Evaluation of the potential hazard of secondary radioactive contamination of underground water by sewage works

The time dependence of the distribution of the volume activity of radionuclides over ground layers is calculated under chemically equilibrium and hydraulically stationary condition sand under conditions of continuous operation of radioactively hazardous units of sewage works. As initial information, a set of data on the hydrogeological characteristics and physicochemical properties of the sewage-water sediments (SWSs) found at the sewage works of Chechersk and Slavgorod is used. The results of the calculations performed are analyzed, and the data on the egress of radiocesium from the SWSs found in the sludge areas and filtration fields with different bases into underground water are presented. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 557–560, March–April, 2000.