Chapter 9: Behavioral Patterns of Technogenic Tritium in Natural Ecosystems
On August 24, 2023, the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant began dumping liquid radioactive waste into the ocean. It is planned to release water containing 22 TBq of tritium per year. This caused an outcry from the public and governments in many countries. A large amount of tritium is dumped into the ocean by nuclear fuel processing plants in France, Great Britain, and other countries. Tritium activity in fish near Cardiff reached 50,000 Bq/kg. Tritium differs from other technogenic radionuclides in that it is a part of tritium water. It can easily evaporate from the water surface and be carried by atmospheric currents to any distance. Therefore, any pollution of the ocean with tritium will quickly lead to contamination of soil, plants, and human food. In the Chelyabinsk region, unique conditions have developed for studying the process of atmospheric transfer of tritium from the surface of a technological reservoir to the surrounding area. The content of tritium in sediments and stagnant water bodies was estimated. We calculated the multiple correlation coefficients of tritium activity in water with the distance from the emission source and the deviation of the azimuth from the direction to the north. The transition of tritium into river and underground water was also studied. A regression equation was calculated for the dependence of the limiting level of 3H contamination of drinking water on the distance from the source of contamination. Correlation coefficients were calculated between the specific activity of radionuclides in river water and the amount of precipitation for the decade preceding sampling, activity and the sum of temperatures per decade, and activity and hydrothermal coefficient.
