The calculation of a set of Derived Release Limits or DRLs for radioactive species released to effluent streams from nuclear facilities in Canada is a licensing requirement imposed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to ensure that radiation doses to the public are kept below 1 mSv/year. All DRLs currently accepted by the CNSC for radionuclides in gaseous and waterborne effluent streams are calculated using computer codes that assume essentially constant emission rates and idealized dispersion conditions averaged over 1 year. This approach leads to unrealistic release limits that actually permit the release of a station’s entire inventory of tritium and therefore impose no meaningful restrictions on plant operations. In May 2024, through REGDOC-2.9.2, the CNSC proposed an alternative approach to setting radionuclide emission limits based on a facility’s Maximum Predicted Design Release Concentrations or MPDRCs that depend on a facility’s design and historical operational performance. Unfortunately, at the present time, the CNSC is yet to provide specific examples of how REGDOC-2.9.2 is to be implemented. Nevertheless, in this report a preferred approach is presented using previously reported Maximum Probable Emission Rates or MPERs , which takes into account the significant contribution to annual doses from non-routine spike emissions and leads to a more stringent, yet realistic and readily achievable, airborne tritium release limit of 2.5 × 10 15 Bq/yr.
Impact Factor: 0.9
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Kerntechnik
Independent Journal for Nuclear Engineering
Language:
English
First published:
January 1, 1987
Publication Frequency:
6 issues per year
About this journal
Kerntechnik is an independent journal for nuclear engineering (including design, operation, safety and economics of nuclear power stations, research reactors and simulators), energy systems, radiation (ionizing radiation in industry, medicine and research) and radiological protection (biological effects of ionizing radiation, the system of protection for occupational, medical and public exposures, the assessment of doses, operational protection and safety programs, management of radioactive wastes, decommissioning and regulatory requirements). For more than 75 years Kerntechnik offers original scientific and technical contributions, review papers and conference reports.
All articles are subject to thorough, independent peer review.
All articles are subject to thorough, independent peer review.
History
In 1956, the publisher Karl Thiemig founded the journal ATOMKERNENERGIE after the Paris Treaties of May 1955 enabled the Federal Republic of Germany to re-enter nuclear technology. The dynamic scientific development that started at that time prompted Karl Thiemig to launch a second technical journal, KERNTECHNIK. At the end of 1970, the journal ATOMPRAXIS, published by Verlag Braun, was merged into KERNTECHNIK.
In 1979, the journals ATOMKERNENERGIE and KERNTECHNIK in turn merged into one journal with the ATOMKERNENERGIE/KERNTECHNIK. When the Thiemig publishing house ceased its operations in early 1986, Carl Hanser Verlag acquired the journal and continued to publish it under the title KERNTECHNIK from 1987.
KERNTECHNIK is the only independent German journal publishing scientific articles in English in the fields of nuclear technology and radiation protection. During the last decade, KERNTECHNIK has increasingly developed into a journal respected by international experts. In order to secure KERNTECHNIK for the future, in which high visibility of publications, the impact factor and open access play an increasingly decisive role, Carl Hanser Verlag has decided to place the journal KERNTECHNIK into the hands of the very renowned and successful scientific publisher Walter de Gruyter as of 01.01.2021.
De Gruyter publishes first-class research and has done so for more than 270 years and is an international, independent publisher headquartered in Berlin. The company publishes over 1,300 new book titles each year and more than 900 journals in the humanities, social sciences, medicine, mathematics, engineering, computer sciences, natural sciences, and law, and also offers a wide range of digital media, including open access journals and books.
The publishing house is represented in international markets by its own offices or partners. As an independent scientific publisher with a long-term strategy, de Gruyter offers an almost perfect environment for KERNTECHNIK to flourish and is an excellent strategic addition to its technology and natural sciences division.
