ARTIFICIAL RADIONUCLIDES IN THE INDUSTRIAL WATER POOLS OF PO MAYAK

Abstract

Data on the abundance, distribution, and speciation of artificial radionuclides and some chemical elements in the water, paniculate matter, and bottom sediments of the cold storage pools of PO Mayak are reported. The trends of the spatial distribution of the radionuclides over the water area of the pools and radionuclide migration to deep-buried layers of the sediments was established. It was found that, in the water phase, 90Sr and Ca occur mainly in cationic species, and transuranium elements and iron, in anionic species. The concentration of mobile radionuclide species in the bottom sediments increases in the series 137Cs < 239,240pu < 241Am < 90Sr. The radionuclides were found to be associated with various groups and fractions of the organic matter of the bottom sediments. Humus and low-molecular acids and their compounds with chemical elements were shown to play an important role in the behavior of radionuclides in water ecosystems.