TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of medical radionuclide discharges on people and the environment
AU - Vives i Batlle, Jordi
AU - Sweeck, Lieve
AU - Fiengo Perez, Fabricio
N1 - Score=10
Funding Information:
This project has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2019–2020 under grant agreement No 945196. We thank Dr. Geert Biermans and Eng. Jurgen Claes from FANC for information and advice. We also thank Dr. Sam Geerts from AQUAFIN, Eng. Joost Deweld from the VMM, Dr. Joris Vanlede Flanders Hydraulics for their advice and information provided. We also wish to acknowledge Dr. Hugo Lepage, Dr. Patrick Boyer and Dr. Rodolfo Gurriaran from IRSN for allowing us to use the Rhône's River datasets for our model verification.
Funding Information:
This project has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2019–2020 under grant agreement No 945196.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2024/2
Y1 - 2024/2
N2 - We present a novel methodology to dynamically calculate dose rates to people and wildlife from hospital-released radionuclides reaching the environment through water treatment plants (WTPs), using the biokinetic model D-DAT for aquatic wildlife, applied to 18F, 123I, 131I, 153Sm, 99mTc and 201Tl. We have also developed a method to calculate doses to WTP workers and to farmers from agricultural practices. This proof-of-concept study simulates a generic source term of radionuclide levels in the Belgian Molse Nete River during the year 2018, chosen because the river flow was very low during that year, which constitutes a very conservative, bounding case. The dose rates to wildlife calculated for this hypothetical scenario under conservative assumptions, are well below the ERICA predicted no effects dose rate to wildlife of 10 μGy h−1. Human exposures are also very low, in most cases not exceeding 10 μSv y−1. This work identifies important data gaps and areas of uncertainty in the assessment of radiopharmaceutical effluents. The study, which is part of the EC project SINFONIA, paves the way for a dynamic screening assessment methodology able to perform consistently assessments of the impact of radiopharmaceuticals on people and wildlife. This is particularly relevant since discharges of radiopharmaceuticals in rivers are on the increase and it is necessary to explicitly demonstrate that people and the environment are adequately protected.
AB - We present a novel methodology to dynamically calculate dose rates to people and wildlife from hospital-released radionuclides reaching the environment through water treatment plants (WTPs), using the biokinetic model D-DAT for aquatic wildlife, applied to 18F, 123I, 131I, 153Sm, 99mTc and 201Tl. We have also developed a method to calculate doses to WTP workers and to farmers from agricultural practices. This proof-of-concept study simulates a generic source term of radionuclide levels in the Belgian Molse Nete River during the year 2018, chosen because the river flow was very low during that year, which constitutes a very conservative, bounding case. The dose rates to wildlife calculated for this hypothetical scenario under conservative assumptions, are well below the ERICA predicted no effects dose rate to wildlife of 10 μGy h−1. Human exposures are also very low, in most cases not exceeding 10 μSv y−1. This work identifies important data gaps and areas of uncertainty in the assessment of radiopharmaceutical effluents. The study, which is part of the EC project SINFONIA, paves the way for a dynamic screening assessment methodology able to perform consistently assessments of the impact of radiopharmaceuticals on people and wildlife. This is particularly relevant since discharges of radiopharmaceuticals in rivers are on the increase and it is necessary to explicitly demonstrate that people and the environment are adequately protected.
KW - Hospitals
KW - Radiological impact assessment
KW - Molse Nete
KW - Radiopharmaceuticals
KW - Wildlife
KW - Water treatment plant
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85181951650&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2023.107362
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2023.107362
M3 - Article
SN - 0265-931X
VL - 272
JO - Journal of environmental radioactivity
JF - Journal of environmental radioactivity
M1 - 107362
ER -