What do the radiation protection measures adopted in a nuclear power plant and its surroundings involve?
These measures are provided to ensure that no contamination or unauthorized discharges of radioactive products occur and that radiation doses received by people are below the limits established by regulations. For this purpose, the plant is designed and built in a way to confine radioactive products, i.e. to prevent them from resulting in contamination; discharges to the outside of small quantities of these products must be below previously calculated limits that account for the characteristics of the surroundings so as not to run the slightest risk. In addition, the design must determine what shieldings must be installed to reduce radiation levels inside the plant, so that the jobs that must be carried out inside the plant can be performed. Before plant startup, operating regulations are drawn up. In accordance with the maximum radiation levels that can be reached in the different plant areas, these regulations divide the plant into zones based on the maximum time of stay in each zone
