The implementation of the nuclear programme by the FSU in Cheliabinsk region in the Ural involved contamination of the environment with longlived fission products resulting from both accident conditions and the routine operation of the utility (MAYAK), particularly, in the initial period i.e. the late forties and early fifties.
Three major events have contributed significantly to the contamination of the Urals.
a. During 1949-1952 liquid medium & low-level radioactive waste was disposed directly into the Techa river system.
b. In Sept. 1957 a tank containing high-level rad-waste exploded at Kyshtym and contaminated the environment in a NNE direction.
c. During 1967-1970 a windborn contamination of the Urals occurred due to dispersion of activity from the shores of Lake Karachay, which have been used for the deposition of high-level radwaste.
The aim of the project is to make the most of the unique opportunity to study the longterm behaviour of radionuclides in a highly contaminated environment in the southern Urals comprising a variety of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and to assess the doses to the local populations from this contamination. - Furthermore the project will identify and evaluate strategies for remedial measures.
The project is divided into 6 work packages:
1. A review of the existing knowledge on radioactive contamination of the Southern Urals.
2. Determination of present contamination levels and source identification.
3. Dose assessment from this contamination.
4. Strategies for dose reduction and for reclamation of contaminated land areas
5. Assessment of global impact of South-Urals contamination.
6. Speciation studies and studies of longterm behaviour of less studied radionuclides
The following advances to current state of the art will be achieved:
- an independent European estimate of doses to local populations in Southern Urals
- an estimate of the global impact of discharges to the Ob river system
- new knowledge about the longterm behaviour of (less well known) radionuclides in the environment
- strategies for remedial measures
- an European coordination between the INTAS (DK,GB,RU,UA) project and the Joint-Norwegian-Russian project of the efforts carried out so far on this issue.