Radiological Assessments for the National Ignition Facility

The potential radiological impacts of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), a proposed facility for fusion ignition and high-energy density experiments, were assessed for five candidate sites to assist in site selection. The GENII computer program was used to model releases of radionuclides during normal NIF operations and a postulated accident and to calculate radiation doses to the public. Health risks were estimated by converting the estimated doses into health effects using a standard cancer fatality risk factor. The greatest calculated radiation dose was less than one thousandth of a percent of the dose received from natural background radiation; no cancer fatalities would be expected to occur in the public as the result of normal NIF operations. The highest dose conservatively estimated to result from a postulated accident could lead to a one in one million risk of cancer.