Radioecological studies of agricultural floodplain of the Mulde River on the consequences of the former uranium mining

At the time of Warsaw Pact, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) was one of the largest producer of uranium in the world and the most important supplier of uranium for the USSR. The former Saxon uranium mining areas are drained by the Zwickauer Mulde River. The Mulde River is a left side tributary or the Elbe River and mainly situated in Saxony. The frontal flows, Freiberger Mulde River and Zwickauer Mulde River, merge close to the small village of Sermuth to form the Vereinigte Mulde River, which flows into the Elbe River near Dessau. This research project was established to quantify the long-term effect of the former uranium mining activities on the floodplain ecosystem of the Mulde River. The radiological impact from the agricultural use of the alluvial soils was investigated. More than 280 samples from different environmental compartments (river water, surface sediment from the river, alluvial soils and agricultural crops) were sampled and analysed by radiometric methods. All of the compartments still show an impact from the former uranium mining. However, comparisons with earlier measurements reveal a considerable decrease of the radionuclide contamination. Thus, it is not possible to relate the activities in the soil samples to the activities of the water and sediment samples measured in parallel. Radionuclides originating from the alluvial soils enter the human food chain as a result of the agricultural use of the floodplains. Yet, the radiological effect is small. The uranium contamination of the river water results in activity values lying beyond the threshold of the current German Drinking Water Ordinance. Dose calculations based on the ''Berechnungsgrundlage Bergbau'' [BGB10] do not exceed the guidance level of 1 mSv additional potential radiation exposure per year for the current agricultural use, even assuming most disadvantageous conditions.