Uranium in water of the Mulde River

Abstract

The Mulde River is a left side tributary of the Elbe River and mainly situated in Saxony. The river system consists of the Freiberger Mulde River and the Zwickauer Mulde River, which merge to form the Vereinigte Mulde River. The Zwickauer Mulde River drains the former uranium mining and milling areas in Saxony. This research project was established to quantify the long-term effect of the former uranium mining and milling activities by investigating the content of uranium of the water of the Mulde River. The activity concentration of uranium in samples from the Zwickauer Mulde River is still high compared with the natural background. The values measured in the water of the Vereinigte Mulde River are also elevated, but to a lesser extent due to the dilution effect caused by the merging with the uncontaminated Freiberger Mulde River. Furthermore, the level of contamination of the river water decreased by at least a factor of three as compared to the early 1990s.