Data base of Chornobyl radioactive waste localised in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia

¹ State Scientific Centre for Environmental Radiogeochemistry of National Academy of Sciences, Paladin Av. 34a, Kiev 252142, Ukraine
² Institute for Nuclear Safety and Protection (IPSN), Department of Environmental Protection (DPRE), CEA FAR, BP. 6, 92265 Fontenay-aux-Roses cedex, France

Abstract

Various materials and substations containing ¹³⁷Cs, ⁹⁰Sr, transuraniums and others radionuclides had been assembled during decontamination of Ukrainian, Belarussian and Russian territories polluted in consequence of Chernobyl Catastrophe. They have been localised in numerous disposal sites as radioactive waste (RW). The overwhelming majority of disposal sites do not meet the requirements of safety. The researches aiming development of the RW management strategy are carried out within the framework of the project "Franco-German Initiative for Chernobyl". The participants of the project are IPSN (France), GRS (German), SSCER (Ukraine), Comchernobyl (Belarus), and IBRAE (Russia).

A database creation has been one of the main tasks. The database contains practically whole information on the localised RW. The data analyses have been resulted in categorisation of the RW and a categorisation of the disposal sites. There have been detected effects of RW influence on an environment: dependence of effective radiation doze rate over disposal sites on RW specific activity, increasing the dose rate over periodically flooded disposal sites; seasonal fluctuations of radionuclides concentration in ground water near disposal sites without engineering barriers.

Analysis of the database has shown that further progress requires improvements of methodology and technology of the RW disposal sites survey.