Monitoring of the radioactive liquid effluents discharged from IPEN-CNEN/SP. Optimization of the procedures adopted

The main purpose of a radioactive liquid effluents monitoring of a nuclear installation is to determine the amount of radioactivity discharged to the environment, as well as, to verify if this activity is below the authorized discharge limits established by the competent authority. Although this control has been established on a routine basis since the beginning of operation of the nuclear installations available at IPEN, the growing of such facilities in the last years has implied in an increase in the number of samples to be analyzed. The aim of this work is, therefore, to optimize the procedures adopted in the Environmental Monitoring Division of IPEN-CNEN/SP for the activity measurement of the liquid effluents discharged to the environment. Since these effluents are discharged to Pinheiros river, which presents a high dilution factor, a study is also carried out in order to verify if the activity present can be measured by the equipment available. (author)