Life cycle of carbon-14 from nuclear reactor production: Global and North American estimates

Abstract

Carbon-14 is a byproduct originating from the operation of power nuclear reactors. There are currently approximately 435 operating power reactors world-wide, and it has been recently estimated that the cumulative production from all these reactors amounted to 21.1 PBq* (as reported in Prog. Nucl. Energy, 48: 2-36, 2006 - this paper will update this value including the 2004 figures). Approximately ∼45% of is available for gaseous or liquid release, of which only a small portion has been released to the environment. At the end of year 2004, 122 reactors were operating in North America, with a cumulative production of 10.4 PBq. It is interesting to note that from this value, 6.9 PBq is available for release (this represents ∼33% of the total worldwide cumulative production). Most of this inventory currently sits in Canada. Environmental releases of this inventory are small. However as inventories continue to increase, waste management will need to take this in consideration.