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedA critique of Canadian regulatory documents for tritium emissions from NPPsLicensedDecember 8, 2025
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedResearch on evaluation method of NPPs operator’s response plan reliability based on Bayesian networkLicensedNovember 20, 2025
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Requires Authentication UnlicensedNeutronic analysis of thorium-uranium mixed fuel for multi-application small light water reactor (MASLWR)LicensedNovember 21, 2025
Kerntechnik publishes special and thematic issues focussed on important and emerging topics in the field of study. The journal has established a rigorous process to ensure that any special issue manuscripts follow the same high-quality standards and peer review processes as regular manuscripts. For further information on the journal’s peer review policy please see the "Instructions for Authors".
Recent Special Issues
| Journal Impact Factor | 0.9 | 2024, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2025) |
| 5-year Journal Impact Factor | 0.6 | 2024, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2025) |
| Journal Citation Indicator | 0.28 | 2024, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2025) |
| CiteScore | 1.2 | 2024, Scopus (Elsevier B.V., 2025) |
| SCImago Journal Rank | 0.260 | 2024, SJR (Scimago Lab, 2025; Data Source: Scopus) |
| Source Normalized Impact per Paper | 0.497 | 2024, CWTS Journal Indicators (CWTS B.V., 2025; Data Source: Scopus) |
Manuscript submission
You can easily submit your manuscript online. Simply go to https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/kern and you will be guided through the whole submission and publishing process.
In the tab “Overview” in section “Supplementary Materials” you will find the Instruction for Authors, a Manuscipt Checklist as well as an overview on citation and reference style. We kindly ask you to read these instructions carefully and follow them when drafting and submitting your manuscript.
Hybrid open access
In this journal, authors have the option to publish their article open access under Creative Commons license. Open access allows the authors to retain copyright and share their findings with colleagues and interested parties worldwide without any restraints. The standard fee for publishing an article open access is 2,400 EUR (excl. VAT). You can find additional information on Open Access articles here.
Please note that authors from institutions with which we have a transformative agreement can publish open access without paying an article processing charge (APC) or at considerable discount. More information on the eligible institutions and articles can be found here.
Editor-in-Chief
Dr.-Ing. Anne Krüssenberg (Kerntechnik@degruyter.com)
Editorial Board
Frank Apel, Kraftanlagen Heidelberg GmbH, Germany
Yuri Kazansky, Obninsk Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering, Obninsk, Russia
Horst-Michael Prasser, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Andreas Schaffrath, Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) GmbH, Garching near Munich, Germany
Frank-Peter Weiß, Dresden University of Technology (TUD), Dresden, Germany
Attila Aszodi, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Budapest, Hungary
Xu Cheng, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Sören Kliem, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Dresden, Germany
Piero Ravetto, Polytechnic University of Turin, Turin, Italy
Chul-Hwa Song, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Daejeon, South Korea
Kerntechnik is covered by the following services:
- Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
- Baidu Scholar
- CNKI Scholar (China National Knowledge Infrastructure)
- CNPIEC - cnpLINKer
- Dimensions
- EBSCO Discovery Service
- Google Scholar
- J-Gate
- Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition
- Naver Academic
- Naviga (Softweco)
- Primo Central (ExLibris)
- ReadCube
- ScienceON (Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information)
- Scilit
- SCImago (SJR)
- SCOPUS
- Semantic Scholar
- Sherpa/RoMEO
- Summon (ProQuest)
- TDNet
- WanFang Data
- Web of Science - Current Contents/Engineering, Computing, and Technology
- Web of Science - Science Citation Index Expanded
- WorldCat (OCLC)
- X-MOL
- Yewno Discover
Topics
Journal information
Additional information
eISSN:
2195-8580
ISSN:
0932-3902
Language:
English
Publisher:
De Gruyter
Additional information
First published:
January 1, 1987
Publication Frequency:
6 issues per year
eISSN:
2195-8580
ISSN:
0932-3902
Safety & product resources
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Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com
