N.Y. nuclear risk assessment described

N.Y. nuclear risk assessment described

Aug 12 - United Press International

U.S. researchers have announced an improved method of predicting where people might be exposed to radiation from nuclear waste disposal sites.

Engineering and scientific experts associated with U.S. and New York state energy agencies focused on a buried nuclear waste disposal facility at West Valley, N.Y., a Society for Risk Analysis release said Wednesday.

Researchers say their study looked at possible scenarios, likelihoods and consequences of a threat to the disposal site and concluded "a release resulting in a dose of 100 millirems in one year, or more, is extremely unlikely during the next 30 years of operation of the state managed disposal area at the Western New York Nuclear Service Center."

By comparison, the study said, the public is exposed to approximately 300 millirems a year of cosmic radiation in the atmosphere with no visible health effects.

Possible scenarios were considered involving hypothetical releases of radionuclides by liquid, solid or air pathways.

The scientific analysis supports a decision to continue management of waste at the site for another decade, the researchers said.