Dose Assessment for the Public due to Packages Shipping Radioactive Materials Hypothetically Sunk on a Continental Shelf

Abstract

Radioactive materials such as spent fuel (SF), PuO₂ powder, high level wastes (HLW) and fresh mixed oxide (MOX) fuel have been transported by sea between Europe and Japan for many years. Dose assessments for the public have been performed in the past for situations assuming packages shipping radioactive materials are hypothetically sunk on a continental shelf. These studies employed various conditions and methods in their assessments and the results were not always the same. In this study, the dose assessment for all types of package was performed under the same conditions and by the same methods. The effective dose to the members of the public for all materials is lower than previous evaluations due to more realistic assumptions used in this study. These evaluated effective doses are far less than the ICRP recommended limit (1 mSv.year⁻¹ averaged over 5 years).