title: Effects of ICRP Publication 30 and the 1980 BEIR Report in hazard assessments of high-level waste.
abstract: ICRP Publication 30 (ICRP30) gives the radiation dose to various body organs in Sv per Bq, which are readily translated into rad per curie ingested for various radioisotopes; the 1980 BEIR Report (BEIR III) gives the risk of fatal cancer per rad of dose to each body organ; the ORIGEN 2 Code gives the curies per tonne of initial uranium fuel in high level waste and in spent fuel. The product of these, Ci/tonne x rad/Ci x risk/rad gives the risk/tonne in terms of fatal cancer doses, if ingested, per tonne of uranium. When the resulting curves are compared with those calculated previously (based on ICRP Publication 2 and the 1972 BEIR Report), the hazard is less for the first century but much more thereafter. The principal sources of this greatly increased hazard is the 100-fold increase in absorption through the gut for 237Np in ICRP 30, plus the high cancer risk from radiation to liver in BEIR III. Some consequences of these changes and some scientific questions relevant to ascertaining their validity are discussed.
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced; D011850:Radioactive Waste; D011868:Radioisotopes; D012306:Risk
chemical_list: D011850:Radioactive Waste; D011868:Radioisotopes