The Radioactivity of River Sediments in Slovenia as a Consequence of Global and Local Contamination Denis Glavič-Cindro, Matjaž Korun "Jožef Stefan" Institute Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
[email protected],
[email protected] Milko Križman Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration, Železna cesta 16 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
[email protected] ABSTRACT In this article we discuss the activity concentrations of natural and man-made radionuclides in moving and bottom river sediments. The moving sediments were collected during a six-week period, while the bottom sediments were obtained by grab sampling. The concentrations of the radioisotopes were systematically larger in the moving sediments than in the bottom sediments. The contamination of the sediments with man-made radionuclides Cs-137 and I-131 was observed, as well as enhanced concentrations of natural radionuclides. Cs-137 was identified in all the samples; I-131 was identified at the locations where the influence of discharges from hospitals was expected, as well as at locations where there is no direct influence of these discharges. From a comparison between the concentrations of radioisotopes of the uranium and thorium decay series in different samples, the influence of industrial activities was identified. Elevated concentrations of U-238, Ra-226 and Ra-228 identified the probable influences of coal, lead and uranium-ore mining and the processing of monazite in the production of TiO2. 1 INTRODUCTION The Euratom Treaty [1] requires all the Member States of the European Union to monitor continuously the level of radioactivity in the air, water and soil. Whereas monitoring the air and soil is relatively easy, by pumping air through aerosol filters and by measuring the dose rate above the soil, the continuous monitoring of water is more demanding.