The Influence of Source Term Release Parameters on Health Effects

The influence of source term release parameters on offsite health effects was examined for the YGN 3&4 nuclear power plants. The release parameters considered in this study are release height, heat content, and release time. The effects of core inventory change as a function of fuel burnup was also examined. The health effects by the change of release parameters are early fatalities, cancer fatalities, and early fatality distance. The results showed that early fatalities and early fatality distance decrease as release height increases, although it does not have significant influence on cancer fatalities. The values of both early and late health effects decrease as heat content increases. As release time increases, health consequence shows maximum value in 2 hours of release time and then decreases rapidly. As fuel burnup increases, early fatalities decrease rapidly, while cancer fatalities increase rapidly. Both cases show little variation afterward. Early fatality distance is almost same in all fuel turnup history. The information obtained through this research is very useful in developing strategies for reducing offsite consequences when combined with the influence of weather conditions on offsite risks.