Evaluation of environmental tritium level in the area of Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant

This work is a continuation of the study entitled Evaluation of environmental tritium levels before and after start of a new tritium source for model verification' that commenced two years ago as part of an European research contract having as objective the 'Investigations and Modelling of the Dynamics of Environmental HT/HTO/OBT Levels Resulting from the Tritium Releases'. The aim of this study was to evaluate the environmental tritium level in pre-operational stage of Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant and the dynamics of variation of tritium concentration in the first operational years of NPP, for determination of site-specific transfer parameters and model validation. Representative samples for Cernavoda area were analyzed; - air humidity; - water from Danube River, Danube-Black Sea Canal and lakes; - drinking, rain and snow water; - HTO concentration in soils at different depths; - tissue free water tritium in vegetal and animal foodstuffs relevant for human diets like cereals (wheat, maize, barley). vegetables (potatoes, tomato, cabbage, onion, bean), grapes and wine. The mean concentration of tritium obtained in 1996 for these types of measurements is presented. The values of tritium concentration in air, water, soil and plants are as low as for areas without contaminating sources. The operation in 1996 of the Cernavoda NPP did not modify the tritium environmental level. (authors)