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Ural Mountains, Russia) Through Trace-Elements and Radio- Nuclides: Temporal and Spatial Trends

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Ural Mountains, Russia) Through Trace-Elements and Radio- Nuclides: Temporal and Spatial Trends XA9952962 BIOMONITORiNG AIR POLLUTION IN CHELYABINSK REG1OM (URAL MOUNTAINS, RUSSIA) THROUGH TRACE-ELEMENTS AND RADIO- NUCLIDES: TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL TRENDS V.D. CHERCHINTSEV, M.V. FRONTASYEVA*, S.M. LYAPUNOV*, U. SMIRNOV* Magnitogorsk State Academy of Mining And Metallurgy, Lenin Prospect, 38, 455000 Magnitogorsk, Russia * Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980 Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia ** Geological institute of RAS, Pyizhevskij per., 7, 109017 Moscow, Russia Abstract This report contains the first results on the analysis of the moss species Hylocomium splendens and Pleurozium schreberi which were used to study heavy metal atmospheric deposition in the vicinity of Magnitogorsk, the center of the iron steel industry of Russia. Moss samples were collected along Bannoe Lake, located 30 km north-west of Magnitogorsk, and were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis using epithernal neutrons (ENAA) at the IBR-2 pulsed fast reactor in Dubna, and by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) at the Geological Institute of RAS, Moscow. Results for a total of 38 elements were obtained, including Pb, Cd, and Cu determined by AAS. The element concentrations in moss samples from this area were compared with those available for the so-called "Black Triangle" {the territory bordering Poland, Czechia and Slovakia), obtained by the same moss biomonitoring technique. The level of the concentrations of Fe, Cr, and V in the vicinity of Magnitogorsk was found to be 2-2.5 times higher than that of the mean values determined for the "Black Triangle"; the level of Ni and Cd is of the same order as in the most polluted area of Europe. The concentrations of Zn and Cu tend to be higher in the "Black Triangle". The level of As is about 3 times higher in the Urals, whereas concentration of Pb is higher in Europe by a factor of 5. ft appeared that concentration of Sb in the examined area has the highest ever published for levels in mosses from atmospheric deposition. The scanning electron microscope adjacent to the XRF analyzer (SEM-XRF) was used to examine the surface of the moss samples. Photographs of identified iron spherules along with other aerosol particles were made at magnification of 3,500 to 5,000 times. Information on fieldwork in the northern part of the Chelyabinsk region in July, 7998 is reported. I. SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND AND SCOPE OF THE PROJECT The South Ural Mountains are among of the most polluted areas in the world because many of the important military and industriai centres of the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation are located there. Two the most important groups of poliutants emitted into the atmosphere in this region are heavy metals and long-lived radionucSides. Studies of atmospheric emissions of heavy metals from metal mining and processing and other industries have so far been limited to pollution within and in the near vicinity of the factories. The impact of these emissions on a regional scale is not known. In addition, substantial emissions of radioactive substances have occurred in the Ural region as the result of full-scale activities of the radiochemicai "Mayak" Production Association (PA), from liquid radioactive waste disposal into the river Techa and lake Karachay, the Kyshtym accident in 1957, and the Karachay wind dispersion in 1967. 136 In recent years a number of studies of these contamination problems have been performed, often as international collaboration projects (for example, Russian-Norwegian Programme of investigation of possible impacts of the "Mayak" PA activities on radioactive contamination of the Barents and Kara Seas, 1992-1995). These investigations however have been confined to local areas with known high contamination levels. No systematic studies of the regional impact of the release of radionuclides into air have been performed. It is well known that pollutants can travel long distances in the atmosphere and lead to contamination problems very far from the source. This was convincingly shown for radionuclides in the case of the Chernobyl accident, and has also been generally demonstrated for heavy metals such as Pb, Cd, Zn, and As. Considering the large past and present atmospheric emissions within the South Ural region, it seems quite obvious that the whole region is considerably affected by these emissions. It is therefore an urgent task to study the extent of this regional contamination. Proposed programme: • collection of moss and surface soil samples e.g. in a 30 x 30 km grid; • collection of vertical cores of peat at 2-3 sites along the Ural mountains; • determination of selected metals in mosses and soils by appropriate analytical techniques {AAS, ENAA) following an interiaboratory comparison for quality control; • measurements of radionuciides (137Cs, ^Sr, Pu) in soils and peat cores; • preparation of maps using GIS (geographical information system) technologies; • identification of different sources