The radioactivity levels and population doses in areas around Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant before operation

Objective: To investigate the radioactivity levels in food, drinking water and the environment in the areas around Hongyanhe nuclear power plant (NPP) before operation. Method: The radioactivity monitoring was performed within 30 km of Hongyanhe NPP at 12 sampling sites by detecting food, drinking water, soils and gamma radiation level, and the samples of atmosphere aerosols and precipitations were monitored at 2 sampling sites. The effective doses of local residents by ingestion were estimated. Results: The major radionuclides in food were ²³⁸U, ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs. The average levels of ¹³⁷Cs in food were (0.029±0.043) Bq/kg. The average gross-alpha and gross-beta activities in drinking water were (0.07±0.06) Bq/L and(0.32±0.35) Bq/L, respectively. The gross-beta activities of precipitations were (0.40±0.14) Bq·m^-2·d^-1. The concentrations of man-made radionuclides in atmosphere samples were lower than the lower detection limits. The average levels of ¹³⁷Cs in nearby soils were (2.16 ± 1.37) Bq/kg. Conclusions: No man-made gamma radionuclides can be found in the food collected nearby except ¹³⁷Cs. The concentrations of radionuclides in food and drinking water are lower than the relevant national limits and the radioactivity levels of atmosphere aerosols and precipitations are at normal background level. The effective dose to local residents by ingestion of man-made ¹³⁷Cs is 0.18 μSv/year. (authors)