Maximizing avertable doses with a minimum amount of waste for remediation of land areas around typical single family houses after radioactive fallout based on Monte Carlo simulations

Abstract The uncontrolled release of long-lived radioactive substances from nuclear accidents can contaminate inhabited land areas. The removal of topsoil is an important method for reducing future radiation exposure but can also generate a large amount of waste that needs safe disposal. To the best...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Yvonne Hinrichsen, Robert Finck, Johan Martinsson, Christopher Rääf
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b7e31d9309a44d4ea6b684ed6c491a08
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:b7e31d9309a44d4ea6b684ed6c491a08
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b7e31d9309a44d4ea6b684ed6c491a082021-12-02T13:19:22ZMaximizing avertable doses with a minimum amount of waste for remediation of land areas around typical single family houses after radioactive fallout based on Monte Carlo simulations10.1038/s41598-021-84103-12045-2322https://doaj.org/article/b7e31d9309a44d4ea6b684ed6c491a082021-02-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84103-1https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The uncontrolled release of long-lived radioactive substances from nuclear accidents can contaminate inhabited land areas. The removal of topsoil is an important method for reducing future radiation exposure but can also generate a large amount of waste that needs safe disposal. To the best of our knowledge, previous studies have determined the optimal depth of topsoil removal but not the size of the area designated for this measure. For this purpose, this study performed Monte Carlo simulations of hypothetical 137Cs surface contamination on various ground areas in a typical northern European suburban area. The goal was to study the size of the areas needed and amount of waste generated to achieve a certain relative and absolute dose reduction. The results showed that removing the topsoil from areas larger than 3000 m2 around the houses in the study neighbourhood results in only marginal reduction in radiation exposure. If, on average, 5 cm of topsoil is removed over 3000 m2, then 150 m3 of waste would be generated. However, in this scenario adjacent properties benefit from each other’s decontamination, leading to a smaller amount of waste for a given reduction in future radiation exposure per inhabitant of these dwellings. Additionally, it was shown that topsoil removal over limited areas has a higher impact on the absolute dose reduction at an observation point inside or outside the houses with higher initial dose.Yvonne HinrichsenRobert FinckJohan MartinssonChristopher RääfNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Yvonne Hinrichsen Robert Finck Johan Martinsson Christopher Rääf Maximizing avertable doses with a minimum amount of waste for remediation of land areas around typical single family houses after radioactive fallout based on Monte Carlo simulations
description	Abstract The uncontrolled release of long-lived radioactive substances from nuclear accidents can contaminate inhabited land areas. The removal of topsoil is an important method for reducing future radiation exposure but can also generate a large amount of waste that needs safe disposal. To the best of our knowledge, previous studies have determined the optimal depth of topsoil removal but not the size of the area designated for this measure. For this purpose, this study performed Monte Carlo simulations of hypothetical 137Cs surface contamination on various ground areas in a typical northern European suburban area. The goal was to study the size of the areas needed and amount of waste generated to achieve a certain relative and absolute dose reduction. The results showed that removing the topsoil from areas larger than 3000 m2 around the houses in the study neighbourhood results in only marginal reduction in radiation exposure. If, on average, 5 cm of topsoil is removed over 3000 m2, then 150 m3 of waste would be generated. However, in this scenario adjacent properties benefit from each other’s decontamination, leading to a smaller amount of waste for a given reduction in future radiation exposure per inhabitant of these dwellings. Additionally, it was shown that topsoil removal over limited areas has a higher impact on the absolute dose reduction at an observation point inside or outside the houses with higher initial dose.
format	article
author	Yvonne Hinrichsen Robert Finck Johan Martinsson Christopher Rääf
author_facet	Yvonne Hinrichsen Robert Finck Johan Martinsson Christopher Rääf
author_sort	Yvonne Hinrichsen
title	Maximizing avertable doses with a minimum amount of waste for remediation of land areas around typical single family houses after radioactive fallout based on Monte Carlo simulations
title_short	Maximizing avertable doses with a minimum amount of waste for remediation of land areas around typical single family houses after radioactive fallout based on Monte Carlo simulations
title_full	Maximizing avertable doses with a minimum amount of waste for remediation of land areas around typical single family houses after radioactive fallout based on Monte Carlo simulations
title_fullStr	Maximizing avertable doses with a minimum amount of waste for remediation of land areas around typical single family houses after radioactive fallout based on Monte Carlo simulations
title_full_unstemmed	Maximizing avertable doses with a minimum amount of waste for remediation of land areas around typical single family houses after radioactive fallout based on Monte Carlo simulations
title_sort	maximizing avertable doses with a minimum amount of waste for remediation of land areas around typical single family houses after radioactive fallout based on monte carlo simulations
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/b7e31d9309a44d4ea6b684ed6c491a08
work_keys_str_mv	AT yvonnehinrichsen maximizingavertabledoseswithaminimumamountofwasteforremediationoflandareasaroundtypicalsinglefamilyhousesafterradioactivefalloutbasedonmontecarlosimulations AT robertfinck maximizingavertabledoseswithaminimumamountofwasteforremediationoflandareasaroundtypicalsinglefamilyhousesafterradioactivefalloutbasedonmontecarlosimulations AT johanmartinsson maximizingavertabledoseswithaminimumamountofwasteforremediationoflandareasaroundtypicalsinglefamilyhousesafterradioactivefalloutbasedonmontecarlosimulations AT christopherraaf maximizingavertabledoseswithaminimumamountofwasteforremediationoflandareasaroundtypicalsinglefamilyhousesafterradioactivefalloutbasedonmontecarlosimulations
_version_	1718393293114441728

Maximizing avertable doses with a minimum amount of waste for remediation of land areas around typical single family houses after radioactive fallout based on Monte Carlo simulations

Ejemplares similares