 mSv) EDE. The dose from radon emissions is 2E-6 mrem (2E-08 mSv) EDE. No nonroutine emissions occurred in 2012. The total radiological dose for 2012 to the MEI from all PNNL Site radionuclide emissions, including fugitive emissions and radon, is 1E-5 mrem (1E-7 mSv) EDE, or 100,000 times smaller than the federal and state standard of 10 mrem/yr, to which the PNNL Site is in compliance.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Annual Site Environmental Report for Calendar Year 2014

“…The 2012 total population dose from radionuclide air emissions estimated in this very conservative manner from nuclides that originate from the PNNL Campus was 4.0 × 10 -3 person-rem (4.0 × 10 -5 person-Sv) (Snyder et al 2013a). This represents a decrease when compared to the 2011 estimate of 7.3 × 10 -3 person-rem (7.3 × 10 -5 person-Sv) and many orders of magnitude below the average annual individual background dose of 279 mrem (2.79 mSv) from natural terrestrial and cosmic radiation and inhalation of naturally occurring radon (DOE/RL 2012d).…”

“…For CY 2012, the PNNL Campus MEI location was 0.55 km (0.34 mi) south-southeast of the Physical Sciences Facility (Snyder et al 2013a). The dose to the PNNL Campus MEI from routine and nonroutine point-source emissions was 9.2 × 10 -6 mrem (9.2 × 10 -8 mSv) EDE.…”

“…These conservative dose rates are well below dose rate limits, which are based on the PNNL-reported total radionuclide emissions for CY 2012; an assumption that all of the radioactive material is concentrated into either 1 m 3 (35 ft 3 ) of contaminated water or 1 m 2 (10.8 ft 2 ) of contaminated soil with a soil density of 224 kg m 2 (14 lb/ft 2 ) to a depth of 15 cm (6 in. ); and the screening-level dose coefficients found in DOE-STD-1153(DOE 2002NRC 2006;Snyder et al 2013a). The resulting water and soil concentrations are very conservative and used for basic screening and simplicity of calculation for comparison to the adopted biota dose rate limits.…”

“…Solar panels are used to operate the permanent equipment at the PNL-1 and PNL-2 locations. (Snyder et al 2013a) During the first six months of 2012, environmental radiological air surveillance continued to be performed at the three original sampling stations: PNL-1, PNL-2, and PNL-3. In June 2012, two original air-monitoring stations, PNL-1 and PNL-2, were discontinued and removed.…”

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Annual Site Environmental Report for Calendar Year 2013

“…Details regarding ambient air and stack emissions monitoring programs for the PNNL Campus and at MSL are reported annually. Data for 2012 are available in the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Site Radionuclide Air Emissions Report for Calendar Year 2012 (Snyder et al 2013a). Ambient air-monitoring results for MSL are available in the Sequim Site Radionuclide Air Emissions Report for Calendar Year 2012 (Snyder et al 2013b).…”