A Detection of ²²⁶Ra Concentration in Water Around a Decommissioned Uranium Mine in Hunan Province

Abstract

In this paper, a certain decommissioned uranium mine in Hunan province, which was regarded as the object of the research, was, respectively, sampled from its surrounding drinking water, irrigation water, and natural lake water and analyzed by co-precipitated barium sulfate emanation scintigraphic detection of eight samples of ²²⁶Ra concentration, which the values of the order of $0.0614\,{\text{Bq/L}}$, $0.0330\,{\text{Bq/L}}$, $0.0489\,{\text{Bq/L}}$, $0.0489\,{\text{Bq/L}}$, $0.0751 \,{\text{Bq/L}}$, $0.0694\,{\text{Bq/L}}$ and $0.0532\,{\text{Bq/L}}$. By comparing the relevant national standards (²²⁶Ra concentration in drinking water is not over 0.1 Bq/L, etc.), it is concluded that the ²²⁶Ra concentrations of water nearby the decommissioned uranium mine comply with the national standards, but they were much higher than the consistences of ²²⁶Ra in comparable water. This paper illustrates the importance and necessity of environmental radioactivity monitoring about the decommissioned uranium mine and makes the higher request to relevant environmental managements.