GEOLOGICAL RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS AND ITS PARTICULARITIES FOR A URANIUM SITE – CASE STUDY

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Anthropogenic radioactive pollution of the environment resulting from the research and exploitation of uranium resources is a topical issue for the scientific community because it represents a threat to people’s health conditions and has a highly negative impact on the environment. The sources of radioactive pollution are due to the presence of low-level radioactive tailings and poor ore dumps resulting from the exploration and exploitation of uranium ore deposits. Uranium under the action of environmental factors can reach the groundwater, the river network, and the food chain, respectively. The contaminated food and water may cause diseases and even cancer. An important role in the pollution spreading is played by geological phenomena, the most important being landslides. Thus arises the need for geological risk management. The present study aims to implement a geological risk management system through methods of assessment, monitoring, and prediction of geological risk for a chosen uranium site. The waste rock and water samples analysis pointed out the radioactive contamination risk. The simulated scenarios in the area exposed to subsidence phenomena showed the activity of increasing the concentration of radioactive waste in the hydrographic system’s groundwater in the studied site, in a time interval of 4120 days (11.29 years): it rapidly increased in the first 1000 days (from 0.0 to 0.0033), after which it decreased in intensity until day 2500 (from 0.0033 to 0.0048), and it is supposed to stagnate after day 2500 until day 4120 when the simulation ended. The results emphasised the radioactive contamination spreading risk in the case when the subsidence phenomenon takes place.

Keywords

• uio
• geological risk
• uranium mining site
• landslides