Обеспечение мониторинга подземных и поверхностных вод в районе размещения Нововоронежской АЭС с целью оценки последствий миграции радионуклидов из хранилища радиоактивных отходов (1985 г.)

The article is dedicated to radiation monitoring of liquid radioactive waste leakage from Novovoronezh NPP liquid radwaste storage No. 2 (LRWS-2) in 1985. The incident resulted in radioactive contamination of soil and groundwater. Moreover, radionuclides transfer with groundwater from the leakage site contributed to radioactive contamination of water reservoirs located in the affected area.

During these years studies have been carried out and in the course of calculations and field experimental work on radiation monitoring of the area effected by the leakage from the liquid waste storage facility, the main results were obtained to identify causes and assess the scale of Novovoronezh NPP incident. The research results were used for justification of Novovoronezh NPP and other nuclear power plants facilities safe operation. However, despite of lots of investigations conducted, a number of tasks remain unsolved to assess long term consequences of the leak from the liquid radwaste storage facility-2.

Since radiation safety requirements and rules are being reinforced day by day, and new sources of ⁶⁰Со intake are detected in the area of LRWS leakage effect and redistribution of activity of bottom sediments in the Don River at the sites of localization of radioactive contamination after leakage in 1985, сontinuous monitoring of the hydrosphere in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant location is required. Therefore, there is a need for new methods, programs on hydrosphere research. Thereby, a new program on radiation dosimetric monitoring of the Don river and water-front until 2030 were developed by Novovoronezh NPP specialists.