Abstract
In this study, the natural radioactivity in pit-water and paddy soil around a decommissioned uranium mine in eastern China was investigated. The gamma radiation absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose equivalent, radium equivalent activity, and radiation hazard index were calculated, and their spatial distribution was presented. The profile distribution of the activity concentrations of radionuclides was also investigated for the possible deposition effect. The radioactivity accumulation in the paddy-soil due to the irrigation was further discussed. It was shown that the accumulation of radioactivity in the paddy soil was limited from the irrigation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
IAEA (2009) IAEA-TECDOC-1622 Status and trends of nuclear technologies- Report of the international project on innovative nuclear reactors and fuel cycles (INPRO). International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna, Austria
IAEA (1997) IAEA-TECDOC-982 Planning for environmental restoration of uranium mining and milling sites in central and eastern Europe. International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna, Austria
IAEA (2005) Environmental contamination from uranium production facilities and their remediaiton. In: Proceedings of an International Workshop on Envrironmental Contamination from Uranium Production Facilities and Their Remediation, Lisbon, Portugal, 2005. International Atomic Energy Agency
National Academy of Sciences (2012) Uranium mining in Virginia: scientific, technical, environmental, human health and safety, and regulatory aspects of uranium mining and processing in Virginia. The national Academies Press, Washington
Zhang ZS, Li MY, Yang YX, Liu YJ, Li XC (2007) Radiation contamination and treatment of some hard-rock-type uranium mines in Gan, Yue and Xiang areas (in Chinese). Uran Min Metall 26(4):191–196
Zhang JD, Li YL, Jian XF (2008) Situation and development prospect of uranium resources exploration in China (in Chinese). Strateg Study CAE 10(1):54–60
Ouyang J, Liu Z, Ye T, Zhang L (2019) Uranium pollution status and speciation analysis in the farmland-rice system around a uranium tailings mine in southeastern China. J Radioanal Nucl Chem. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06783-4
Wu YY, Qin ZY, Zhao XC, Tang MJ, Lu XF, Lei JJ, Ma YL, Xie P (2019) Radionuclide contents in food collected from regions surrounding retired uranium mine in Northwest of Guangxi and their committed dose to public. Occup Health 35(23):3214–3216
Wang Z, Qin H, Liu X (2019) Health risk assessment of heavy metals in the soil-water-rice system around the Xiazhuang uranium mine, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26(6):5904–5912
Liu YY, Zhang CY, Wei QL, Guo YZ, Gao B, Zhou WB (2018) Spatial distribution and radiation evaluation of the radionuclides in paddy soil of the uranium tailings area (in Chinese). Asian J Ecotoxicol 13(5):305–312
Pan YJ, Li YC, Xue JX (2009) Status and countermeasures for decommissioning of uranium mine and mill facilities in China (In Chinese). Radiat Prot 29(3):167–171
Luo PP, Hu CJ (2012) Analysis and countermeasures of emergent environment complaints in uranium mountain (in Chinese). Environ Sci Manag 37(S1):5–6
Ministry of Environmental Protection (2017) HJ 840-2017 Technical guidelines for environmental impact assessment Analytical methods for micro-quantity of uranium in environmental samples. China Environmental Science Press, Beijing
UNSCEAR (2000) UNSCEAR 2000 Report to the General Assembly, with scientific annexes Volume I: Sournces. United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, New York, USA
Beck HL, Condo WJ, Lowder WM (1964) Spectrometric techniques for measuring environmental gamma radiation. HASL-150, Department of Energy, Washington
Huang Y-J, Chen C-F, Huang Y-C, Yue Q-J, Zhong C-M, Tan C-J (2015) Natural radioactivity and radiological hazards assessment of bone-coal from a vanadium mine in central China. Radiat Phys Chem 107:82–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2014.10.001
Tufail M (2012) Radium equivalent activity in the light of UNSCEAR report. Environ Monit Assess 184(9):5663–5667. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2370-6
Beretka J, Matthew PJ (1985) Natural radioactivity of Australian building materials, industrial wastes and by-products. Health Phys 48(1):87–95. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004032-198501000-00007
State Bureau of Environmental Protection (1995) Natural environmental radioactivity levels in China (1983–1990). China Atomic Energy Press, Beijing, China
IAEA (1989) Technical Report No. 309 Construction and Use of Calibration Facilities for Radiometric Field Equipment. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria
IAEA (2004) Safety Guide No. Rs-G-1.7 Application of the concepts of exclusion, exemption and clearance. International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna, Austria
Tsikritzis LI, Fotakis M, Tzimkas N, Kolovos N, Tsikritzi R (2008) Distribution and correlation of the natural radionuclides in a coal mine of the West Macedonia Lignite Center (Greece). J Environ Radioact 99(2):230–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2007.07.014
Matsuda N, Mikami S, Shimoura S, Takahashi J, Nakano M, Shimada K, Uno K, Hagiwara S, Saito K (2015) Depth profiles of radioactive cesium in soil using a scraper plate over a wide area surrounding the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, Japan. J Environ Radioact 139:427–434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2014.10.001
Karadeniz Ö, Yaprak G (2008) Vertical distribution and gamma dose rates of 40 K, 232Th, 238U and 137Cs in the selected forest soils in Izmir, Turkey. Radiat Prot Dosimetry 131:346–355. https://doi.org/10.1093/rpd/ncn185
Jiangxi Provincial Department of Water Resources (2017) DB 36/T 619-2017 Agricultural water quotas in Jiangxi Province. Jiangxi Provincial Department of Water Resources, Nanchang
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huang, YJ., Yang, LT., Zhao, F. et al. Spatial distribution and characteristic of radiological hazard of the paddy field around a decommissioned uranium mine in eastern China. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 327, 789–799 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07562-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07562-2