Browsing by Author "Symonds, JL"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Assessment of radioactive fallout arising from testing of nuclear weapons in the South Pacific and the probable effects on the Australian population
    (Australian Atomic Energy Commission, 1973-03) Fry, RM; Symonds, JL; Watson, GM
    The first part of this report gives a short description of the different basic types of nuclear weapon and lists Chinese weapons tests in the northern hemisphere and French weapons tests in the South Pacific by date, together with an indication of the power of each device where such information is available. The second section of the report discusses the measurement of radiation and what dose units are appropriate for assessment of the significance of fallout exposure to man, and outlines the background of natural and man-made radiation to which man is inevitably subject. The principal biological effects of radiation are then identified and the nature of the relationship between radiation dose and the incidence of effects is examined. Conventional radiation protection philosophy assures a linear relationship between dose and effect, which is independent of dose rate, On this assumption it is possible to derive, from the limited high-dose data available, risk coefficients for radiation effects which may be used to calculate the incidence of harmful effects from the low radiation doses relevant to fallout studies. The difficulties and inaccuracies inherent in this extrapolation mean that estimates made in this way are essentially of the upper limits of possible damage, not the most likely value which may often be zero. The final section assesses the magnitude of fallout in Australia from the French and Chinese series of tests and expresses this in the form of dose commitments to man; the dose commitment for any radionuclide being the dose received to date plus the dose to be received in the future from residual long-lived activity already incorporated in the body and remaining in the environment. From these dose commitments, using generally accepted risk coefficients, estimates of the upper limits of the magnitude of the harmful effects, carcinogenesis and mutagenesis, which may be attributed to fallout from the respective series have been derived for the Australian population.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Energy accounting in nuclear power systems
    (Australian Atomic Energy Commission., 1975-10) Symonds, JL; Essam, P; Stocks, KJ
    Energy analysis is a systematic way of tracing and accounting for the flows of energy through an industrial system and apportioning a quantity of the primary energy input to each of the goods and services sent out. The application of energy accounting to nuclear power stations and their growth in generating systems is discussed. Misunderstandings arising from discrepancies and weaknesses in some published simple analyses of hypothetical growth situations are outlined. Results of a more complex energy flow analysis are used to demonstrate that current nuclear energy programs are running at an energy profit. Large fossil fuel savings will occur in a real electrical grid system under anticipated nuclear power growth rates. These savings will give a new dimension in planning the use of fossil energy resources which will still be needed for transport and industrial processes, such as steel-making, for some time to come.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Perspectives in energy requirements of mankind.
    (Australian Atomic Energy Commission, 1975-08) Symonds, JL
    The growth of energy demand from the nineteenth century to the present and its likely future development are described, for the interested layman, in the context of the changing pattern of resource use. The availability and distribution of the renewable and non-renewable resources of energy, which will provide for the future, show that developed and developing countries will incur supply problems in the decades ahead unless the potential of all energy reserves is tapped. Factors such as the market penetration of new resources and the depletion of resources are outlined. It is pointed out that coal may be used increasingly for some time but that nuclear energy is the only other energy form which is immediately available and which can be utilised commercially. Nuclear energy will be needed even if countries are prepared to cut back to low growth rates in energy use. It is suggested that lower growth rates may well be necessary in the next twenty to thirty years, since it takes this time to bring new alternative technologies into commercial use, and a further similar period will be required to achieve significant resource substitution.