In connection with the massive tritium leak at the Wolseong nuclear power plant, some scholars have criticized KAIST’s nuclear and quantum engineering professor Chung Yong-hoon, who said that the tritium concentration in residents’ urine is at the level of 6 bananas and 1 gram of anchovy is less scientific.
Until now, the nuclear power industry has accused him of being an unprofessional whenever he talks about the dangers of nuclear power plants and radioactive materials, but there have also been voices saying that Professor Jeong-Jak Yong-hoon is also an expert in health care or preventive medicine, and he is not an expert.
Therefore, Professor Yong-Hoon Jung refuted that it is clear that the beta dose from potassium 40 in bananas is higher than that of tritium, and that if we have a professional discussion, we need a license to make this claim.
On the 27th, Kwang-Hoon Seok, an expert member of the Green Association (Doctor of Science and Technology Policy), who served as an auditor of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, participated in the’Civil Society Emergency Debate for Experts on Radioactive Material Leakage and Safety Problems at Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant’ hosted by the Energy Conversion Forum and Regarding the theory of “dog anchovy 1g”, “Professor Jeong said, “As if a nuclear engineer was a medical scientist or a preventive scientist, the tritium in the body of the residents around the Wolseong nuclear power plant appeared as if they ate 1 gram of anchovy. He pointed out that everything about) was caricatured.
Dr. Seok suggested that he looked for the basis for Professor Jeong’s calculation. Dr. Seok explained that Professor Jeong’s dose conversion calculation method was “a domestic research team’s 2014 (Jeju)/2015 (Namhae) anchovy sample polonium survey papers, the maximum value among the two samples (392 Bq/kg). Is directly multiplied by the dose coefficient ‘1.2×10⁻⁶ (μSv/Bq: microsievert of Becquerel’s)’ and converted into 0.47μSv/g (microsievert per gram). He pointed out that the amount of exposure to residents for one year (the amount of tritium in urine) is 0.3 to 0.6 microsieverts, so it is about 1 gram of anchovy.” Dr. Seok said, “Professor Jung was not an expert in this field, and he was very taxing. To evaluate effective dose, he had to go through a strict scientific procedure and write a methodology, but this is not a scientific argument.”
According to the results of a study published in Spain presented by Dr. Seok, 140 becquerels of radioactive polonium were produced from 1 gram of raw anchovy fried without anchovy intestines, and 1 becquerel was produced from processed canned anchovies, which is almost 100 times higher. According to the results of other studies, Dr. Seok introduced that only 21 becquerels were produced in the anchovy fried anchovy after removing the internal organs and bones of the anchovy. Ultimately, the polonium of anchovies is concentrated in the intestines of anchovies, and in Korea, it is explained that the amount of polonium appears at the level of eating anchovy sashimi. However, since the anchovy we usually eat is dried for a long time, it has been processed like canned food, so if it is converted according to the calculation method of Professor Jeong Yong-hoon, 0.0217 microsieverts per gram of anchovies are produced, Dr. Seok suggested. It was reduced to less than a 20th. He criticized, “If you want to talk about the effective dose, you have to investigate and talk statistically up to this level.”
Dr. Seok also pointed out that there is a difference that the half-life of tritium is 12.3 years and that of polonium (anchovy) is 138 days.
Regarding the data on the amount of tritium in the urine of the residents of Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant proposed by Professor Jeong, Dr. Seok said that the annual exposure dose data of the residents around Wolseong that had been secured so far through the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety <원자력이용시설 주변 방사선환경 조사 및 평가> Each year), in the case of 2014, it was found to have soared to 105 microsieverts. Of these, tritium accounts for a significant portion, and as KHNP argued, even if only 15% of this is claimed, it is contradicted that it is significantly higher than that of 0.3-0.6 microsieverts.
Prof. Jeong also studied tritium by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) (2010), which produced the Wolsong nuclear power plant, and in Canada, the long-term OBT (organic bonded tritium: tritium combined with organic matter in the body) He said that he admitted that it would go up to the half-life of 350 days. Contrary to the claim that urine and sweat will escape within 10 days, the objection is that it can stay in the body much longer. Professor Jeong said that the committee acknowledged the need for further research, pointing out that’this OBT cannot be measured by urinalysis’. Professor Jeong said that the variability of the OBT/HTO (tritium combined with water: tritium water) ratio of tritium in the terrestrial environment through the order for the transitional action of this committee was large, so that the reliability of the measurement was improved and the in-depth study of tritium toxicity He said that he ordered to promote. Prof. Jeong explained, “We are seriously regulating the host country, but nuclear engineers who are not majors insisting that it is safe, so we are sorry to say this.”
