Environmental Radiation Dose Reconstruction for U.S. and Russian Weapons Production Facilities: Hanford and Mayak

Another way to look at Cold War legacies is to examine the major environmental releases that resulted from past operation of Cold War-related facilities for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Examining these historical releases and the resultant radiation dose to individuals living near these facilities is called environmental dose reconstruction. Dose reconstructions have been performed or are underway at most large Cold War installations in the United States, such as the Hanford facility; several are also underway in other countries, such as at the Mayak facility in Russia. The efforts in the United States are mostly based on historical operating records and current conditions, which are used to estimate environmental releases, transport, and human exposure. The Russian efforts are largely based on environmental measurements and measurements of human subjects; environmental transport modelling, when conducted, is used to organize and validate the measurements. Past operation of Cold War-related facilities for the manufacture of nuclear weapons has resulted in major releases of radionuclides into the environment. Reconstruction of the historical releases and the resultant radiation dose to individuals in the public living near these facilities is called environmental dose reconstruction. Dose reconstructions have been performed or are underway at most large Coldmore » War installations in the United States; several are also underway in other countries. The types of activity performed, the operating histories, and the radionuclide releases vary widely across the different facilities. The U.S. Hanford Site and the Russian Mayak Production Association are used here to illustrate the nature of the assessed problems and the range of approaches developed to solve them.« less