Speaker
Description
One of the remnants in the areas of uranium ore mining, which are a potential source of radon, are waste rock dumps. Most of them are historically revitalized by natural means or targeted remediation carried out professionally. The aim of the remediation was and is to prevent the spread of radon to the surrounding settlements, which is very complicated due to the gaseous nature of radon. In the areas of uranium mining in the Czech Republic, the material of some dumps was (or still is) sorted and used as a base material for roads or railways construction, the remaining U ore content was processed into yellow cake.
Many of the waste rock dumps, containing large volumes of excavated material, cannot be remediated naturally due to the high tilt of the slopes. Artificial overlay cannot be placed without demanding technical adjustments involving claims for additional land. As sources of radiation for a representative person, these objects are, in accordance with the legislation in the Czech Republic, monitored year-round as part of the monitoring program by the company DIAMO s.e.
Their impact on the environment and residents is assessed every year. Since the annual effective doses for a representative person in the village of Brod approach the value of 1 mSv, a number of other measurements and analyzes of radon concentrations and meteorological parameters were carried out in the vicinity of the largest of them (dump № 15) with the aim of understanding the behavior of the dump under various external conditions and associated variations in radon concentrations and its further spread to surrounding municipalities.
On the basis of more detailed long-term measurements, which covered both the area of the dump and its immediate surroundings, it is possible to estimate and assess the health impact of such huge slightly radioactive piles of stones. DIAMO, s.p., SURO, v.v.i., SUJCHBO v.v.i. and FNSPE CTU jointly participated in the research works, including, in addition to measuring radon outside and inside the waste rock dump, also measuring gamma spectrometry in situ, aerial monitoring using unmanned devices and simultaneous measurements outside and inside buildings in the village of Brod.