Radionuclide transport in the yenisei river

Data characterizing the pollution of the Yenisei River (waters and bottom sediment) by radionuclides resulting from the use of the river's water for cooling industrial reactors in the Mining-Chemical Complex are presented. Studies have been made of the contamination of the river during the period when reactors with direct flow cooling were used and after these were shut down. Distinctive features of the migration of radionuclides in the Yenisei are noted, in particular, their distribution between the solid and liquid phases. The amounts of (137)Cs, (65)Zn, (60)Co, (54)Mn, and (152)Eu in the channel are determined from the effluent discharge site to Dudinka. The rate of continuous self removal of (137)Cs is estimated to be mu = 0.19 yr(-1) (corresponding to a half purification time of 3.6 years) for a 600-km-long segment of the channel.