POPULATION DOSE IN MAN-REM BY THE ENVIRONMENTAL RADIATION DUE TO NUCLEAR POWER PRODUCTION.

An estimate is presented on the exposure of the Japanese population to environmental radioactivity from nuclear power plants and fuel reprocessing facilities. There are two main sources of radiation exposure to the population. Firstly, there is the contribution from the atmospheric 85Kr and hydrospheric 3H which originate from world-wide nuclear power production. The second component of population exposure derives from the atmospheric and coastal releases of both air-born and liquid radioactive wastes from nuclear facilities installed in Japan. Assuming that the nuclear power generating capacity of the whole world will be 4, 300GWe and that for Japan alone will be 220GWe in the year 2000, it is estimated that the above-mentioned exposure pathways will give rise to a dose rate of 1.7×104man-rem/yr for the Japanese population.