An Improved Dose Assessment Model for Carbon-14 Released from PWR Stations

Carbon-14 is a long-lived(TH = 5730 yr), low-energy pure beta(EAVG = 50 keV) emitter. Carbon-14 makes up about 70 % of annual effective doses for a PWR offsite individual since it is atmospherically released in a large amount with its long half-life and high environmental mobility. Recently, annual individual doses to the general public from PWR normal operation are approaching the design objective values and carbon-14 is the main contributor. So far, the calculations of individual doses to the general public from carbon-14 have been based on the guidelines in references. However, the recent studies and measurement data indicate that the calculation model needs to be revised. In this paper, the improved dose assessment model for carbon-14 incorporating the recent development is presented