A perspective on potential contributions to reactor decommissioning problems caused by nickel-59

A recent, widely publicized, report by the New York Public Interest Research Group concluded that dose equivalent rates in a BWR, due to 59Ni, were 150 Sv h-1 (15000 rem h-1) at the end of life. Consequently a decay period of 1.5 million years was required for activity to reduce a ''safe level''. This note shows that these results are entirely fallacious and that the maximum dose equivalent rate due to 59Ni in a decommissioned Magnox reactor will be less that 10 Sv h-1 (1 mrem h-1). In addition, 59Ni is not a major isotope to be considered in calculations of ingestion via drinking water for a period of 1000 y after reactor shutdown. (author)