Environmental Monitoring

Overview

Nestled alongside the Pacific Spirit Regional Park, TRIUMF is a home for scientific study where researchers investigate the particles and forces that comprise the very essence of our universe. It is a place where scientists use their skills to explore the benefits of nuclear science and draw on those insights to develop new medical cures and technological innovations for industry and to better understand the world around us.

Environmental Monitoring

‘Environmental Protection’ (EP) comprises one of the Safety and Control Areas whose requirements must be met by TRIUMF under its operating license. These EP requirements are described in CNSC regulatory document REGDOC-2.9.1. The CNSC performs regular on-site inspections to verify compliance, and TRIUMF reports the results of its EP program to the regulator annually.

We carry out extensive engineering design and analyses for our facilities and processes to ensure that emissions and their associated environmental impact are either completely eliminated or minimized. All exhaust stacks have high efficiency filtration for particulates, as well as charcoal filtration where volatiles might be present. Gaseous emissions are also sequestered to allow the radioactive inventory to decay.

Environmental risk assessment

TRIUMF has completed an environmental risk assessment, a summary which can be found here,  that demonstrates that the environmental impact of TRIUMF’s operation does not exceed the benchmark threshold for risk to human health provided by Health Canada. Nevertheless TRIUMF has implemented targeted environmental monitoring that provides the necessary evidence to confirm a negligible impact to the surrounding community.

The environmental impact of TRIUMF operations on nearby residents is assessed and minimized through a combination of:

  1. Constant and thorough monitoring of radioactive emissions;
  2. Detailed modelling and hazard assessment for environmental protection;
  3. Regular downstream measurements to verify the environmental transport models.

At TRIUMF, gaseous emissions from all exhaust stacks are monitored and recorded constantly by real-time radiation detectors, while passive sampling filters are analyzed with sensitive high-resolution detectors to measure particulates. Water-borne radioactivity is kept in dedicated holding tanks and is only released once radioactivity levels are verified to be below regulatory limits.

The potential effects on local populations are assessed by environmental models that take into account detailed long-term local weather data, and the best available scientific knowledge describing the effects of environmental radioactivity on humans of all ages.

TRIUMF’s environmental monitoring uses data from the Health Canada Fixed Point Surveillance  network to assess the effects of airborne emissions.  This is supplemented with regular monitoring of local vegetation and storm sewer water.  Both methods are sensitive at levels well below regulatory limits. In addition, sensitive detectors around the perimeter of our site ensure that radiation levels in the immediate vicinity are well below regulatory limits. The CNSC also makes its own measurements of radioactivity in the immediate vicinity of TRIUMF to verify compliance with regulatory requirements.

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Facility Operation 

Radioactive emissions from TRIUMF can be categorized into several distinct types, with the largest component being “air activation products”: short-lived, gaseous substances created when neutrons produced by accelerated beams of particles inside the accelerator enclosures interact with ambient air. These are produced and exhausted by the ventilation system while accelerators are operating, and vanish via decay shortly after accelerators are switched off. All emissions are monitored continuously and are within regulatory limits.

Real time detectors (“air monitors”) sample the air flowing out of the exhaust stacks to measure the quantity released. Another detector, in the direction of our nearest neighbours, measures air activation. The amount of radiation measured at this location is consistent with the modeled quantity derived from stack emissions. The table below shows the results of both measurements and the model for the last five years, in units of microsieverts (µSv) – a unit of “dose” to measure the exposure to radiation. The last column (“Ratio”) suggests that the environmental transport model is conservative by about a factor of 2.5.

Year Measured Dose (µSv) Modeled Dose (µSv) Ratio
2016 2.5 7.9 3.2
2017 2.8 8.3 3.0
2018 2.7 6.3 2.4
2019 3.1 6.1 2.0

2020 

 
 1.9 2.4 1.3
2021 2.8 6.1 2.2
2022 2 5.5 2.75
       

 

A note about dose data from 2022-present:

The previous Health Canada detector used to verify TRIUMF emissions models was taken offline by Health Canada due to new construction to the north. Following the deprecation of the Health Canada detector in 2022, the CNSC conducted an independent assessment of TRIUMF’s Environment Protection Plan in 2022 and found that TRIUMF has no anticipated health affects on people and the environment in the local vicinity. Further, historical measurements records collected from the old detector show that the actual (‘measured’) dose measured coming from the TRIUMF site has consistently been at or below a level that is 25 times less than the federal regulatory limit. Looking forward, TRIUMF, Health Canada, and UBC are currently developing a plan to replace the Health Canada detector. 

A note about background radiation:

Natural background radiation is present at all times in all places on Earth. There are several different sources of this natural radiation, including radon from rocks, cosmic radiation from outer space, and even radioactivity that occurs naturally in food, such as milk (~0.2 µSv/litre) and bananas (~0.1 µSv/banana). In Vancouver, a typical resident receives 1300 µSv (or 13,000 bananas worth) of natural radiation dose in one year; in Halifax, a typical resident receives 2500 µSv of dose (25,000 bananas!)

You can learn more about background radiation in this TRIUMF infographic: Radiation Environments.

Is living next to TRIUMF safe?

As part of their independent investigation in 2022, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission report states: Measurements conducted by the IEMP to date have consistently found levels of radioactivity in the environment to be low, and well within the range of natural background radiation levels. As a result, no effects on human health are expected.