Rehabilitation of the Barzava Uranium Mine Tailings
Publication: Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 17, Issue 3
Abstract
Results are presented and discussed concerning the radiometric survey of the Barzava uranium mine tailings (Arad District, Romania), a sterile dump, before and after rehabilitation. Before rehabilitation, gamma dose rates in the air over the tailings varied between 200 and , at 3 cm and between 190 and at 1 m above the soil, dropping to at boundaries, close to multiannual background for Arad County. The rehabilitation consisted of terracing, followed by covering with 1.5 m of pebbles, sand, clay, and fresh, uncontaminated soil. After rehabilitation, the gamma dose rate was reduced to background all over the tailings, excepting some points where the cautionary threshold of was surpassed. Outside tailings, in sediments and in the waters of the Barzava stream, no signs of radioactive contamination were observed. Moreover, all estimations of dose rates from the experimental gamma spectra were in good agreement with the experimental ones within a limit of approximately 15%.
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Acknowledgments
This work was done through the University of Bucharest Doctoral School Grant 16513/FIZ- ICA/56. We would like to thank Toro Laszlo for his permanent help in accomplishing this project and Mariana Marinescu for her help in revising the manuscript.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 17 • Issue 3 • July 2013
Pages: 230 - 236
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 22, 2012
Accepted: Nov 29, 2012
Published online: Dec 1, 2012
Published in print: Jul 1, 2013
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