[Accumulation of industrial radionuclides by the Yenisei River aquatic plants in the area affected by the activity of the mining and chemical plant].

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to investigate accumulation of artificial radionuclides by the Yenisei River aquatic plants collected in the area affected by the activity of the Mining-and-Chemical Combine (Zheleznogorsk) from 1997 to 2000. The samples of aquatic plants were of four species: Potamogeton lucens, Fontinalis antipyretica, Elodea canadensis, and Ceratophyllum demersum. The gamma-spectrometric analysis of the samples of aquatic plants for artificial radionuclides revealed a wide spectrum of long-half-life and short-half-life radionuclides. Radionuclides of activation origin were found in the aquatic plants taken both near the Combine and 200 km down of it. The data obtained suggest that the cooling water of the operating reactor is still being released into the Yenisei. The radiochemical analysis of aquatic plants revealed strontium and plutonium isotopes. Among the aquatic plants, the highest concentration factors for the principal radionuclides were recorded in Fontinalis antipyretica (water moss).