Human health damages due to ionising radiation in life cycle impact assessment

This paper describes the assessment of the human health damages related to the man-made routine releases of radioactive material to the environment as reported in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The fate and exposure analyses are based on site-specific modelling of the French nuclear fuel cycle, from which generic exposure factors are derived. The effect analysis is based largely on epidemiological studies. The damage analysis relies on the concept of disability adjusted life years (DALY). Cultural theory is used in the damage assessment to create two value-compatible assessment scenarios. Two sets of damage factors for damage-oriented and two sets of equivalency factors for effect-oriented impact assessment methods are presented. An assessment of human health damages of different electricity supply systems shows that low-dose ionising radiation contributes to 13% and 80–99% of total human health damages of nuclear power production, applying an individualist and an egalitarian perspective, respectively.