Distribution of Radiocarbon in the Environment under Normal Conditions of Operating of Kurskaya Nuclear Power Plant

Introduction: ¹⁴C is one of the fifteen radionuclides that account for at least 99 % of the radiation dose to the critical group of the population from NPP emission sources. The continuous growth of the total capacity of operating NPPs leads to a significant increase in the amount of ¹⁴С emitted into the environment during NPP operation. Efficient capture and disposal of ¹⁴C, which has a half-life of 5760 years, is a very laborious undertaking. At the same time, due to the high mobility of this radionuclide, local foci of contamination with ¹⁴C can appear both near the NPP at a distance of 1–2 km from its ventilation pipe, and in soil and plants located at a distance of 20–30 km from the NPP due to the transfer of air masses. Therefore, the control of the formation of ¹⁴C during the operation of nuclear power plants, its content in emissions and discharges of nuclear power plants, as well as distribution in the environment is an urgent problem today.

Purpose: Analysis of the environmental pollution due to emissions and discharges of radiocarbon from the Kurskaya nuclear power plant.

Material and methods: During the research, a method being developed by specialists of the Laboratory for Radiation Safety of Personnel was used to determine the specific activity of ¹⁴C in soil and vegetation. To explore the ¹⁴C content in the air, the method of bubbling air through a TASC-HT-HTO-C-14 flow meter-sampler (Overhoff technology, USA) and the method of air conditioning through a Ballu BDH-15L air dryer (Ballu, Russia) were used. To prepare counting samples from selected soil and food samples, a method based on the combustion of selected samples in a Pyrolyser-6 Trio catalytic decomposition system was used. All prepared counting samples, including samples from surface water and biosubstrate of the personnel of the Kursk NPP and the population, were measured by liquid scintillation spectrometry on a Tri-Carb 3180 TR/SL alpha, beta spectrometer.

Results: On the basis of an integrated approach to assessing the content of ¹⁴C in air, water, soil and food, an analysis of the formation of environmental pollution due to emissions and discharges ¹⁴C from the Kurskaya NPP was carried out.

Conclusions: An increased content of the ¹⁴C radionuclide in soil samples, food products and vegetation in the area of the Kursk NPP with RBMK-1000 nuclear reactors is shown, both in comparison with the content of natural ¹⁴C and NPPs operating BN-600,800 and VVER-1000 nuclear reactors. The necessity of taking into account radiocarbon emissions from NPPs into the environment in the problem of optimizing the radiation protection of the population under the conditions of normal operation of NPPs is confirmed.