Subsoil Monitoring at Nuclear Industry Enterprises: Foundations and Case Studies

182 Pages·2021·6.595 MB·English

by  Mark Glinsky, Vladimir Vetrov, Alexander Abramov, Leonid Chertkov

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Mark Glinsky
Vladimir Vetrov
Alexander Abramov
Leonid Chertkov
Subsoil Monitoring
at Nuclear Industry
Enterprises
Foundations and
Case Studies
12 3
SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science
SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science present concise summaries of cutting-
edge research and practical applications across a wide spectrum of environmental
fields, with fast turnaround time to publication. Featuring compact volumes of 50 to
125 pages, the series covers a range of content from professional to academic.
Monographs of new material are considered for the SpringerBriefs in Environmental
Science series.
Typical topics might include: a timely report of state-of-the-art analytical
techniques, a bridge between new research results, as published in journal articles
and a contextual literature review, a snapshot of a hot or emerging topic, an in-depth
case study or technical example, a presentation of core concepts that students must
understand in order to make independent contributions, best practices or protocols
to be followed, a series of short case studies/debates highlighting a specific angle.
SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science allow authors to present their ideas and
readers to absorb them with minimal time investment. Both solicited and unsolicited
manuscripts are considered for publication.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8868
Mark Glinsky • Vladimir Vetrov
Alexander Abramov • Leonid Chertkov
Subsoil Monitoring at
Nuclear Industry Enterprises
Foundations and Case Studies
Mark Glinsky (Deceased) Vladimir Vetrov
FSE “Gidrospetsgeologiya“ FSE “Gidrospetsgeologiya“
Ministry of Natural Resources Ministry of Natural Resources
Moscow, Russia Moscow, Russia
Alexander Abramov Leonid Chertkov
State Corporation “Rosatom” FSE “Gidrospetsgeologiya“
Moscow, Russia Ministry of Natural Resources
Moscow, Russia
ISSN 2191-5547 ISSN 2191-5555 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science
ISBN 978-3-030-66579-1 ISBN 978-3-030-66580-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66580-7
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar
or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
With heartache and sadness we devote this
book to its main author, Mark Glinsky. We all
respected and appreciated his work as the
head of a large team of specialists of the
Federal state enterprise
“Gidrospetsgeologiya.” For us, he was a
source of inexhaustible energy and a
generator of ideas. His high standards of
performance and communication continue to
inspire us to extend working in this area of
monitoring. With this publication we want to
pay tribute to his tireless efforts—until his
death in May 2019—to spread the idea of
monitoring the geological environment to all
creative workers in the nuclear and other
industries, for whom the environment
protection has become an imperative of their
daily work.
A. Abramov, L. Chertkov, V. Vetrov.
Preface
The monograph “Subsoil Monitoring at Nuclear Industry Enterprises: Foundations
and Case Studies” is a publication in English language of the revised version of the
monograph “Object’s Monitoring of the Subsoil State at Nuclear Industry
Enterprises” (by Mark Glinsky, Vladimir Vetrov, Alexander Abramov, Leonid
Chertkov, Ed. by V. Vetrov), published in 2015 in Russia (Moscow, publisher
B.S.G. Press).
As a result of a long-term study of the geological environment radioactive con-
tamination the authors of the first (Russian) edition came to the conclusion to sum-
marize the extensive experience accumulated over nearly 10 years of theoretical and
practical work in a specific area of environmental monitoring—monitoring of the
subsoil conditions at the nuclear industry enterprises. An important motivation for
the first book edition was the low coverage of protecting the geological environment
from radioactive contamination in the scientific literature on environment protec-
tion. In its original form, the book was the first comprehensive review of the theory
and practice of subsoil monitoring, which systematized and summarized extensive
research data and results of monitoring the main types of so-called radiation-
hazardous objects (RHOs) impact on the subsoil.
The first edition of the book was intended mainly for employees of the nuclear
industry in Russia—specialists in environmental protection and radiation safety at
nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) enterprises.
The idea of publishing the monograph in English was dictated by the great inter-
est of international experts in the field of nuclear energy to the problem of environ-
mental safety of subsoil, especially in connection with the localization of radioactive
waste in geological formations. For the preparation of the second (present) edition,
the first version of the book had to undergo a significant revision, mainly by reduc-
ing the details related to internal Russian circumstances, which could hardly be of
interest to a foreign reader. In addition, the monograph was supplemented with new
data that we have received after 2015.
This publication presents the rationale for the system of monitoring the subsoil
state in the nuclear industry enterprises (the SM-NI) and considers the impact of the
main types of NFC enterprises on the geological environment and the methodology
vii
viii Preface
of the SM-NI, including description methods of observation, analysis, and evalua-
tion of monitoring data. Separate subsystems of the SM-NI developed for the major-
ity of environmentally significant types of NFC enterprises are considered as well
as corresponding inform-analytical systems and methods for modeling the transport
of radioactive and chemical substances in the subsoil. The final Chap. 6 provides
five examples (case studies) of the SM-NI use for solving environmental problems
at typical nuclear industry enterprises.
In that way, the monograph contains a systematic description of all aspects of the
SM-NI system, which should operate in areas of nuclear enterprises impact on the
environment. In our opinion, the ideas and practical results of the SM-NI implemen-
tation in the nuclear industry can and must be used in the development of subsoil
monitoring systems at any industrial facilities that affect the subsoil.
The book may be of interest to a wide range of the nuclear industry employees
