Home

Physical Geography
  Tectonics and Geology
  Climatic Change
  Climate at Present and in the Past
  Soils
  Rivers, Lakes, Seas and Wetlands
  Permafrost
  Biodiversity

Biomes & Regions
  Arctic Environments
  Boreal Forests
  Mixed and Deciduous Forests
  Steppe and Forest-steppe
  Arid Environments
  The Mountains of Northern Russia
  The Mountains of Southern Siberia
  The Caucasus
  The Mountains of Central Asia
  Lake Baikal
  The Far East

Environmental Problems
  Radioactive Contamination
  Oil and Gas Development
  Air Pollution
  The Aral Sea Problems
  Deforestation and Degradation of Forests
  Nature Protection and Conservation

Images of Russian Nature
  Geographic Index
  Systematic Index
  Alphabetical Index

Nature Reserves
  Northern Russia
  Central Russia
  Povolzhye (Volga river basin)
  Southern Russia
  Ural Mountains
  Western Siberia
  Eastern Siberia
  Far East


Ôîòîãðàôèè ïðèðîäû Ðîññèè
  Ãåîãðàôè÷åñêèé êàòàëîã
  Ñèñòåìàòè÷åñêèé êàòàëîã
  Àëôàâèòíûé êàòàëîã


Nature Landscapes of the World
  Europe
  Asia
  North America
  South America
  Africa
  Australia
  Antarctic

Field Ecology Education
  Instructive Videos
  Instructive Manuals


Ýêîëîãè÷åñêèé Öåíòð Ýêîñèñòåìà íà Facebook Ýêîëîãè÷åñêèé Öåíòð Ýêîñèñòåìà ÂÊîíòàêòå

Þòóá êàíàë Ýêîñèñòåìà YouTube EcosystemaRu

Ñêà÷àòü íàøè ïðèëîæåíèÿ èç ìàãàçèíà RuStore
Ñêà÷àòü íàøè ïðèëîæåíèÿ èç ìàãàçèíà RuMarket Ñêà÷àòü ïðèëîæåíèÿ Ýêîñèñòåìû èç ìàãàçèíà NashStore
Ñêà÷àòü ïðèëîæåíèÿ Ýêîñèñòåìû èç ìàãàçèíà GetApps Xiaomi
Ñêà÷àòü ïðèëîæåíèÿ Ýêîñèñòåìû ÝêîÃèä èç ìàãàçèíà Google Play / Play Market
Ñêà÷àòü ïðèëîæåíèÿ Ýêîñèñòåìû ÝêîÃèä èç AppStore / iTunes
Âèäåî-360 ïî ýêîëîãèè íà íàøåì Youtube êàíàëå

Bird Decoys for European Birds: Songs, Calls, Sounds, Bird voices - application for Android download from Google Play / Play Market for free



Share this page with your friends:



( ) : : = = + +


Russian Nature

Home | Physical Geography | Biomes & Regions | Environmental Problems | Images of Russian Nature | Nature Reserves

Our Field Ecology Center published more than 180 methodical materials for nature studies. Some of them are in English:
Mobile educational application: Ecological Field Studies Techniques on Play.Google Mobile field guide Birds of North America: Songs and Calls Decoys on Play.Google WILD FLOWERS OF RUSSIA Field Identification Guide on Play.Google Mobile field guide Birds of Russia on Play.Google Mobile field guide Birds of Russia Songs, Calls and Voices on Play.Google Mobile field guide Birds of Europe Songs, Calls and Voices on Play.Google Mobile field guide Birds of Europe Songs, Calls and Voices on Play.Google
Mobile Educational Apps and Field Identification Guides for Russian, European and American Birds
Applications for Android and iOS are available at GooglePlay and AppStore


Please put an active hyperlink to our site (www.rusnature.info) when you copy the materials from this page

Environmental problems of Northern Eurasia

Radioactive Contamination

<<< Environmental Problems Index | Nuclear Facilities in the Russian Federation >>>

From Estonia on the Baltic Sea to Russia's Far East on the Pacific, the former Soviet Union (FSU) created both an economy and a military establishment that involved intensive development of nuclear facilities. An unfortunate consequence of this has been that in dozens of locations both land and water are polluted by radioactive by-products of nuclear energy production and military weaponry. Thousands of people are sick or dead from radioactive causes, millions of hectares are too polluted for normal human activity, and the resources needed to clean up this dangerous situation are staggering and at present unobtainable. Of all the legacies left by the USSR, almost certainly the most costly in the long run will be nuclear contamination.

