- Author
-
Belanger, R.
|
Buckley, D. W.
|
Swenson, J. B.
- Title
- Environmental Assessment of Ionization Chamber Smoke Detectors Containing Am-241. Technical Report. January-October 1979.
- Coporate
- Science Applications, Inc., La Jolla, CA
- Sponsor
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
- Report
-
NUREG/CR-1156
November 1979
173 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- NRC-02-78-045
- Keywords
-
ionization chambers
|
isotopes
|
fire detection systems
|
radiation hazards
|
fire safety
|
smoke detectors
|
radioactive materials
- Identifiers
- americium isotopes; radiation dosage; radium isotopes; nickel isotopes; public health
- Abstract
- The NRC is reevaluating the adequacy of existing policy dealing with radioactive materials. One such consumer product is the ionization chamber smoke detector (ICSD), which in recent years has become widely distributed. This report is the assessment of the impact of ICSD's on people and the assessment of the impact of ICSD's on people and the environment. Its benefits and risks are evaluated for presently-distributed ICSD's against alternatives. The work is intended to be a source of information for a generic environmental impact statement on consumer products containing radioactive material which will be written in the future. The report concludes that the sum of diseases to the population from the annual production, distribution, use, and disposal of 14 million Am-241 ICSD's is much lower than that which could potentially result in one cancer death. The use of Am-241 ICSD's is justifiable as a means to prevent loss of life and property. The estimated benefit-to-risk ratio is more than 15,000.