Environmental Radiation Safety Assessment in the Control Area at Nuclear Facilities

Procedural recommendations are made for a radiation safety assessment of the environment as well as the results of their approval based on monitoring of the radiation situation for nuclear facilities are presented. Changes in the radioecological situation are identified and assessed in relation to the existing radiation background and the biota irradiation dose rate and control levels of radionuclides in the natural environment, determined on the basis of environmental criteria, are given. An integral assessment of the radioecological situation is performed using a generalized metric that takes into account the spatial scale, duration, and intensity of the radiation exposure. The proposed metrics can be considered as basic for making assessments of the environmental radiation risk of nuclear facilities and standardizing the quality of the environment based on the level of the activity of radionuclides.