Does protecting humans protect the environment? A crude examination for UK nuclear power plants and the marine environment using information in the public domain.
Current activity around radiological protection of the environment implies concerns over the effectiveness of the current approach to this--namely if humans are adequately protected, then so are non-human species. This study uses models and data currently available in the public domain to carry out a 'quick and dirty' examination of whether protecting humans does indeed imply that other species are well protected. Using marine discharges and human habits data for operational coastal UK nuclear power stations, this study compares doses to humans and a set of reference non-human species. The study concludes that the availability of data and models, and consequent ease of studying potential effects on non-humans (as well as humans), vindicates recent efforts in this area, and that these imply a high level of protection, in general, for non-human biota from UK nuclear power station marine discharges. In general terms, the study finds that protection of non-human biota relies on taking ingestion and external exposure doses to humans into account; where only one of these pathways is considered, the level of protection of non-human biota through protection of humans would depend on the radionuclide(s) in question.
Brownless
G P
GP
OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, Le Seine Saint-Germain, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. georgepb@tiscali.co.uk
D000818:Animals; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008386:Marine Biology; D055848:Nuclear Power Plants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D013045:Species Specificity; D006113:United Kingdom