Overview

In 1945, the United States was the only nation possessing the atomic bomb. To Josef Stalin and his generals, this was unacceptable. To them, the USSR had to be equal, and preferably superior, to its ideological enemy in every way, and most certainly in strategic military capability. This meant acquiring nuclear weapons as quickly as possible, at any cost.

A crash programme was begun, and before the end of the 1940s, the Soviet Union had ended America's monopoly on nuclear weapons. But Stalin did not want just a few nuclear devices, he wanted thousands, and to achieve this, a vast array of mining, processing, manufacturing, and disposal sites had to be developed. And, in Stalin's usual manner, all this had to be done in total secrecy. Across the Soviet Union, secret uranium mines, secret enrichment plants, secret nuclear power plants, secret bomb production facilities, secret waste storage sites, and even entire secret cities were built with impressive speed, but often with far from impressive safety procedures. Eventually, as the saying goes, the piper would have to be paid.

The potential sources of nuclear contamination in any country with both civilian and military atomic energy programmes are numerous. A review of the nuclear fuel cycle might be useful at this point. The nuclear fuel cycle starts with mining uranium ore, generally with nearby concentrator facilities. Next, the ore travels to enrichment plants, where the percentage of fissionable isotopes is increased. It is then processed into either fuel rods for nuclear reactors, or into bomb-grade uranium having chain reaction capability. After nuclear fuel has been used, it must be reprocessed so that it may be safely stored in designated repositories. Reprocessing produces by-products that are highly radioactive and which must be safely isolated from contact with the biosphere, in some cases for thousands of years.

The Soviet Union constructed a large number of nuclear power plant complexes for both civilian and military purposes; when operated properly, background levels of radiation at these stations are not exceeded. At the other extreme, all 'nuclear powers' utilize restricted sites for testing atomic weapons, and the former atmospheric tests produced highly contaminated regions. Over one hundred locations also exist in the former Soviet republics where nuclear bombs were exploded underground for economic reasons, such as stimulating oil and gas production, or creating storage cavities or surface depressions; these were the so-called 'peaceful atom' projects (also experimented with by the United States). Finally, there are those regions grossly contaminated by accidental releases of radiation, sometimes over vast areas, such as from Chernobyl.

Every former Soviet republic had at least one facility or location involved with nuclear development, as shown in Table 19.1 and Figure 19.1. Latvia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova were the least affected, with just one site each, none of which involves significant contamination. However, four republics - Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan - each have at least one region of serious high-level contamination, as well as numerous potential ones. The status of nuclear actives and problems in the Soviet successor states has been widely discussed in recent years (e.g., Potter, 1993; Pryde and Bradley, 1994; Donnay et al, 1995; Bradley, 1997).

Sources of radioactive wastes in the former Soviet republics

Table 19.1 Sources of radioactive wastes in the former Soviet republics
ICBM - intercontinental ballistic missile

Radioactive waste and contamination in the former Soviet republics. After Pryde and Bradley (1994)

Fig. 19.1 Radioactive waste and contamination in the former Soviet republics. After Pryde and Bradley (1994)

Sites with moderate to severe radioactive contamination can be found in over a hundred locations across the FSU, including in its offshore waters. The nature and extent of such contamination in the former Soviet republics has recently been examined in great detail in the most comprehensive work on this subject to appear to date (Bradley, 1997).

The next two sections of this chapter will briefly describe the nuclear installations to be found in each of the fifteen former Soviet republics. Following this, an examination of the most highly contaminated regions of the FSU will be conducted.

<<< Environmental Problems Index | Nuclear Facilities in the Russian Federation >>>

 

 


Recommend this page to your friends:


* *