Baek Do-myung, a professor at Seoul National University’s Graduate School of Public Health, also introduced a thesis published in 2005 at the debate on the same day, and when the tritium in the water and tritium was organically formed by drying the cabbage, it became organic. Tritium was found to be 24 times as high as 2,800 times higher in tritium. (Choi YH et al. Tritium levels in Chinese cabbage and radish plants acutely exposed to HTO vapor at different growth stages, Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 2005; 84(1):79-94)
Prof. Baek said, “Is tritium in our body and potassium 40 in bananas really similar? Is the dose conversion really accurate? The meaning of the dose conversion is the same,” said Professor Paik. It comes with a lot of question marks as to whether or not.” Professor Paik analyzed that “tritium is a substance that has been in the body for more than a year at a long time, whereas potassium does not bind to it and then goes out.”
Juntaek Lee, a former professor of physics at Konkuk University (currently, the head of the post-nuclear professors’ group) said on the day, “There is more potassium 40 in the body, which is said to be in bananas.” “The reaction of potassium in the body, the process of reacting in the body of tritium, and the influence of behavior We cannot compare together,” he refuted. Prof. Lee said, “It’s like you can’t compare a tricycle with a Porsche.” “(The person who made this claim) was crazy, young, or artificially mistaken.”
A nuclear engineer, Han Byeong-seop, head of the Institute for Nuclear Safety, also recommended that the ICRP (International Radiation Protection Committee) in 1977 is’As Low As Reasonably Achievable’, and as an optimization of radiation protection,’all exposures depend on social and economic factors. He pointed out that the basic spirit is that it should be kept as low as reasonably achievable while putting it into consideration. “This is an engineering morality and the basic premise that tritium has the harmfulness of tritium is common sense.” He said, “With these basic principles of radiation. “Even if it can be said that it is excessive, it is a moral claim that it has no effect.”
Lim Seong-jin, co-president of the Energy Conversion Forum, also asked, “Should we waste time refuting this disagreeable voice?”
Accordingly, Professor Jeong Yong-hoon of KAIST’s Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering refuted the criticism on the afternoon of the 27th at Media Today and on the phone. Prof. Jeong replied, “I did so,” and replied, “The radioactive material is also polonium” when asked if it was correct according to the method of calculating the radiation dose of 1 gram of anchovy suggested by Dr. Gwang-Hoon Seok.
Professor Jeong said, “To compare with the highest value of the local residents around Wolseong, we compared anchovy to about 1 gram.” Then, from the standpoint of dealing with tritium, I would like to ask if it is not 1 gram of anchovy but 10 to 20 grams of anchovy. . Professor Jeong explained, “It was presented through a comparison of bananas and anchovies that the exposure to tritium at the Wolseong nuclear power plant falls within the range of small fluctuations, so it is not the size to claim the risk.”
Prof. Chung said, “Compared to when tritium is HTO (tritium water), it is difficult to measure when tritium is absorbed into the body and converted into organically bound tritium (OBT). “There is a difference of about 2 times when ingested as, and even so, it is 10 days (getting out of the body), and even that risk is considered in the dose calculation.” He continued, “Because cells are also created in our body and then disappear anyway, it is not that the cells remain,” he explained. “It goes out through feces.” He argued that “potassium 40 (a radioactive substance in bananas) also escapes with a living half-life and turns into argon instead of exiting immediately,” he argued against whether bananas and tritium can be seen equally. “More powerful radiation comes out.” did.
He criticized him for being a crazy person, saying, “It’s a bit harsh,” and he said, “The tritium energy is much better than the potassium beta rays.”
Pointing out that he is not a radiation or medical major, Professor Jeong said, “Why don’t you know that a nuclear engineer deals with radiation?” and “Should I have a license?” He refuted, saying, “I want to go beyond the point of talking about this.” He said, “I just need to talk about professionalism.” “Aren’t people who don’t understand rather unprofessional? I am very sorry.”
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