Publication Laka-library:
Nader onderzoek naar de verwerking van gebruikte splijtstof uit Nederlandse kerncentrales - De Bijlagen
| Author | NRG, Konings, Dodd |
| Date | March 1999 |
| Classification | 1.01.4.40/09 (WASTE - REPROCESSING, CONTRACTS & DISCUSSIONS) |
| Front | 
|
From the publication:
1. INTRODUCTION In the last two years there have been several discussions in the Netherlands at the parliamentary and governmental level with respect to the two principal options for the management of spent nuclear fuel: reprocessing and direct final disposal. In early 1997 the Netherlands Energy Research Foundation (ECN) carried out a global analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the two options. In March 1998 the Dutch Parliament adopted a motion calling for further research with respect to a number of issues, which although they had been touched on in the BCN study had not been treated in depth. As a result NRG (which was established in 1998 through the merger of BCN's and KBMA's business activities in the nuclear fields), under contract to the Dutch ministry for Economic Affairs, has considered the following issues: 1. The radiological impact in the immediate vicinity of the fuel reprocessing plants in the United Kingdom and France; 2. The possibilities of recycling the plutonium arising from the reprocessing of the spent fuel from the Dutch nuclear power plants in the form of MOX in nuclear power plants in general and in the Borssele nuclear power plant in particular; 3. The financial uncertainties associated with the conditioning of spent fuel elements; 4. The possibilities of utilising the spent fuel pools at the two Dutch nuclear power plants for the interim storage of spent fuel; 5. The transport of radioactive materials; 6. The status of spent fuel processing and disposal in Europe (in particular the status of the various radioactive waste disposal facilities). This report gives the results of the first of the above activities - the literature relating to childhood leukaemia clustering near the nuclear reprocessing facilities at Sellafield, Dounreay and La Hague is reviewed and the possible causes of these clusters which have been proposed are examined The debate on whether there is any link between leukaemia clusters and nuclear installations started in November 1983. Yorkshire Television in the UK broadcasted a programme entitled "Windscale - The Nuclear Laundry". In the programme it was alleged that there was an excess of childhood leukaemia in the village of Seascale, which is a small coastal village with a population of about 3,000 situated approximately 3 km south of the Sellafie1d nuclear fuel reprocessing plant operated by British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL). This resulted in an Advisory Committee under Sir Douglas Black, who produced a report on doses and risks of cancer in West Cumbria [Black, 1984], followed by numerous epidemiological studies concerning the risk of cancer or leukaemia in populations in the vicinity of nuclear installations. As a result of media reports of an excess of childhood leukaemia cases in the village of Seascale, and the subsequent finding that an association with relatively high doses of radiation received occupationally by fathers employed at Sellafield before the conception of their children could be sufficient to account for these excess cases, precipitated two legal cases heard in the High Court, London, during 1992-93.
This publication is only available at Laka on paper, not as pdf.
You can borrow the publication or request a copy. When we're available, this is possible for a small fee.