Radiological impact assessment of the shut-down Salaspils nuclear reactor

The aim of the present work is to gain an overview about the background level of radioactivity and gamma radiation in the 3x3 km area around the Salaspils (Latvia) nuclear reactor after its shutting down. The ultimate design of the project is to assess the impact environmental background level during its 37 years long working time. For this purpose we have carried out: 1) the determination of radioactivity in soils; 2) the determination of radioactivity in groundwater; 3) the measurement of gamma-ray background in the checkpoints. The net density for the collection of soil samples (5 cm thick layer was gathered) and the gamma background measuring was 500x500 m and the total number of checkpoints was 113. The gamma-spectrometric analysis of the groundwater taken from 34 places: in the reactor territory (4-10 m depth) and from the wells of surrounding farms (8-12 m depth) was performed. The soil samples were dried at the temperature 1050C until the constant weight, and sifted. The high-resolution gamma spectrometry was used for measurement within the energy range of 50-2000 keV; the time of measuring - 20 hours. The uncertainty of measurements is within a range of 3-10%, but the minimal detectable activity - from 0.3 up to 1 Bq/kg. Cs-137 and natural radionuclides Th-232, U-238, K-40 were detected in soils. The concentration of Cs-137 varies in the range 0.3-227 Bq/kg or 20-1940 Bq/m 2 . It was established that the concentration of Cs-137 in neighbouring checkpoints can differ significantly. It could be explained by the type of soil and the collection place (coniferous or leafy forest, grassland, plough land etc.). The differences of the U-238, Th-232, and K-40 content in samples taken from various places are due to the type of soil and the fertilizers used. The concentration of these radionuclides is significantly lower in the turf. In all water samples the concentration of Cs-137 was lower than the minimal detectable activity. The determined radionuclide concentration in all samples is in agreement with the average level in Latvia. In the control zone the average gamma background was 50 nSv/h ±15% and the maximum value-100 nSv/h. In the territory of reactor gamma background was 60 nSv/h. All results of detected gamma background show that they do not differ from the natural background, and no correlations with a placement of the nuclear reactor were observed. (authors)