Technological aspects of isolation of flooded toxic and radioactive objects

Abstract

The article gives the scientific and technical information on the discharge of solid and lowlevel radioactive waste, as well as on the dumping of chemical munitions in the Baltic Sea. In the Skagerrak and Kattegat Bays, the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition dumped about 300 thousand chemical bombs, shells, mines and technological containers. To neutralize the threat of the marine flora and fauna contamination with toxic and radioactive elements, a variety of technologies are offered, including lifting and burying of ships at great depths in the open ocean, opening of ship’s holds for the removal and destruction of dangerous contents, covering of “burial vessels” with various sarcophagi using unique technologies, etc. The prevailing opinion of experts is not to touch ships and chemical munitions, since the terminal depressurization of these objects may occur at the moment of their movement. The main development trends of these technologies are related with the isolation of submerged vessels directly on the sea floor by silting, filling and concreting. It is mentioned that all these methods have a general disadvantage — they involve ineffective operations which require continuous adjustment of the velocities and directions of flows for the correctness of flooding in specific conditions. In contrast to the cyclic mechanisms, the proposed successively implemented process flows using continuous-action facilities are the most effective. For their implementation, it is suggested to use hydrodynamic action machines (airlifts, ejectors, loading devices, submersible pneumatic chamber pumps).