Title

Radioecological Characterization Of A Uranium Mining Site Located In A Semi-Arid Region In Brazil

Keywords

Natural radionuclides; Semi-arid region; Uranium mining

Abstract

The work presents the radioecological characterization of the new Brazilian uranium mining and milling site located in a semi-arid region of the country. The process characterization demonstrated that in heap leach plants most of the 226Ra remains in the leached ore. Despite the potential higher availability of radium isotopes in the soils of the studied region the lack of precipitation in that area reduces the leaching/mobilization of the radionuclides. High 226Ra and 228Ra concentrations were found in manioc while 210Pb was significant in pasture. It was suggested that a range from 10-3 to 10-1 may conveniently encompass most of the transfer factors (TF) values for soil/plant systems (i.e. involving different cultures, different soils and natural radionuclides). Impacts due to aerial transportation of aerosols and radon generated in the mining were proved to be minimal and restricted to an area not greater than 15 km2. Finally, uranium complexation by carbonates was shown to be the main mechanism responding for the elevated radionuclide concentration in groundwater. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publication Date

5-18-2006

Publication Title

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

Volume

88

Issue

2

Number of Pages

140-157

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2006.01.006

Socpus ID

33646497017 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/33646497017

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