The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the World Health Organization (WHO)

Since its inception in 1957, the IAEA has been active in the field of radiation protection in mining and milling of radioactive materials. Mining of uranium is the only component in the nuclear fuel cycle which has resulted in a significant incidence of occupational illness, particularly lung cancer. The IAEA, recognizing the significance of the problem, held a symposium in 1963 jointly with ILO and WHO

28 AHMED and DORY

on Radiological Health and Safety in Mining and Milling of Nuclear Materials (see Ref. [15]).

As the uranium mining and milling industries continued to expand rapidly, the IAEA felt the need for the development of a code of practice and therefore convened a panel of experts jointly with ILO in 1965 for this purpose (see Ref. [8]).

A panel was convened in Vienna in July 1973 jointly with ILO, to deal with the detailed methods of monitoring and surveillance in mining and milling of radioactive materials [12].

A joint ILO/IAEA/WHO/CEA symposium (1974) was held in Bordeaux, France, on Radiation Protection in Uranium and Thorium Mining and Milling (see Ref. [16]).

The subject of radiological risks in uranium mining was also covered in general by the Panel on Inhalation Risks from Radioactive Contaminants. The report was published in 1972 as Technical Reports Series No. 142 [17]. It contains one chapter on uranium mining which dealt, among other things, with the principles of dose estimation from radon decay products, working limits and monitoring of radon and radon daughters.

In 1978 a joint IAEA/ILO/WHO Advisory Group was convened in Portoroz, Yugoslavia, to revise Safety Series No. 26 [8]. The Advisory Group thoroughly revised the Code of Practice to take account of the new recommendations of the ICRP particularly contained in its Publications 24, 26 and 32 [18, 13, 11]. New develop-ments in radiation protection monitoring in mines and mills and new developdevelop-ments in engineering and ventilation controls were taken into account.

Jointly with ILO and WHO the IAEA held a Regional Training Course for Africa on Radiation Protection in Exploration, Mining and Milling of Radioactive Ores in Gabon in November 1983.

Other IAEA programmes include Safety Series No. 82 on the Application of the Dose Limitation System to the Mining and Milling of Radioactive Ores.

The IAEA has been actively co-operating with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) in the programme on personnel monitoring of radon daughter exposures as well as on uranium mill tailings.

The IAEA was represented as a witness at the Cluff Lake Inquiry in 1977 at the invitation of the Government of Saskatchewan. This Board of Inquiry, headed by a judge, heard testimony from 100 scientists, pro- and anti-nuclear people, and the public to examine radiation protection and other aspects of the uranium mining industry for the Cluff Lake area in Saskatchewan.

The IAEA has been active for many years in studying the radiological and technological bases for the management of uranium processing wastes. Sessions pertaining to these subjects have been included in symposia, seminars and international meetings on waste management.

At the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which took place in Stockholm from 4 to 16 June 1972 [19], governments were asked to explore

IAEA-TC-453.5/18 29

with the IAEA and other appropriate organizations international co-operation on radioactive waste problems, including the problems of mining and mill disposal. The IAEA has therefore maintained its interest in this field.

The IAEA convened a panel of experts to develop the background reference material required to formulate a code and guide on management of wastes from the mining and milling of uranium and thorium ores [20]. Member States were recom-mended to take the Code and Guide of Safety Series No. 44 into account when formulating national regulations.

Since 1987, IAEA expert groups have been considering the current practices and options for confinement of uranium mill tailings. Technical Reports Series No. 209 [21] presents an overview of current practices for the impoundment of mill tailings, and of site selection. Related to the subject was a co-ordinated research programme on the source, distribution, movement and deposition of radium in inland waterways and aquifers.

In view of the developments which have taken place in recent years, and the current and future importance of this subject, the IAEA convened an international symposium in 1982 (in co-operation with OECD/NEA) in the USA to review processing technology and practices for the management of wastes from uranium mining and milling. This was the first IAEA symposium devoted exclusively to this field [22].

