Assessment of radiation exposure around abandoned uranium mining area of Stara planina Mt., Serbia

Abstract

The aim of this work was to estimate the health and radiation hazard due to external irradiation from terrestrial radionuclides in the Stara planina Mt. region, which is important because of past uranium mining activities on the mountain. Soil samples were collected inside the flotation processing facilities, their surroundings and more distant locations, i.e. from areas considered certainly affected, potentially affected, and unaffected by former mining and uranium ore processing activities. The radiological and health risk assessments were done by calculating the six main parameters, based on the activity concentration of 238U, 232Th, and 40K in soil samples as determined by gamma-ray spectrometry. Increased values of the risk parameters were observed only for sites where uranium ore was processed, while the location surrounding these compounds showed values that are usual for this mountain or slightly above them. Calculations of the risk parameters for the background area showed no radiation risk for the local and seasonal population. The presence of U and Th was detected in all water samples from creeks surrounding the facilities, but only in the water from the facility drainage pipe did their concentration exceed the limits given for the uranium content in drinking water. In conclusion, the results obtained in this study fall within the range of values in similar studies conducted worldwide and are below the values which can cause a significant radiation hazard. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. III43009 i br. III41005]

Radioactivity in Environment on Stara Planina Mountain, in Area of Summer School for Mountin Animal Breeading

“…Calculated average value for the external hazard index (0.4) was less than unity and there for indicate that there is no risk of exposure to terrestrial radiation. Obtained results are similar to the results published by Tanić et al [12].…”

Assessment of the radiological situation in different areas affected by uranium mining and uranium processing in the Czech Republic

“…The as sess ment of the ura nium min ing im pact on the en vi ron ment and health of per sons in Por tu gal was fur ther con sid ered by Carvalho et al [32,33] as well as by Pereira et al [34]. The 226 Ra ac tiv ity con cen tra tions were also re ported for the area of Stara Stara Planina in Ser bia [35] where there are for mer uranium mines, and in other ar eas which the au thors con sidered po ten tially af fected due to their lo ca tion close to the min ing fa cil i ties, or be cause of ter rain hydrographies and geo chem i cal prop er ties. Val ues of tens to hun dreds of Bqkg -1 (45 ± 2 to 458 ± 20) were found here, whereas else where in ar eas of Stara Planina in which min ing activ i ties were never car ried out, the re corded val ues were be tween 95 ± 4 and 256 ± 8 Bqkg -1 .…”

Investigation of accessory elements of representative petrologic radioactivity carriers at Stara Planina, Serbia

“…At the end of the 20 th cen tury, the wa ters of the so-called Col or ful Se ries and the eco log i cal im pact of the for mer Kalna mines were ex am ined. Since 2000, non-sys tem atic tests of ra dio ac tiv ity and dis tribu tion of nat u ral ra dio ac tiv ity car ri ers (mostly 238 U, 232 Th, and 40 K iso topes) and their en vi ron men tal impact have been con ducted [24][25][26]. Pre vi ous in ves ti gation as part of the study of nat u ral ra dio ac tiv ity on Stara Planina con ducted in 2016 and 2017 was re lated to the de ter mi na tion of char ac ter is tic geo log i cal members of ra dio ac tiv ity car ri ers in the area of Stara Planina, gen er ally gran ites and re lated geo log i cal units, gra phitic schists and sed i men tary ma te rial repre sented by red dish sand stones and gray siltstones of the Col or ful Se ries [27].…”