Long term changes in the concentration of radium in discharge waters of coal mines and Upper Silesian rivers

Publication date: May 2017
Source:Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Volume 171
Author(s): Stanisław Chałupnik, Małgorzata Wysocka, Ewa Janson, Izabela Chmielewska, Marta Wiesner
According to the latest guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, 2016), coal mining is one of the most important contributors to occupational exposure. Coal mining contributes about 45% of the total annual collective dose obtained by workers due to the exposure at places of working. One of the sources of exposure in mining are formation brines with elevated concentrations of natural radionuclides, the most common are radium ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra. Radium isotopes often occur in formation waters in underground collieries in the Upper Silesian region (USCB) in Poland. Significant amounts of radium remain underground in the form of radioactive deposits created as a result of spontaneous deposition or water treatment. This phenomenon leads to the increase of radiation hazard for miners. The remaining activities of ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra are released into the rivers with mine effluents, causing the contamination of bottom sediments and river banks.The results of radioactivity monitoring of effluents and river waters are presented here to illustrate a trend of long-term changes in environmental contamination, caused by mining industry in the Upper Silesian Region.



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