Papastefanou C
Aristotle University of Tessaloniki, Department of Nuclear Physics, Greece.
Health Phys. 1996 Feb;70(2):187-91. doi: 10.1097/00004032-199602000-00005.
Lignite contains naturally occurring radionuclides arising from the uranium and thorium series as well as from 40K. Lignite burning is, therefore, one of the sources of technologically enhanced exposure to humans from natural radionuclides. Emissions from thermal power stations in gaseous and particulate form contain radioisotopes, such as 226Ra, that are discharged into the environment causing radiation exposures to the population. About 11,672 MBq y-1 of 226Ra are discharged into the environment from four coal-fired power plants totalling 3.62 GW electrical energy in the Ptolemais Valley, Northern Greece, in which the combustion of 1.1 x 10(10) kg of lignite is required to produce an electrical energy of 1 GW y. The collective committed equivalent dose to lung tissue per unit power generated resulting from atmospheric releases of 226Ra was estimated to be 1.1 x 10(-2) person Sv (GW y)-1; i.e. more than 15 times higher than the average value for a modern type coal-fired power plant according to the UNSCEAR 1988 data.
褐煤含有天然存在的放射性核素，这些放射性核素源自铀系和钍系以及钾-40。因此，燃烧褐煤是通过技术手段增加人类接触天然放射性核素的来源之一。火力发电站以气态和颗粒形式排放的物质中含有放射性同位素，如镭-226，这些物质被排放到环境中，对公众造成辐射照射。在希腊北部的托勒迈伊斯山谷，四座总发电量为3.62吉瓦电能的燃煤发电厂向环境中排放约11672兆贝可勒尔/年的镭-226，其中生产1吉瓦年电能需要燃烧1.1×10¹⁰千克褐煤。据估计，因大气释放镭-226而导致的每单位发电量对肺组织的集体待积当量剂量为1.1×10⁻²人希沃特/（吉瓦年）；即根据联合国原子辐射效应科学委员会1988年的数据，这一数值比现代型燃煤发电厂的平均值高出15倍以上。
