Commercial nuclear power plants release gaseous and liquid radiological effluents into the environment as a byproduct of electrical generation. These releases are monitored by federal agencies to ensure compliance of regulatory limits. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offer guidance and make recommendations for domestic power plants eff...

Environmental releases of insoluble nuclear fuel compounds may occur at nuclear power plants during normal operation, after nuclear power plant accidents, and as a consequence of nuclear weapons testing. For example, the Chernobyl fallout contained extensive amounts of pulverized nuclear fuel composed of uranium and its nonvolatile fission products. The effects of these highly radioactive parti...

Immediately after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, a team of 40-50 researchers at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo began to analyze the behavior of radioactive materials in the fallout regions. The fallout has remained in situ and become strongly adsorbed within the soil over time. 137Cs was found to bind strongly to the fine clay, weat...

Several Member States of the Agency are considering introducing nuclear power to their energy mix for the first time. Although various technology options are available to these countries, selecting the most suitable nuclear reactor design requires not only a careful understanding of existing designs but also in-depth knowledge of country-specific needs, conditions and other considerations. To m...

The Bush Administration has made the expansion of nuclear power generation a centerpiece of its domestic energy policy. However, the White House has not addressed the practical issue of how to overcome the nearly three-decade-long aversion among U.S. electric utilities to investing in new nuclear plants. In today's deregulating market, utilities will not build new nuclear power plants unless th...

The Bush Administration has made the expansion of nuclear power generation a centerpiece of its domestic energy policy. However, the White House has not addressed the practical issue of how to overcome the nearly three-decade-long aversion among U.S. electric utilities to investing in new nuclear plants. In today's deregulating market, utilities will not build new nuclear power plants unless th...

Individuals who traveled to contaminated areas after the Fukushima nuclear accident have concerns about the health effects. However, medical follow-up for any adverse health effects will be difficult without personal dose measurements. Cytogenetic biodosimetry is a reasonable method of assessing absorbed doses retrospectively. We analyzed dicentric chromosomes for 265 Fukushima travelers, mostl...

Following the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, the risk level perceived by Koreans on the radioactive contamination of Japanese food that is being distributed in Korea remains high. Many of these perceptions are based on subjective risk perception rather than an objective measure with scientific evidence, which makes communicating risks more difficult; therefore, it is critical to unders...

Capital costs, fuel, operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, and electricity prices play a key role in the economics of nuclear power plants, where especially capital costs are known to be highly uncertain. Different nuclear reactor types compete economically by having either lower and less uncertain construction costs, increased efficiencies, lower and less uncertain fuel cycles and O&M costs e...

Digital technologies have been applied recently to the I&C systems of nuclear power plants. According to this application, cyber security concerns are increasing in nuclear facilities as in IT industries and other process industries. Many reports and standards are issued for cyber security in industrial control systems. Nuclear regulatory requirements based on the standards for industrial contr...