ELECTRICITY GENERATION AND ITS ASSOCIATED RADIOLOGICAL IMPACT TO THE ENVIRONMENT

Nuclear power stations during normal or abnormal operation, as well as fossil fuel power stations release radioactivity to the environment. In the former case and mainly during an abnormal operation, these releases may affect even regions at great distances from the site of the station. In the latter case the radiological impact to this environment is of limited extent and is due to the trace quantities of the naturally occuring U-238 and Th-232, their associated daughter products and K-40, which are contained in fossil fuels. These radionuclides are released to the environment either directly, through the stack, or indirectly, from fly and bottom ash storage and from the use of fly ash in building materials.

The purpose of this presentation is to report the concentrations of Ra-226, Ra-228 and K-40 determined in the lignite feeding four power units of the Greek grid and its product ashes. Furthermore, the atmospheric discharges of the above isotopes from these units as well as their radiological significance is evaluated. Finally, some remarks relevant to the evaluation of mean representative concentration and to the estimation of the resulting atmospheric discharges of radioactivity, are also included.