The calculators no longer require Java!
radiation releases from uranium mine, mill, and tailings sites, and resulting radiation doses for miners and residents.
The calculation procedure and the parameters used, as well as any assumptions and simplifications made are described in the Help file accompanying each calculator.
This concept ensures that you have to deal only with those parameters actually needed for the specific task - so no hassle with unneccessary parameter ballast, but, you have to make sure that you pick the exact calculator that solves your problem. The brief descriptions below will assist you in making the correct choice.
For most of the calculators, input and output is completely contained on a single web page - eliminating the worries about any parameter values forgotten in some sub-sub-sub menu.
Note: if you want to capture an image of the complete calculator page (not only the part visible in the browser window), including the graphics generated by the calculator, try the Fireshot extension (available for various browsers).
Where applicable, the calculators offer the possibility to produce the required results for any given amount and type of raw material or intermediate product in the nuclear fuel chain: so, it is possible to calculate the results per tonne of ore mined, per tonne of uranium milled, per tonne fresh fuel, or per unit electricity produced in the power plant, for example.
Most of the calculators produce an output already after a simple click on the "Calculate" button, since the parameters are preset to reasonable values.
Note: the results obtained with the initial parameter values are not meant to represent the ultimate solution; they rather just are an example for this specific parameter set.
The impacts of parameter variations can be studied by modifying one or more parameters of interest, followed by a "Calculate"-click. In the same way, generic data can be replaced by site-specific data, where available.
Note: detailed descriptions of the parameters are found in the Help file associated with each calculator.
As the calculators run completely on the client computer, you may store the calculator files on your local disk for offline use (save page as complete Web page).
Note: you should, however, check from time to time whether your local copy is still up to date, as there may have been any errors eliminated or additional features added without notice.
The calculators were tested on Firefox and Internet Explorer. If you experience any problems, please drop a line.
These calculators are for educational purposes only. There is no warranty whatsoever - you are using the calculators at your own risk. Any error corrections and improvements may be carried out without further notice.
The calculators are subject to the general copyright notice of the WISE Uranium Project website.
The first calculator in this series was the Nuclear Fuel Material Balance Calculator, released on 21 March 1999. The series has continuously been enlarged and improved since.
While many of the calculators have been developed from scratch (including the famous Neutron Activation Calculator), some are clones or extended versions of Fortran batch programs that were developed at universities or government agencies in the 1970's and 1980's.
Calculate material balance, cost, and risk per unit electricity produced.
This calculator is an enlarged version of the Nuclear Fuel Material Balance Calculator, also allowing for calculation of an energy consumption and CO2 emission balance.
This calculator is a modified version of the Nuclear Fuel Energy Balance Calculator. It provides a material, energy, and CO2 emission balance for the front end of the nuclear fuel chain, assuming that the uranium feed is generated from re-enrichment of depleted uranium tails.
Calculate activities and radioactive decay of the wastes arising from nuclear fuel production and power plant operation: uranium mine waste rock, uranium mill tailings, depleted uranium, and spent fuel.
Calculate the official and the hidden cost of nuclear fuel: The market price for nuclear fuel does not necessarily include the future waste management costs linked to its production. The hidden costs may reach a multiple of the nominal costs!
Performs detailed calculations for the enrichment of natural and reprocessed uranium: mass balance, concentrations of minor isotopes, the additional enrichment required to compensate for the presence of the neutron-absorbing isotopes U-234 and/or U-236, cost, and optimum tails assay for minimum fuel cost.
Calculate collective doses and health risks from the production of nuclear fuel. The release of radioactive radon gas from mines, mills, and mill tailings is of major concern.
Calculate material and/or cost balance of mining, enrichment or downblending of uranium, and fuel production.
This calculator converts between units used for describing size and ore grade of uranium ore deposits.
This calculator determines the mass balance of uranium ore sorting, a process performed in some cases to remove low-grade material from mined uranium ore before sending it to a uranium mill for further processing. The results can be used for entry in the Uranium Mine Feasibility Calculator, for example.
Calculate economics of various processing steps.
Calculate radioactive decay, ingrowth of decay products, neutron activation, and neutron production.
Calculate radioactive decay and ingrowth of uranium and its decay products for a variety of nuclide mixes found in the nuclear fuel industry. Covers the natural U-238 and U-235 series, and the artificial U-236 and U-232 series.
Calculate radioactive decay and ingrowth of decay products for any nuclide mix and decay series, or lookup decay data.
Determine radioactive activation products of elements and nuclides exposed to neutron radiation.
Calculate neutron production in uranium compounds, as caused from alpha-neutron reactions and from spontaneous fission. Particularly of interest for uranium hexafluoride (UF6).
Calculate radiation dose from intake of a known amount of radionuclides.
Calculate the health risk for a uranium miner with a known radiation exposure history, and, in case he has contracted cancer, the probability of this cancer being caused by the radiation exposure. Covers lung cancer and a number of other cancers.
What is the radiation dose for an individual that is exposed to a known amount of uranium and/or its decay products? For a variety of nuclide mixes found in the nuclear fuel industry, this calculator covers ingestion, inhalation, external exposure from contaminated soil, and external exposure from a point source. Calculations can not only be performed for actual exposure situations, but also for future scenarios, taking decay and ingrowth of decay products into account.
Calculate the age-specific radiation dose caused from ingestion or inhalation of a certain amount of uranium. Determine situations where the standard adult is not the receiver of the highest dose.
Calculate the organ-specific radiation dose caused from uptake of a certain amount of uranium. This allows to determine the risk of contracting a certain type of cancer.
Calculate the biokinetic behaviour of uranium in the human body after intakes by inhalation, ingestion, or embedded shrapnel. Determine the uranium excretion in urine associated with a given intake, or, the other way round, estimate a prior intake from a given uranium concentration in urine, for example.
For another version of this calculator enlarged by compartment for hair, go to Uranium Biokinetics Calculator Vers. B.
Calculate the radiation dose from a shielded gamma source.
Examples for calculations include: Gamma radiation on a bare or covered uranium mill tailings pile, Gamma radiation near transport containers carrying uranium ore, U3O8, UF6, or the like, and Gamma radiation from a depleted uranium penetrator lying on the ground, or buried in the ground.
Calculate radiation dose received via certain pathways from a source of radiation.
Calculate the radiation dose and risk for an individual living on soil contaminated from uranium and/or in a home built from such contaminated material (residential exposure scenario). It covers the following pathways: ingestion of soil, inhalation of fugitive dusts, external exposure, ingestion of produce grown in the soil, ingestion of contaminated groundwater, and inhalation of radon.
Calculate individual dose and health risk from inhalation of radon and uranium dust for a person living nearby a uranium mine, mill and associated tailings pile.
Investigate engineering aspects of tailings dams.
Determine the Gamma radiation on a bare or covered uranium mill tailings pile (among others).
Determine the radon flux from a bare and/or water-covered uranium mill tailings pile.
Determine the radon flux through a multi-layer soil cover of an uranium mill tailings pile and/or optimize the cover for a given flux.
Determine the factor of safety for a soil slope, for example for a tailings dam during seismic loads.
Determine the extent of a flow slide of mill tailings liquefied during an earthquake, and view a computed animation of the flow slide.
Convert a wide range of units, including many radiation units.
Produce interactive maps of the world showing uranium resources, uranium production, and more.