Radiological Protection Technology Blog

Can biologicals live in nuclear pools or in nuclear areas and truly thrive?

This raises an interesting issue for Radiological Protection students:
if biologicals can live in radioactive areas and thrive, how does this affect how the NRC/DOE (and Rad Pro workers) protect the safety of the workers and public.

A tangential issue might be whether the biologicals - if any exist in radioactive areas or nuclear facilities - should be protected and moved from those areas or eradicated for human safety issues (i.e. not being able to relocate the biologicals due to significant risk exposure to humans). The article (linked below) discusses how the Chernobyl area is a haven for wildlife. Could nuclear areas offer an unintended shelter for other biologicals?

Purifying Metals: Implications for RadPro Workers?

I think this article may have implications for increased safety for RadPro who also move radioactive hazardous waste. Your Thoughts?

According to the article “Purifying Metal; a Technologically Different Approach to Enriched Uranium Recovery Promises Big reductions in Cost” on page 11 in the Summer 2011 edition of The Y-12 Report, there are three technologies called Calciner, DER, and ER.

Calciner is “like a kiln, and it rotates to evaporate liquids and convert them to solids… where it would be used to convert low-equity residues into a form advantageous for storage. If deployed now, a calciner would significantly reduce the amount of in-process contaminated liquids and thus reduce a major risk in the nuclear facilities…”

The Knoxville News Sentinel has reported that TVA plans to pursue completion of the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant number 1. This means Radiation Protection Technicians will be needed when the plant is complete. The Bellefonte Nuclear Plant is located in Northern Alabama.   

Excerpt: Pinched by federal clean air regulations and expected rising customer demand, TVA again is planning to complete its idled Bellefonte Nuclear Plant. Tennessee Valley Authority President and CEO Tom Kilgore said Thursday that he will ask the utility's board of directors in August to OK completing a partially built nuclear reactor at the plant near Scottsboro, Ala.