The IAEA has revised its Safety Series No. 44 on the Code of Practice on Management of Wastes from the Mining and Milling of Uranium and Thorium Ores.¹ 7.3. OECD/NEA

In the field of radiological health and safety, the OECD/NEA has the task of encouraging co-ordination of government regulatory policies and practices, promot-ing exchange of information, and co-ordination of research and development among its member countries. The work of the NEA is carried out through a number of specialized committees.

Major emphasis is presently focused on the problems of radiation protection and environmental impact of nuclear fuel cycle facilities, with special attention to the front end (uranium mining and milling) and the back end (waste management) of the fuel cycle. In this context, the NEA readily appreciated the increasing attention being given in several countries to problems associated with the exposure of man to radon, thoron, and their daughters, including dosimetry and measurement, and began to work actively in this field in 1976.

1 INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Safe Management of Wastes from the Mining and Milling of Uranium and Thorium Ores, Safety Series No. 85, IAEA, Vienna (1987).

30 AHMED and DORY

However, at the time the NEA first became involved in this field, one of the most urgent problems to be solved was that of ensuring adequate personal dosimetry for uranium miners. Consequently, the NEA was urged to organize a specialists meeting on personal dosimetry and area monitoring for radon and radon daughters to provide an international forum for exchanging information and reviewing problems in this field. The meeting was held at Elliot Lake, Canada, in October 1976 [23]. A second specialists meeting on the same subjects was held in Paris in November 1978 to review further developments in this area [24]. These meetings demonstrated that the overall problem associated with exposure to radon and radon daughters had many facets, each of which has been the subject of considerable atten-tion in recent years in several countries for various reasons. The meetings indicated that further work was required in two areas: dosimetry, and metrology and monitoring.

Conclusions and recommendations that emerged from the two specialists meetings were discussed by the Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health. As a consequence, in September 1979 the Committee approved a programme of work in the areas of dosimetry and monitoring of radon, thoron, and their daughters, and also approved the setting up of an international group of experts on radon dosimetry and monitoring to undertake this work.

A group of experts has been set up on radon daughter dosimetry and monitoring to handle all the work. The first phase of the work, on dosimetric aspects, was completed in 1983. Towards the end of the first phase, the group of experts has reviewed the redefined objectives and scope of occupational and environmental monitoring for radon and its daughters in order to redefine proposals for the second phase of the work, on metrology and monitoring, for subsequent review and approval by the Committee. Two publications were prepared, one on Dosimetry Aspects of Exposure to Radon and Thoron Daughter Products [25] and the other on Metrology and Monitoring of Radon, Thoron and their Daughter Products [26]. The NEA also presented a publication on International Intercalibration and Intercomparison of Radon, Thoron and Daughters Measuring Equipment [27].

REFERENCES

[1] LUNDIN, P.E., WAGONER, J.K., ARCHER, V.E., Radon Daughter Exposures and Respira-tory Cancer Quantitative and Temporal Aspects, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Joint Monograph No. I (1971).

[2] SEVC, J., KUNZ, E., PLACEK, V., Lung cancer mortality in uranium miners and long-term exposure to radon daughter products, Health Phys. 30 (1976) 433-437.

[3] KUNZ, E., SEVC, J., PLACEK, V., Lung cancer mortality in uranium miners, Health Phys.

35 (1978) 579-580.

[4] MULLER, J., WHEELER, W.C., "Causes of death in Ontario uranium miners", Radiation Protection in Mining and Milling of Uranium and Thorium, International Labour Office, Geneva, (1974) 29-42.

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[5] ARCHER, V.E., WAGONER, J.K., LUNDIN, F.E., Lung cancer among uranium miners in the United States.Health Phys. 25 (1972) 351-371.

[6] DE VILLIERS, A.J., WINDISH, J.P., Lung Cancer in a Fluorspar Mining Community. I.

