Radionuclide transport in the yenisei river

• Published in: Atomic energy (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 105; no. 5; pp. 367 - 375
• Main Authors: Vakulovskii, S. M., Tertyshnik, E. G., Kabanov, A. I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01-11-2008; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bottom sediments; Cesium radioisotopes; Contamination; Cooling; Direct flow; Effluents; Hadrons; Heavy Ions; Laboratories; Nuclear Chemistry; Nuclear Energy; Nuclear Physics; Nuclear reactors; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Pollution dispersion; Reactors; Rivers; Sediments; Studies; Wastewater discharges; Russia, Siberia, Yenisei R; Radioactive Contamination; Radionuclide; Global Fallout; Distribution Coefficient; Bottom Sediment
• ISSN: 1063-4258; 1573-8205
• DOI: 10.1007/s10512-009-9109-2

Data characterizing the pollution of the Yenisei River (waters and bottom sediment) by radionuclides resulting from the use of the river’s water for cooling industrial reactors in the Mining-Chemical Complex are presented. Studies have been made of the contamination of the river during the period when reactors with direct flow cooling were used and after these were shut down. Distinctive features of the migration of radionuclides in the Yenisei are noted, in particular, their distribution between the solid and liquid phases. The amounts of
137
Cs,
65
Zn,
60
Co,
54
Mn, and
152
Eu in the channel are determined from the effluent discharge site to Dudinka. The rate of continuous self removal of
137
Cs is estimated to be μ = 0.19 yr
−1
(corresponding to a half purification time of 3.6 years) for a 600-km-long segment of the channel.