Геохімія техногенезу (Oct 2022)
ECOLOGICAL SITUATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES IN THE SMOLINE MINE OF THE VATUTINSKE URANIUM ORE DEPOSIT
Abstract
The urgency of the study is due to the need to expand the raw material base of the nuclear energy in Ukraine and determine the impact of uranium mining companies on the environment. The article analyzes the state of the ecological situation in the sanitary protection zone and in the vicinity of the Smoline mine, which produces uranium ores from the Vatutinske deposit. The assessment and study of factors and sources of influence of mining activity on air, soil, aquatic environment, bottom sediments and vegetation was carried out using data of instrumental radiometric survey and analytical laboratory researches of the content of harmful substances and constructed maps of gamma radiation dose rate distribution at a height of 1 m from the surface and in the soil surface layer, equivalent dose rate, total specific activity of gamma emitting radionuclides in soil, 238U activity and 210Pb (according to the results of beta spectrometry), the sum of all gamma-emitting radionuclides, uranium and thorium series radionuclides, as well as the content of microelements in soils (according to the results of gamma spectrometry). Study of mine waste its rock and mineral structure, and geochemical properties is analysed. It is shown that in the process of interaction of the waste with the environment, there is an evolution of the waste composition, which, on the one hand, leads to leaching of harmful components within the dumps and their transfer into the environment, and on the other hand, redistribution and accumulation of a number of elements that can be considered as possible secondary halos of accumulation of uranium and other elements in areas with regenerative conditions. Possible environmental measures to eliminate the harmful effects on the environment of the Smoline mine are considered.
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