Radiation, Dust and Mortality Experience, Br. J. Ind. Med. 21 (1964) 94-109.

[7] DORY, A. B., " Practical difficulties related to implementation of ICRP recommended dose limi-tation in uranium mines", Application of the Dose Limilimi-tation System for Radiation Protection:

Practical Implications (Proc. Topical Sem. Vienna, 1979), IAEA, Vienna (1979) 287-314.

[8] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Radiation Protection of Workers in the Mining and Milling of Radioactive Ores, 1983 Edn, Safety Series No. 26, IAEA, Vienna (1983).

[9] INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION, Limits for Intakes of Radionuclides by Workers, ICRP Publication 30, Pergamon Press, Oxford and New York (1979).

[10] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Basic Safety Standards for Radiation Pro-tection, 1982 Edition, Safety Series No. 9, IAEA, Vienna (1983).

[11] INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION, Limits for Inhala-tion of Radon Daughters by Workers, ICRP PublicaInhala-tion 32, Pergamon Press, Oxford and New York (1981).

[12] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Manual on Radiological Safety in Uranium and Thorium Mines and Mills, 1976 Edition, Safety Series No. 43, IAEA, Vienna (1976).

[13] INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION, Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, ICRP Publication 26, Pergamon Press, Oxford and New York (1977).

[14] INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION, Biological Effects of Inhaled Radionuclides, ICRP Publication 31, Pergamon Press, Oxford and New York (1980).

[15] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Radiological Health and Safety in Mining and Milling of Nuclear Materials (Proc. Symp. Vienna, 1963), IAEA, Vienna (1964).

[16] DOUSSET, M., "Permissible levels pertaining to radiation hazards in the mining and milling of uranium and thorium ores" (Proc. Symp. Bordeaux, 1974), Rep. VZUPPR-P-2146/74, Vyvoj-ovy Zavod Uranoveho Prumyslu, Pribram, CSSR (1974) (in Czech).

[17] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Inhalation Risks from Radioactive Con-taminants, Technical Reports Series No. 142, IAEA, Vienna (1972).

[18] INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION, Radiation Protec-tion in Uranium and Other Mines, ICRP PublicaProtec-tion 24, Pergamon Press, Oxford and New York (1977).

[19] United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Proc. Int. Conf. Stockholm, 1972), Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin (West) (1973) 382 pp.

[20] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Management of Wastes from the Mining and Milling of Uranium and Thorium Gases, 1976 Edition, Safety Series No. 44, IAEA, Vienna (1976).

[21] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Current Practices and Options for Confine-ment of Uranium Mill Tailings, Technical Reports Series No. 209, IAEA, Vienna (1981).

[22] INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Management of Wastes from Uranium Mining and Milling (Proc. Symp. Albuquerque, USA, 1982), IAEA, Vienna (1982).

[23] NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY OF THE OECD, Personal Dosimetry and Area Monitoring Suitable for Radon and Daughter Products (Proc. Symp. Elliot Lake, Canada, 1976), OECD, Paris (1977).

[24] NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY OF THE OECD, Radon Monitoring (Proc. Specialists Mtg Paris, 1978), OECD, Paris (1984).

[25] NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY OF THE OECD, Dosimetry Aspects of Exposure to Radon and Thoron Daughter Products, NEA Experts Report, OECD, Paris (1983) 111 pp.

3 2 AHMED and DORY

[26] NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY OF THE OECD, Metrology and Monitoring of Radon, Thoron and their Daughter Products, NEA Experts Report, OECD, Paris (1985) 137 pp.

[27] NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY OF THE OECD, International Intercalation and Intercom-parison of Radon, Thoron and Daughters Measuring Equipment. Part I. Radon Measurement, OECD, Paris (1986) 62 pp.

IAEA-TC-453.5/7

A MILLING AND CONVERSION PILOT PLANT