by meteorological models - if emission inventories are available for the most "potent" sources. i SOU T H URAL. Orenb Fig. 1. Schematic map of the South Ural. 137 The suggested IAEA Co-ordinated Research Project follows the strategy outlined above. However, for the obvious reason of limited CRP funding available, it is limited in the first case to examining the Chelyabinsk Region. Chelyabinsk Region, an area with a total of 3.6 inhabitants, is located about 1500 km east of Moscow, its capital Cheiaybinsk and additional cities such as the "City of Steel", Magnitogorsk, located near historically rich ore and energy deposits and far from potential invaders, grew to become the most important military and industrial centers of the Soviet Union and Russian Federation. During the World War If more than 60 threatened industrial enterprises were evacuated from the western USSR to Chelyabinsk. Half the country's tanks were produced in Chelyabinsk during the war, earning the city the nickname Tankograd. Today, Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk still play a central role in Russian iron industries. The Urals contain thousands of minerai deposits and is one of the most important mining regions of Russia. The more important metals mined include iron, chromium, nickei, aluminum, gold, platinum, copper and zinc, and the important rare metals: tungsten, arsenic, antimony, mercury, vanadium, indium and osmium. The high concentration of industrial activity in very large enterprises is clustered rn a compact geographical region. As a result, the environment in the area has reached a state of deep ecological stress [1, 2]. Five of the most heavily polluting industries - metallurgy, chemicals, forest products, machine manufacturing, and fuels and energy generation affects heavily the environmental quality in the Ural Mountains. The region is ranked as the most severely polluted in all of Russia. Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk are on the list of Russian cities characterized by the highest level of air pollution. in addition to the above mentioned environmental threats there is a widespread radioactive contamination. The «Mayak» radiochemical PA at Chelyabinsk-65 {Ozersk now} housed the Soviet Union's first industrial nuclear reactors and produced the material for the country's first atomic bomb beginning in 1948. Until 1987 there were six reactors in CheIyabinsk-40 on plutonium and tritium production, between 1987 and 1992 five of them were shut down. Between 1949 and 1952 «Mayak» dumped 2.75 million curies {Ci) of high-Ievei liquid radioactive waste directly into the nearby Techa River. Further distribution of radionuclides resulted in contamination of riverside territories such as the settlement Muslyumovo and was most pronounced in places used as pastures, for laying in fodder, and for fishing and swimming. Below is the map of East-Ura! radioactive pattern contamination of the basin of the Techa-lset-lrtysh River [3] {isopleths show of the levels of contamination}. When symptoms of acute radiation sickness began appearing in the villages downstream, «Mayak» shifted its dumping to nearby Lake Karachai. After several years, the small lake accumulated radioactivity totaling an estimated 120 million Ci of radioactivity - for comparison, an estimated 50 million Ci of radiation were released by the Chernobyl accident. According to a 1990 National Resources Defense Council report [4J, "On the lakeshore near the waste discharge line, the radiation exposure rate is about 600 Roentgens per hour, sufficient to provide a lethal dose within an hour". In September 1957, the cooling system in an underground storage tank at the Kyshtym complex broke down, resulting in a massive explosion that blew off the tank's cement lid. Radioactive isotopes amounting to 2.1 million Ci were emitted into the atmosphere and precipitated over a swath of land more than 100 km long, contaminating more than 20, 000 sq. km of surrounding territory. 138 Fig. 2. The studied area affected by the radioactive contamination {3]. In September 1957, the cooling system in an underground storage tank at the Kyshtym complex broke down, resulting in a massive explosion that blew off the tank's cement lid. Radioactive isotopes amounting to 2.1 million Ci were emitted into the atmosphere and precipitated over a swath of land more than 100 km long, contaminating more than 20, 000 sq. km of surrounding territory. For decades weapons production facilities located in the Ural Mountains operated in complete secrecy and outside of environmental controls. Ten thousand people were permanently evacuated from the most contaminated locations. The total radioactivity of liquid wastes confined in a 30-40 sq. km parcel around «Mayak» has been estimated at no iess than one billion curies. Soil and groundwater contamination from Karachai has been spreading outwards, threatening a reservoir that supplies Chelyabinsk city. In the late 1960s workers started filling in Lake Karachai with rocks and soil, but a recent government commission concluded that such an approach was "a crime" and that it would exacerbate the situation. The radioactivity contamination of this area has been examined for a long time. The published data however cover only a few parts of the territory, not the entire region.
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