The migration of the radionuclide Am-241 in unsaturated soil from Saligny area

The operation of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant will generate low and medium active wastes which will be contaminated with long-lived fission products from U, Pu, Np, Am, radioactive carbon (C-14) and tritium (H-3), which through their radiochemical characteristics and effects upon the environment and population, request special attention regarding their storage and disposal. The Saligny area near the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant was chosen as location of a repository for low and medium active waste, on the basis of geological and mineralogical research. The repository will be located in loess, seated on sedimentary formations with insertions of clay patches. The main target of the research is to obtain some experimental data necessary for the evaluation of the migration of the radionuclide Am-241 (resulted from Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant) in the unsaturated soils in Saligny area. From the analysis of the test data obtained in the laboratory for the determination of the migration parameters of the radionuclide Am-241 in the material of the geological formation of Saligny area it results that there is a direct correlation between the values of these parameters and the basic mineralogical component - clay - of the soil sample. (authors)