On-site radioactive soil contamination at the Andreeva Bay shore technical base, Northwest Russia

Abstract

The radioactive waste (RAW) storage site at Andreeva Bay in the Russian Northwest has experienced radioactive contamination both as a result of activities carried out at the site and due to incidents that have occurred there in the past such as accidental releases of radioactive materials. The site is an interesting case study for decommissioning due to the extremely large amounts of radioactivity present at the site and the conditions under which it is stored; very little has been previously published in the scientific literature about this site. This paper complements the paper describing dose rates at Andreeva Bay which is published in this issue of Journal of Environmental Radioactivity by the same authors. This study presents new data related to the activity concentrations of 137Cs and 90Sr in surface soils and measurements of α- and β-particle fluxes taken at different areas around the site. Limited data on 60Co is also presented. The results of the study indicate that the main areas of site contamination are associated with the former spent nuclear fuel storage facility at Building 5, due to accidental discharges which began in 1982. Substantial contamination is also observed at the solid radioactive waste storage facilities, probably due to the ingress of water into these facilities. More than 240 samples were measured: maximum contamination levels were 1 × 10 6 Bq/kg 137Cs (mean value 4.1 × 10 5 Bq/kg) and 4 × 10 6 Bq/kg 90Sr (mean value 1.2 × 10 5 Bq/kg). Localised patches of α and β contamination were also observed throughout the site.