Control verification radioactive effluent discharges to the environment

The National Law of Nuclear Activity No. 24,804 establishes that the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ARN) will be responsible for the function of regulation and control of nuclear activity, grant, suspend and revoke licenses, permits or authorizations and to issue regulatory standards on radiation and nuclear safety. According to the latter the ARN has issued a set of rules that make up the regulatory framework for nuclear activity. This includes the standards that determine the radiological criteria for controlling the release of radioactive effluents which were established to protect members of the public. In the process of licensing a facility, the ARN determines the authorized discharge of gaseous and liquid effluents which must comply with the installation values. These annual values are understood as an operating restriction (OR) and arise from the activity of each relevant radionuclide present in the discharge. For this is taken as a reference the level of optimized discharge considering an appropriate margin of flexibility to ensure public protection without interfering with the operation of the installation. This paper presents the results of the review of the above criteria and methodology for calculating the RO adopted by the RNA present.