Use of Isotope Analysis in Solving Environmental Problems in Power Engineering

Abstract

During hydraulic dumping of ashes at a sludge bed of the power plant at MElnik (north of Prague), new springs originated which wetted houses and properties at the small village of Podvlci. The sludge bed as well as the village lie at the southwestern margin of the alluvial plain of the Labe (Elbe) River at the foot of a slope built of Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. By analyzing the concentrations of radiocarbon and tritium, it was possible to determine the origin of the water and the ratio of the modern and original groundwater in the new springs in the surroundings of the sludge bed. To substitute the present dump the operation of which should be stopped, establishing of a new one has been proposed within the alluvial plain. By means of stable isotopes and radionuclides, the relations between the groundwater in the Quaternary sediments and in the underlying Middle Turonian confined aquifer were studied, because changes in the hydrogeological regime have to be expected due to the operation of the proposed new sludge bed.