and specialists in environmental protection and radiation safety of industrial facili-
ties, as well as to ecologists, students, and postgraduates interested in environmen-
tal issues.
The authors are grateful to the employees of the Federal state enterprise
“Gidrospetsgeologiya” A.V. Glagolev, E.G. Drozhko, A. Ryabykh, V.F. Kotlov,
A.A. Kuvaev, T.I. Klimova, L.N. Alexandrova, N.V. Kochergina, and V.V. Shtompel,
who rendered invaluable assistance in selecting materials for the book and made
useful comments and additions.
The authors are also grateful to the employees of the State Corporation
“Rosatom”—O.V. Kryukov, Director for State Policy; S.G. Novikov, Director of the
Communications Department; M.V. Udalaya, chief specialist, and E.G. Kudryavtsev—
former Director of the Department for Spent Nuclear Fuel and Radioactive Waste
Handling—for their support and assistance in publishing the monograph.
Moscow, Russia V. Vetrov
Introduction
One of the most critical aspect of the nuclear industry development in Russia and in
the world is to ensure the environmental safety of newly designed, operating, under
construction, and decommissioned so-called radiation-hazardous objects (RHO)—
industrial enterprises that have a radiation impact on the environment. By this, envi-
ronmental safety is generally understood as certain (acceptable) limits for various
types of RHO environmental impact.
Technogenic impact on the geological environment usually leads to negative
changes in its state, which should, if possible, be observed and evaluated, as it is
done with other natural environments, by monitoring their state. It should be recog-
nized that monitoring of the subsoil state, in comparison with other types of envi-
ronmental monitoring, is at the initial stage of its development. Until recently, its
role in the overall system of monitoring the state of the biosphere was clearly under-
estimated, given that the subsoil is often a natural barrier, protecting terrestrial eco-
systems from the spread of pollutants that have entered the underground (geological)
environment.
Monitoring of geological environment is a unique type of environmental moni-
toring that provides information for studying the relationship between terrestrial
and underground migration processes of radioactive (r/a) and chemical substances.
This allows predictive modeling of subsurface pollution not only in RHO impact
areas but also for other environmentally significant enterprises in the industry and
social sector.
According to the general concept of environmental monitoring (Izrael 1984),
subsoil monitoring (SM) operation should include the following stages:
1. Continuous observations of parameters that describe the state of the geological
environment.
2. Compilation and analysis of these observations results, assessment of the state.
3. Forecast the state of the geological environment.
These functions were initially incorporated into the industry-specific subsoil
monitoring (SM) system at nuclear industry (NI) enterprises—the SM-NI, which
was developed in the early 2000s and since 2008 has been implemented at the
ix
x Introduction
enterprises and organizations of the State Corporation (SC) “Rosatom”—a large
holding company in the industrial structure of Russia that unites more than 350
enterprises and organizations in all production areas of the nuclear fuel cycle (NFC)
(Rosatom 2007). SC “Rosatom” is the largest producer of electric energy in the
country, providing more than 19% of the country’s energy needs and more than 16%
of the global nuclear fuel market (as of 2019).
Since 2008, the Center for Subsoil Monitoring at the SC “Rosatom” enterprises
(the SM Center) as part of the Federal State Enterprise (FSE) “Gidrospezgeologiya”
(under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russia) has been carrying
out methodological formation, implementation, and maintenance of the SM-NI at
the SC “Rosatom” enterprises and organizations. In 2009–2010, the SM Center
prepared and approved all the necessary regulatory documents for the organization
of the SM-NI at the SC “Rosatom” enterprises and organizations (Glinsky et al.
2010; Center for Assistance 2010; Organization Standard 2010a, b).
The SC “Rosatom” considers ensuring the environmental safety of the nuclear
industry as one of its priority areas of its activity. The development of environmental
monitoring and inform-analytical systems (IAS) plays an important role in the State
Corporation’s environmental policy, as it creates a scientific basis for solving prob-
lems of nuclear technology safety for nature and society. At the same time, monitor-
ing of subsoil state is used as a basic tool for assessing both the environmental
safety of the nuclear industry’s enterprises and the effectiveness of measures to miti-
gate the impact of existing and decommissioned RHOs on the environment.
The SM-NI value increases over time, primarily due to the increase in the vol-
ume of radioactive materials, that needs handling and storage (localization, burial)
with the growth of nuclear power industry. By 2016, storage facilities for radioac-
tive waste (RW) at the enterprises and organizations of the SC “Rosatom” accumu-
lated more than 550 million m3 of liquid radioactive waste (LRW) and more than 75
million tons of solid radioactive waste (SRW). A large amount of LRW was con-
tained in storage tanks. A significant part of SRW was located in burial sites that
were not equipped with a system of protective engineering barriers. The rate of
LRW and SRW accumulation currently exceeds the rate of their conditioning, which
leads to an increase in both the volume and total activity of accumulated RW
(Glinsky et al. 2010).
Possible consequences of RW disposal in storage tanks may be radioactive (r/a)
contamination of the subsoil, in particular, groundwater—the main carrier of radio-
activity. Although groundwater is inherently sufficiently protected from external
influences, the history of RW management and radiation accidents provides numer-
ous examples of radioactive contamination of groundwater that has led to serious
water management problems.
Conducting the SM-NI requires not only knowledge of the features of various
technological NFC stages, but also a large amount of special geological informa-
tion. When setting up an SM-NI, it is necessary to take into account both features of
various NFC enterprises—from uranium ore mining to RW disposal, and the wide
variety of geological and hydrogeological conditions in monitoring area. NFC
enterprises, despite their relatively high level of environmental safety in comparison