Pavel Shompolov, deputy head of Radiation Safety Physical Factors Control Division of Nizhniy Novgorod region Department of Rospotrebnadzor

– The present radiological safety regulations set tough requirements to the construction and operation of NPPs

A representative of Rospotrebnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision in the Field of Protection of Consumers’ Rights and Human Welfare) has commented on the situated in the field of safety of nuclear power plants.

The safety barriers of the modern nuclear power plants are so efficient that they can ensure the radiological safety of the population in case of any possible emergency.

The many-year experience of operation of WWER in Russia and abroad has shown that this type of reactor emits 100 times less radiation than allowed.

Surveys have shown that, even in case of a serious emergency, the radiation background outside the buffer zone (3 km away from a nuclear power plant) will grow to just 1.3 millisievert, i.e. to a level comparable to the natural background. Today, the technological and ecological parameters of the nuclear power plants of new generation comply with all radiological safety standards.

The present radiological safety regulations set very tough requirements to the construction and operation of nuclear power plants. Our sanitary rules are so tough that our NPPs can produce no more than 1 additional microsievert in 100 years against 100 microsievert to be potentially added to the natural background during the same period.

The radiation background near NPPs can reach the maximum admissible level for only a short period of time. If this happens, the further background must be reduced to a level ensuring that the total quarterly (annual) background remain within the admissible limit.

Even if the radiation background near NPP stays at the maximum admissible level for a whole year, the people living near the plant will get just 0.2 additional microsievert – i.e. 5 times less than the natural background. If we compare the radiation effects of a nuclear power plant and a thermal power plant of the same capacity, we will see that the radiological effects of the TPP on the population are also small but still bigger than those of the NPP. The point is that the fossil fuel used by TPPs contains radio-nuclides of natural origin. Besides, TPPs emit lots of CO2 and chemical pollutants. NPPs produce no such emissions.