Lake Karachay as a source of groundwater pollution
Ibragimov, Ramin (2020)
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020061018211
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020061018211
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this Bachelor’s thesis was to study the problem of groundwater contamination by radionuclides in Lake Karachay which is an industrial reservoir V-9 of the Mayak Production Association, the first and largest enterprise in the fuel and energy complex in Russia.
For more than 50 years, the reservoir was used to discharge liquid radioactive (including highly radioactive) waste from the enterprise, which led to large-scale radioactive contamination of Lake Karachay and the surrounding area. Despite the fact that in 2015 the water area of V-9 was completely eliminated, the migration of radionuclides into groundwater continues. This led to the relevance of this study to improve environmental safety measures of nuclear industry enterprises.
The theoretical methods used in the thesis were analysis, synthesis, classification, generalization and forecasting.
Based on the study of scientific literature and other open sources, a comprehensive analysis of the causes and consequences of pollution of Lake Karachay with radioactive waste was carried out, ways to solve the problem of radioactive pollution and further prospects of the ecological state of the region were considered.
Based on the study carried out in the thesis it can be concluded that the main production facilities of Mayak Production Association have created a large amount of liquid radioactive waste, a significant part of which has been dumped into Lake Karachay for a long time, leading to a severe radioactive pollution of the lake’s open body and the groundwater of the region. The elimination of Lake Karachay made it possible to exclude both the probability of aerosol dispersal from the surface of the water area and the lake shores, as well as the possibility of a significant influx of radionuclides into the open hydrographic network through groundwater.
For more than 50 years, the reservoir was used to discharge liquid radioactive (including highly radioactive) waste from the enterprise, which led to large-scale radioactive contamination of Lake Karachay and the surrounding area. Despite the fact that in 2015 the water area of V-9 was completely eliminated, the migration of radionuclides into groundwater continues. This led to the relevance of this study to improve environmental safety measures of nuclear industry enterprises.
The theoretical methods used in the thesis were analysis, synthesis, classification, generalization and forecasting.
Based on the study of scientific literature and other open sources, a comprehensive analysis of the causes and consequences of pollution of Lake Karachay with radioactive waste was carried out, ways to solve the problem of radioactive pollution and further prospects of the ecological state of the region were considered.
Based on the study carried out in the thesis it can be concluded that the main production facilities of Mayak Production Association have created a large amount of liquid radioactive waste, a significant part of which has been dumped into Lake Karachay for a long time, leading to a severe radioactive pollution of the lake’s open body and the groundwater of the region. The elimination of Lake Karachay made it possible to exclude both the probability of aerosol dispersal from the surface of the water area and the lake shores, as well as the possibility of a significant influx of radionuclides into the open hydrographic network through groundwater.