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Assessment of released natural radionuclides by waste rock pile and mining pit associated with a uranium mine at Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil

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Abstract

The Ore Treatment Unit was a uranium mining company that is currently being decommissioned. The local rainfall index makes it necessary to release effluents into the environment. After releasing, the wastewater is available for unrestricted use. Current study aims to use national and international recommendations to assess the radiological potability of released effluents at one of the three points of company’s interface with the environment. Twenty-four samples of water were collected and activity concentrations (AC) were obtained by gross alpha count, gross beta count, and for arsenazo spectrophotometry. Statistical analysis techniques were applied to the data with the purpose of understanding the results for the soluble, particulate, and total fractions. The mean AC for effluents were 3.580, 0.082, 0.103, 0.063, and 0.090 Bq L−1 for Unat, 226Ra, 210Pb, 232Th, and 228Ra, respectively, for the total fraction. The analysis of variance pointed to Unat as a critical radionuclide, since it presented more than 90% of the total AC released into the environment. Pearson’s R2 pointed to soluble fraction as a major contributor to the total AC released. The guidance level proposed by WHO was used to assess the radiological potability of the effluents. The results obtained indicated the need for trigger other analyses. Committed effective dose was estimated due to the unrestricted use of effluents and the value obtained, 0.23 mSv year−1, was below the maximum allowed limit. Finally, the radiotoxicity of the released effluent was evaluated and the value obtained was ~ 50% of the maximum allowed limit. In conclusion, the present study showed that the level of radioactivity released into the environment by the Ore Treatment Unit does not present a radiological risk to the surrounding population.

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Fig. 1

source terms (mine cave and waste rock pile #4) and water release point (point #076). b A graphical summary of the water circulation before being released into Soberbo river

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Data Availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are not publicly available because it becomes unfeasible to make available a very large set of data in a published article. However, the data are accessible through reasonable request to the corresponding author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil S/A – INB, Resende, RJ, 27555-000, Brazil

    Wagner S. Pereira, Emanuele L. C. Campelo & Delcy A. Py Junior

  2. Programa de Engenharia Nuclear, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-972, Brazil

    Wagner S. Pereira, Maxime Charles-Pierre, Samuel Q. Pelegrineli & Ademir X. Silva

  3. Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal Fluminense - UFF, Niterói, RJ, 24001-970, Brazil

    Alphonse Kelecom

  4. Departamento de Física da Terra E Do Meio Ambiente, Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal da Bahia – UFBA, Salvador, 40170-115, Brazil

    José M. Lopes

  5. Programa de Pós-Graduação Em Geoquímica (POSPETRO), Universidade Federal da Bahia - UFBA, Salvador, 40170-110, Brazil

    José M. Lopes

  6. Instituto Federal do Rio de Janeiro – IFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, 20270-021, Brazil

    Cleber B. Espindola

  7. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas - CBPF, Rio de Janeiro, 22290-180, Brazil

    Alessander S. Carmo

  8. Faculdade Bezerra de Araújo – FABA, Rio de Janeiro, 23052-180, Brazil

    Samuel Q. Pelegrineli

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  1. Wagner S. Pereira
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  2. Alphonse Kelecom
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  10. Ademir X. Silva
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Contributions

WSP: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, methodology, software, writing—original draft.

AK: conceptualization, supervision, writing—review and editing.

MCP: software, writing—review and editing.

JML: conceptualization, data curation, writing—review and editing.

ELCC: conceptualization, writing—review and editing.

CBE: writing—review and editing.

ASC: writing—review and editing.

DAPJ: conceptualization, data curation.

SQP: writing—review and editing.

AXS: project administration, resources, supervision.

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Correspondence to José M. Lopes.

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Pereira, W.S., Kelecom, A., Charles-Pierre, M. et al. Assessment of released natural radionuclides by waste rock pile and mining pit associated with a uranium mine at Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 58065–58077 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19887-4

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