High Specific Activity of Radium Isotopes in Baryte from the Czech Part of the Upper Silesian Basin—An Example of Spontaneous Mine Water Treatment (original) (raw)
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Fate of radium in river and lake sediments impacted by coal mining sites in Silesia ( Poland )
2016
The Upper Silesian Coal Basin has been extensively mined since the beginning of the 20th century. Wastewaters released from Polish coal mines contain radium (Ra) in ionic form as well as in suspended matter. Although co-precipitation of Ra into radio-barite ((Ba,Ra)SO4) has been enhanced for reducing the impact of mining activities on water quality, sediments in rivers and lakes surrounding mining sites still show relevant activities of both 226Ra (1600 y half-life) and 228Ra (5.7 y half-life) isotopes. The management of this contamination currently relies on natural attenuation. This study focuses on assessing the long-term impact of Ra which has been trapped into river and lake sediments in the vicinity of coal mining sites in Poland. Two geochemical interfaces have been surveyed by sampling sediment, surface and pore waters downstream from coal mining sites: (1) the hyporheic zone of a river, where groundwater tends to mix with surface waters within the river bed; and (2) the wat...
Radium isotopes in the Polish Outer Carpathian mineral waters of various chemical composition
Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 2012
The paper presents the activity concentrations of radium isotopes (226 Ra, 228 Ra) and chemical compositions of above 70 mineral water samples collected from several dozens of springs and boreholes localized in the Polish Outer Carpathians. The activity concentrations of both radium isotopes clearly increase with the increase of water TDS, but decrease when the SO 2À 4 content increases. These concentrations vary in the broad interval from a few to near 1000 mBq/L. The coefficient of the linear correlation between concentrations of these isotopes amounts to 0.85, and the activity ratio 226 Ra/ 228 Ra is >1 for chloride-sodium waters, being z1 for hydrogen-carbonate and <1 for the sulfate ones.
DETERMINATION OF RADIUM IN MINE WATER FROM THE NORTH OF TRANSYLVANIA, ROMANIA
Groundwater, once surfaced, may contain some radioactive elements that can increase the natural radioactivity levels of different environmental factors, having a varied impact on the ionizing radiation dose received by the human body. This paper presents radium in groundwater concentration measurements from various galleries of disused mines. The studied area is located in Gutâi, Rodna and Maramures Mountains, in the northern region of Transylvania, Romania. In order to determine the radium concentration in the collected water samples, two methods were used, both based on radium and its decay product, radon, secular equilibrium. After achieving the radioactive balance, the radon was measured using two types of scintillation Lucas cells. The obtained values of radium concentration range from 20 to 510 mBq/l for the 1 liter Lucas cell method and from 50 to 501mBq/l for the 145 ml Lucas cell method. The highest radium concentration values were found for samples from Nistru Gallery (510mBq/1, respectively, 501mBq/l) and Herja Gallery -Baia Mare (410 mBq/l, respectively, 463 mBq/ l). The lowest values radium was determined for samples from Boului Gallery -Baia Sprie (20 mBq/l and 50 mBq/l) and Băiuţ Gallery (45 mBq/l, respectively, 50 mBq/l). The average obtained radium concentrations values are of 138 mBq/l for 1l Lucas cell method and 171 mBq/l for 145 ml Lucas cell method.
Radioactivity of Mine Waters in Upper Silesian Coal Basin and its Influence on Natural Environment
Waters with high mineralization occurring in coal mines in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin often contain natural radioactive isotopes, mainly radium. In these waters elevated concentrations of 226 Ra. 228 Ra have been found. Concentration of 226 Ra in waters flowing out from the rock into underground mine workings may be as high as 390 kBq/m 3 • and concentration of 22 'Ra is sometimes higher than that of2 26 Ra. Sometimes radium-bearing waters contain also barium ions, which concentration may reach 1.5 kglm 3 Waters containing radium and barium ions as well have been called radium waters type A. Another type of radium-bearing waters, called type B does not contain barium ions, but contains SO/. From waters type A which contain barium, radium is always coprecipitated out by sulfates. Concentration of 226 Ra in such deposits may be as high as 400 kBqlkg. Precipitation takes place in underground workings, settlement ponds, pipelines, small rivers and so on. Radioactive deposits caus...
Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 2001
Saline waters from underground coal mines in Poland often contain natural radioactive isotopes, mainly 226 Ra from the uranium decay series and 228 Ra from the thorium series. Approximately 40% of the total amount of radium remains underground as radioactive deposits, but 225 MBq of 226 Ra and 400 MBq of 228 Ra are released daily into the rivers along with the other mine effluents from all Polish coal mines. Technical measures such as inducing the precipitation of radium in gobs, decreasing the amount of meteoric inflow water into underground workings, etc. have been undertaken in several coal mines, and as a result of these measures, the total amount of radium released to the surface waters has diminished by about 60% during the last 5-6 years. Mine water can have a severe impact on the natural environment, mainly due to its salinity. However, associated high levels of radium concentration in river waters, bottom sediments and vegetation have also been observed. Sometimes radium concentrations in rivers exceed 0.7 kBq/m 3 , which is the permitted level for waste waters under Polish law. The extensive investigations described here were carried out for all coal mines and on this basis the total radium balance in the effluents has been calculated. Measurements in the vicinity of mine settling ponds and in rivers have given us an opportunity to study radium behaviour in river waters and to assess the degree of contamination. Solid waste materials with enhanced natural radioactivity have been produced in huge amounts in the power and coal industries in Poland. As a result of the combustion of coal in power plants, low-radioactive waste materials are produced, with 226 Ra concentration seldom exceeding a few hundreds of Bq/kg. A different situation is observed in coal mines, where, as a result of precipitation of radium from radium-bearing waters, highly radioactive deposits are formed. Sometimes the radioactivity of such materials is extremely high; precipitates from coal mines
Radioprotection, 2009
Saline waters from underground coal mines in Poland often contain natural radioactive isotopes, mainly 226 Ra from the uranium decay series and 228 Ra from the thorium series. More than 70% of the total amount of radium remains underground as radioactive deposits due to spontaneous co-precipitation or water treatment technologies, but several tens of MBq of 226 Ra and even higher activity of 228 Ra are released daily into the rivers along with the other mine effluents from all Polish coal mines.
Radium removal from mine waters in underground treatment installations
Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 2008
The underground mining of hard coal is widespread in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (southern Poland). In deep mines, inflows of highly mineralised waters containing radium isotopes are numerous. These waters cause severe damage to the natural environment due to the salinity, but additionally radioactive pollution occurs. The region is densely populated, therefore mitigation methods are very important. The method of radium removal has been applied in full technical scale in two coal mines with very good results e in one of the mines radium-bearing waters are treated at the rate of approximately 0.1 m 3 s À1 , while in another mine salty waters are purified at the rate of 0.1 m 3 s À1 . The purification takes place in special underground galleries without any contact of the mining crew with the radioactive deposits produced during the process. As a result, release of radium is significantly lower, more than 200 MBq of 226 Ra and 228 Ra remains underground each day.
Radon and radium content of some cold and thermal aquifers from Bihor County (northwestern Romania)
Geofluids, 2010
In the present study, two of the major naturally occurring radionuclides (226 Ra and 222 Rn) were analyzed in water samples from shallow, medium-depth, and deep geothermal aquifers, all of which are located in Bihor County, northwestern Romania. Here, the results of radon and radium measurements, performed from 2008 to 2009 in 50 locations, are reported. Radon proved to have a wide range of activity, with values from 4.5 to 110.8 Bq l)1 for shallow aquifers, from 9.3 to 106.0 Bq l)1 for medium-depth aquifers, and from 10.1 to 34.8 Bq l)1 for deep geothermal aquifers. The shallow aquifers have lower radium concentrations (0.06 to 0.48 Bq l)1), compared to medium-depth aquifers (0.1 to 0.52 Bq l)1) and deep geothermal aquifers (0.27 to 1.8 Bq l)1). The principal aim was a thorough investigation into the possible correlations between the occurrence of radon and radium in different aquifers and the hydrogeological, hydrogeochemical, and geothermal features of the area. Besides the direct link between the occurrence of uranium and thorium and the 226 Ra and 222 Rn contents in groundwater, the measurements we performed have allowed us to identify a secondary control on radionuclide distributions caused by the adsorption of dissolved radium onto clay minerals in exchange for sodium (for the sandy clay aquifer of Sȃ cuieni), the high competition for adsorption sites in aquifers with high concentrations of dissolved calcium and magnesium (for the limestone dolomite aquifer of Oradea), and the role of thermal processes.
Contamination caused by radium discharged with mine effluents into inland waters
Radioprotection, 2005
One of the most serious problems occurring during coal extraction in Upper Silesia in Poland is caused by waters with very high salinity. These waters often contain also high concentrations of natural radionuclides, mainly 226 Ra from uranium series and 228 Ra from thorium series. At least 70% of the total amount of radium carried by this waters remains nowadays in underground galleries as radioactive deposits. But, during the period of the most extensive coal extraction up to 225 MBq of 226 Ra and 400 MBq of 228 Ra were released daily into surface along with the other mine effluents. As a result of discharge of radium-bearing waters into settling ponds and later into rivers a significant increase of radium concentration in bottom sediments has been observed. Sometimes there is also a contamination of river beds, soils and biota. The paper describes results of investigation of waters and sediments with enhanced natural radioactivity, that occur in settling ponds, where mine waters have been dumped. Measurements of different factors of radiological hazard were made, such as radium content in the soil from ponds' banks, variations of gamma radiation background and radon exhalation. Additionally radium transfer to vegetation that had transgressed into the ponds has been calculated.