Cleaning Up Sites Contaminated with Radioactive Materials International Workshop Proceedings (2009) / Chapter Skim
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12 Experience in Rehabilitating Contaminated Land and Bodies of Water Around the Mayak Production Association--Yu. V. Glagolenko, Ye. G. Drozhko, and S. I. Rovny
12 Experience in Rehabilitating Contaminated Land and Bodies of Water Around the Mayak Production Association--Yu. V. Glagolenko, Ye. G. Drozhko, and S. I. Rovny
Pages 81-91
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From page 81... ...
Over the course of decades, the achievement of military-political goals pushed environmental protection questions into the background, which ultimately led to serious radioecological problems. The current radioecological situation in the region where Mayak is located arose as a result of the following factors: • Discharges of liquid radioactive wastes into the open hydrographic system of the Techa River (1949-1956)
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From page 82... ...
reservoirs for the storage of medium-level liquid radioactive wastes • The creation of the man-made reservoirs of the Techa Cascade for the storage of low-level liquid radioactive wastes • Windborne dispersal of radioactive sediments from the exposed shoreline of the Karachai Reservoir (1967) The fundamental problems associated with Mayak's ongoing activities are linked to the use for technical purposes of eight industrial reservoirs at the enterprise to store liquid radioactive wastes accumulated as a result of defense program operations (see Figure 12-1)
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From page 83... ...
Novogorny 83 FIGURE 12-1 Water supply and discharge system at Mayak. Figure 12-1 Partial bitmap image
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From page 84... ...
• During the second period, conditions are to be created for the long-term, controlled, and safe storage of the liquid wastes that have accumulated in the Techa Cascade reservoirs, and technical solutions and projects will be implemented to reduce water levels to acceptable standards. The rise of the water level in Reservoir V-11 will lead to increased infiltration of strontium-90 into the canals and ultimately into the Techa River (see Figure 12-2)
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From page 85... ...
• Measures have been taken to reduce discharges of liquid radioactive wastes. Efforts to reduce the input side of the water balance may be of little effect if increasingly wet conditions continue.
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From page 86... ...
THE KARACHAI RESERVOIR (V-9) Taking Reservoir V-9 out of operation requires the complete cessation of its use as a receiving basin for liquid radioactive wastes.
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From page 87... ...
These plans were completed by the All-Russian Design and Scientific-Research Institute of Comprehensive Energy Technology in 2004. The plans call for filling in the remaining part of the reservoir while simultaneously gradually stopping discharges of liquid radioactive wastes.
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From page 88... ...
After the completion of work to fill in the reservoir, the existing radioactive waste storage site will be operated as a near-surface solid radioactive waste burial site. TABLE 12-3 Basic Parameters of Reservoir V-17 Parameter Value Area, km2 0.13 Volume, million m3 0.36 Activity level, million Cia 1.2 Distribution of activity, % Water 0.5 Sediments 99.5 aActivity due to strontium-90 and cesium-137.
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From page 89... ...
The expected service life of the furnace will end in 2009; therefore, to ensure that the technological process for high-level waste reprocessing is uninterrupted and to provide for the storage of the vitrified wastes, appropriate plans have been made to create the next in the series of electric furnaces. Management of Medium-Level Wastes At present, medium-level radioactive wastes that are created are discharged into industrial reservoirs V-9 and V-17; therefore, the problem of taking the reservoirs out of operation and decommissioning them is directly linked with the problem of halting the discharge of medium-level wastes into them.
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From page 90... ...
Management of Accumulated High-Level Wastes During the years of operation of Mayak's radiochemical plants, more than 29,000 m3 of high-level liquid wastes with a total activity of 366 million Ci were accumulated in repository vessels. These wastes included the following: • Aluminum, chromium, and iron hydroxide pulps and nickel ferrocyanide created after the purification of alkaline decantates in the acetate precipitation technology for the separation of weapons-grade plutonium • Complex salt nitrate solutions, primarily refined products formed as a result of extraction processing of weapons-grade plutonium The storage of highly active suspensions and solutions in steel storage vessels is seen as one stage in waste reprocessing that reduces their activity as a result of the radioactive decay of short-lived radionuclides.
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From page 91... ...
REHABILITATING CONTAMINATED LAND 91 In summary, following are the enterprise's top priority problems in resolving environmental problems: • Ensuring safe operation of the special industrial reservoirs • Reducing water balance inputs at the special industrial reservoirs • Improving the stability of Dam P-11 • Modernizing the radiochemical plant to reduce the amount of liquid radioactive wastes that it creates • Creating a new phase of the high-level waste vitrification complex • Creating a complex for cementing medium-level wastes so that discharges of medium-level liquid wastes into reservoirs V-9 and V-17 may be completely halted • Carrying out work to remove reservoirs V-9 and V-17 from operation and rehabilitate their sites • Developing technology to put previously accumulated high-level wastes into a form safe for long-term storage Accomplishing these objectives will facilitate a significant reduction in the environmental impact of Mayak's ongoing production operations and will minimize the effect of factors created by the enterprise's previous activities.
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