Contribution of RT-1 Radiochemical Plant to the Tritium Contamination in the Vicinity of Mayak Production Association

Abstract

Archive data (1970–2024) on the results of monitoring the tritium content of surface liquid radioactive waste (LRW) storage reservoirs (special radioactive waste repositories) and of groundwater in the vicinity of the Mayak Production Association are analyzed. The tritium contamination existing today was formed before the 1970s and was initially accumulated (a) in V-2 reservoir (Kyzyl-Tash), which operated as a reservoir for recirculating direct-cooling of industrial uranium–graphite reactors (PUGRs) in case of failure of uranium slug cladding; (b) in V-9 (Karachay) and V-17 (Staroye Boloto) reservoirs, which were used for storage of intermediate-level tritium-containing liquid waste; (c) in groundwater as a result of tritium seepage from the reservoirs. After putting into operation the RT-1 radiochemical plant (1977), the major fraction of tritium was accumulated in a new LRW type, tritium condensate, which was stored in V-17 reservoir. The contaminated groundwater filtering from V-17 reservoir was discharged only into an inlet of V-10 reservoir of the Techa Cascade of Reservoirs (TCR). The maximal rate of tritium discharge was estimated at 0.11 TBq/year, and the specific activity of tritium in the TCR water, at 2 Bq/L. In the 2020s, the tritium discharge into the atmosphere from the RT-1 plant was ~34 TBq, which was ~2800 times lower than the maximum permissible discharge prescribed for the whole enterprise. The mean value of the annual effective dose from all the pathways of tritium intake by Ozyorsk inhabitants was 0.26 μSv, and the maximal value was 0.49 μSv, which is ~2000 times lower than the dose limit of 1 mSv for the population. The tritium emissions and discharges from the RT-1 plant are negligible and exert virtually no radiation impact on the population.