[Detection of special radionuclides in waste water from nuclear power plants]

For the nuclear power stations in the Federal Republic of Germany, the emissions of the radionuclides C 14, P 32, Fe 55 and Ni 63 in liquid effluents were investigated for several years. For the seven nuclear power stations, for which C 14 was measured for years, the releases in liquid effluents were in the range of 1 to 67 mCi. Yearly releases of P 32 generally do not exceed 0,5 mCi. Exceptions are boiling water reactors during the first two or three years after starting operation. Yearly releases up to 30 mCi were measured. The releases of Fe 55 and Ni 63 are in the range of 1 to 20 mCi per year and thus, in general, low compared to the releases of other activated corrosion products. As a consequence of decontamination measures especially during long shut down of a facility, yearly releases up to 68 mCi of Fe 55 and 190 mCi of Ni 63 occurred. The hypothetical radiation exposure of the public, resulting from these releases is low. The dose is below 1 mrem/a.