ECOLOGICAL CHRONOLOGY OF NUCLEAR-FUEL CYCLE SITES

We compared C-14 levels in annual growth rings of pine trees around th e Tomsk nuclear fuel reprocessing plant (NFRP) and the Chernobyl nucle ar power plant (NPP). At the Chernobyl site, samples were taken from t he control area (within a 30-km radius zone around the site) to a dist ance of 80 km. In Tomsk, we collected samples between 8-10 km and 10-1 5 km from the site, taking into account prevailing wind directions. Ba ckground samples were collected 200 km from the plant. Samples were co nverted to benzene and counted in an ultra-low-level LSC Quantulus 122 0(TM). Because of the Chernobyl accident, a signal can be detected in the background of routine plant operation. Comparison with the Tomsk d ata suggests that the routine discharges from Tomsk are more significa nt than the discharge from the Chernobyl accident. We estimated Tomsk NFRP annual discharge level at up to 30-45 TBq C-14 from 1985 to 1988.