Highly mineralized waters with salt content up to 200 kg/mJ occur in carboniferous strata in upper Silesia. These waters ojien contain high " 6~a concentration, reaching 400 kBq/mJ, andflow from the surrounding rocks into mine workings and then have to be pumped out to the surface, finally ending in the rivers. Radium-bearing waters of rype A contain significant amounts of barium ions. In these cases radium is easily co-precipitated with barium in the form of BaSO, + RaSO,.The specific radioactivity of such deposits can be as high as I MBq/kg. Radioactive deposits cause elevated gamma radiation levels up to 200 pA/kg and also some elevation of radon daughter concentrations in air. Usually the contamination is limited to small areas lying near streambeds where radium-bearing waters haveflowed. Nevenheless, waste materials from coal mines may cause significant radioactive pollution of the natural environment. In carboniferous strata, so-called radiumbearing waters of rype B occur. These waters contain considerable amounts of sulfates but do not contain L3a2+ ions. In type B waters the concentration of 2 2 6~a reaches 12 k~~/ m ' .In this case there are no chemical conditions for forming highly radioactive deposits.
The conditions of exploitation of coal in underground mines in Poland are raising risks of exposure to ionizing radiation, the sources being the radium present in mine waters and sediments and short-lived radon daughters present in air. The miners'colfective annual radiation dose (540 man-sievert) is higher than the collective dose in nuclear activities in Poland (137 man-sievert). The system of control and prevention of risk was introduced in these mines in 1989.
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