Radiologically Safe Environment Around Indian Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear power plants are some of the safest power generating entities that not only have the capability to produce power for decades, but also the ability to do so in a safe manner. Their multiple, redundant safety systems, conservative design, and safe practices ensure that any radioactive material released from them to the surrounding environment is minimal during the course of power generation. Further, the small amounts of radioactivity released in the form of discharges hardly contribute to the anthropogenic doses to the nearby human population. This impact is quantified through regular radiation monitoring, sampling, and dose estimation program within specified zones of the nuclear power plant, as a licensing requirement. In this chapter, we discuss the impact of nuclear power plant’s routine radioactive releases on the surrounding environment. The focus of this chapter is on the operating nuclear power plants in India in particular and on nuclear power programs around the world in general. In the end, we also discuss some ways to relax the zoning requirement around nuclear power plants in the light of decades of environmental and human dose data analysis.