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Source term evaluation for accident conditions, proceedings of a symposium, Columbus, Ohio, 1985
287 environmental pollution in a more general sense. Unfortunately, all too often studies are made of contaminants in environmental materials with little reference to their origin. And it is frequently inferred that little is known of what industries discharge. It is true that, for various reasons, the information is not always well imparted; but it is equally true that those concerned primarily with the environmental sciences do not take the trouble to find out what the industries themselves are doing. An even more useful aspect of the book is the extent to which it compares the approaches made in different countries, a strength obtained by its multiauthorship. Such an approach necessarily is highly demanding on editorial skills. In addition to the " M a n a g i n g " Editor, nine others are cited as "editors". They could have done better than they did to improve some of the style and eliminate errors. It does little to engender confidence in a book when even the pagination of the "table of contents" is a complete mess. Such errors are the nightmare of any editor and publisher, however, and fortunately here they do not really subtract from an otherwise well-produced book.
Lowestoft (United Kingdom)
R.J. Pentreath
Source Term Evaluation for Accident Conditions, Proceedings of a Symposium, Columbus, Ohio, 1985 International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1986, 777 pp. Price: Aust. Sch. 1580. Accident releases of radionuclides into the environment, on a large scale, have always been the Achilles heel of nuclear power. At the time this conference was held there had only been two accidents of consequence; the Windscale fire of 1957 and the Three Mile Island incident of 1979, with only the former releasing substantial quantities of radionuclides into the atmosphere. In other words, in the nuclear-power calendar, the conference was bC - - before Chernobyl. The Chernobyl incident has inevitably resulted in a fundamental re-assessment of such matters and it is thus tempting to consider the contributions to this particular volume as somewhat academic. To do so would be a mistake, because any reactor incident is likely to be unique, and the unfortunate tragedy which befell Chernobyl-4 is unlikely to be repeated - - anywhere. Apart from anything else, the majority of the reactors in operation around the world are of an entirely different design. The book contains 50 principal contributions divided into six main sessions, plus poster presentations, the reports of two panels, and a "key-note" address. The first session is actually one of six introductory summaries: three from the U.S.A. and one each from Canada, the CEC, and the Federal Republic of Germany. The real business of the symposium begins with 12 papers on the prime source - - the fuel elements within the reactor - - followed by a further nine on the retention of nuclides within the primary cooling circuit. The next set, of 14 papers, considers the contamination outside the reactor vessel itself,
288 and the final set, of another nine papers, addresses the releases of radionuclides from the plant. The majority of these are highly technical and consist of nuclear technological detail which at first sight may seem to be of little relevance to the environment. For the radioecologist, however, and for those concerned with radiological protection, such information is essential: not only is it necessary to assess the quantities and ratios of radionuclides likely to be released under different circumstances, it is also necessary to have as much infromation as possible on their physical and chemical forms. The number of direct experiments, and the thoroughness of computer-based studies which have been made, is impressive. There are, nevertheless, some rather ironic omissions now t h a t we are in the post-Chernobyl age. One is that none of the contributions comes from the U.S.S.R., and none of the papers relate to graphite-moderated, light water cooled reactors of which Chernobyl-4 was an example. And a final twist is t h a t the concluding paper - - on the regulatory aspects of emergency planning - - consists of an abstract only. A footnote explains that the full text, written by a member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is to appear in a subsequent IAEA Symposium Proceedings, and indeed may well have done. This symposium was also held in 1985; otherwise it could have been a wonderful example of precognition, a skill of which the nuclear industry has a continuing and urgent need.
Lowestoft (United Kingdom)
R.J. Pentreath
Lowestoft (United Kingdom)
R.J. Pentreath
Source Term Evaluation for Accident Conditions, Proceedings of a Symposium, Columbus, Ohio, 1985 International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1986, 777 pp. Price: Aust. Sch. 1580. Accident releases of radionuclides into the environment, on a large scale, have always been the Achilles heel of nuclear power. At the time this conference was held there had only been two accidents of consequence; the Windscale fire of 1957 and the Three Mile Island incident of 1979, with only the former releasing substantial quantities of radionuclides into the atmosphere. In other words, in the nuclear-power calendar, the conference was bC - - before Chernobyl. The Chernobyl incident has inevitably resulted in a fundamental re-assessment of such matters and it is thus tempting to consider the contributions to this particular volume as somewhat academic. To do so would be a mistake, because any reactor incident is likely to be unique, and the unfortunate tragedy which befell Chernobyl-4 is unlikely to be repeated - - anywhere. Apart from anything else, the majority of the reactors in operation around the world are of an entirely different design. The book contains 50 principal contributions divided into six main sessions, plus poster presentations, the reports of two panels, and a "key-note" address. The first session is actually one of six introductory summaries: three from the U.S.A. and one each from Canada, the CEC, and the Federal Republic of Germany. The real business of the symposium begins with 12 papers on the prime source - - the fuel elements within the reactor - - followed by a further nine on the retention of nuclides within the primary cooling circuit. The next set, of 14 papers, considers the contamination outside the reactor vessel itself,
288 and the final set, of another nine papers, addresses the releases of radionuclides from the plant. The majority of these are highly technical and consist of nuclear technological detail which at first sight may seem to be of little relevance to the environment. For the radioecologist, however, and for those concerned with radiological protection, such information is essential: not only is it necessary to assess the quantities and ratios of radionuclides likely to be released under different circumstances, it is also necessary to have as much infromation as possible on their physical and chemical forms. The number of direct experiments, and the thoroughness of computer-based studies which have been made, is impressive. There are, nevertheless, some rather ironic omissions now t h a t we are in the post-Chernobyl age. One is that none of the contributions comes from the U.S.S.R., and none of the papers relate to graphite-moderated, light water cooled reactors of which Chernobyl-4 was an example. And a final twist is t h a t the concluding paper - - on the regulatory aspects of emergency planning - - consists of an abstract only. A footnote explains that the full text, written by a member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is to appear in a subsequent IAEA Symposium Proceedings, and indeed may well have done. This symposium was also held in 1985; otherwise it could have been a wonderful example of precognition, a skill of which the nuclear industry has a continuing and urgent need.
Lowestoft (United Kingdom)
R.J. Pentreath