A study on radiation dose estimation of argon-41 and nitrogen-16 airborne released from the Kartini research reactor

A study on radiation doses estimation of Argon-41 and Nitrogen-16 airborne released from the Kartini research reactor is already carried out. Kartini reactor is a research reactor with the operating license of 100 KW. Estimation of radiation doses due to the radionuclide released in the airborne from the operating reactor is absolutely needed. This study is performed in order to estimate the internal dose contributions of the Argon-41 and N-16 received by radiation workers as well as the society in the reactor vicinity and to ensure that their dose contributions to the environment are still below the allowable limit value. Argon-41 and Nitrogen-16 are the activation products of gases containing Argon and Oxygen dissolved into primary coolant and released through the ventilation system. The estimated doses were calculated based on the fraction of Ar-41 and N-16 released to the environment through a reactor stack. The discharge rate was calculated by the normal condition for 400 hours of reactor operating in one year. The results showed that the estimated dose for the worker in the reactor building was 0.403 μSv/year, while the society in the reactor building vicinity was 4.45 x 10−3 μSv/year. This value is very small compared to the dose constraint that appointed at Center for Accelerator Science and Technology which is 15 mSv/year for the radiation worker and 0.3 mSv/year for the society surrounding Yogyakarta Nuclear Facility.