The impact of the operation of Metsamor NPP on the radioecological situation of our Republic

Since the operation of NPPs causes continuous release of radioactive substances into the environment, they have a multi-layered protective system to prevent these substances from escaping outside the active zone of the reactor. This system is similar to a ''nesting doll'' for its structure. The first ''nesting doll'', holding most of the fission products and preventing them from spreading around is a fuel block containing uranium, the second ''nesting doll'' is the hermetic cover of the heat separation system that stores gaseous radionuclides, the third ''nesting doll'' is the strong thick-walled steel body of the reactor and the cooling pipe system, and the last largest fourth ''nesting doll'' is the external protective block - containment, made of 2 layers of reinforced concrete. The block of the protection system is a special structure around the entire reactor unit, including the reactor housing, steam generators, pipelines, elements of the safety system, etc., which aims to localize the consequences of a possible accident that may occur at the NPP. The purpose of the inner cover is to protect the NPP from all internal influences, and the outer cover is intended to protect the NPP from external influences such as plane crashes, earthquakes, snow and ice loads, hurricanes, storms, storms, shock waves caused by explosions, etc. The presence of such a cover ensured the safety of not only the population, but also the working personnel during the large-scale accident that occurred at the Tri-Mile-Island NPP. The lack of such a cover at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant caused the accident to result in serious consequences, and the scattering of 7.4 tons of radioactive material into the environment. The operation of nuclear power plants is accompanied by the formation of solid, liquid and gaseous radioactive waste. Special processing systems for all types of waste have been developed at NPPs. Thus, gaseous radioactive waste is sucked from the station building and thrown into the atmosphere through ventilation pipes with a height of more than 100 m. Gases and aerosols containing microparticles of solid substances and liquid microdroplets generated as a result of the operation of the NPP are necessarily involved in the cleaning process. Before being released into the atmosphere, short-lived radionuclides are stored for a certain period of time in order to reduce their activity through natural decay, then they are cleaned with the help of special aerosol filters and dried with the help of zeolite filters. When the steam is condensed and turned into water, a certain amount of radioactive decomposition products can remain in the gas phase. Only after the gas is cleaned with the help of an effective cleaning system, it is released into the atmosphere. For this purpose, gas containing radionuclides is stored for some time in special tanks - gas storages. As a result, some of the short-lived radionuclides decay and become stable elements. The radionuclide-containing gas is then transferred to a gas cleaning system equipped with a special filter to retain more dangerous gaseous products. After passing through the filter, it is released into the atmosphere through long pipes. Liquid wastes are dried by evaporation to make them solid, and then they are neutralized by cementing, bituminizing or vitrification. Remelting is used for metal waste. In this case, radioactive substances pass to the slag formed on the surface of the alloy, and the purified metal is used again in the industry after passing radiation control. Another waste treatment method is incineration, which is used for combustible solid waste. In this case, the ash formed during combustion is solidified by the method of cementation, bituminization or vitrification. The last stage of complete elimination of the danger from waste is their placement in specialized special warehouses. It is known that power units of NPPs are cooled by water from the river or sea, which requires a large volume of water. Wastewater from machinery contaminated with oil and oil products, as well as from engine rooms, diesel generator rooms and boiler rooms, is pre-separated from oil products using special devices and the clean components are recycled. Metsamor NPP. Despite the fact that after the well-known earthquake in Spitak, experts expressed the opinion that MNPP is a source of great danger for the region, according to the agreement between Russia, its operation period was extended until 2026. The main reasons for the high probability of any incident and large-scale accident at this NPP are the facts that the operational period ended in 2005, it does not have a reinforced concrete casing ceramic protection cover that prevents radioactive radiation from escaping into the environment during possible incidents, reactor's own cover becomes thinner during the operational period and there is a high probability of release of radionuclides into the atmosphere, the NPP is located in an area with high seismic activity, it is located in a high mountain area, and in case of a possible accident, there is a high probability of water shortage for cooling the active zone of the reactor, as they themselves admit, due to the economic situation, only four of the 8 stations intended for the storage of radioactive waste are in operation.