engleski

Influence of Nuclear Power Plant Krško to Tritium Activity in River Sava near Zagreb

Radioactive isotope tritium (3H) is one of the isotopes released as liquid effluent from nuclear power plants into river water, which may infiltrate downstream into groundwater used for water supply. Tritium activity was measured in the Sava River, precipitation and groundwater at 3 piezometers and 1 production well of the Petruševec aquifer, close to the Sava River in Zagreb area in order to monitor the influence of tritium release from the Nuclear Power Plant Krško, situated in Slovenia, 30 km upstreams from Zagreb. Samples were collected monthly during 2010, . The investigation is part of the Regional IAEA Project RER/8/016 Using Environmental Isotopes for Evaluation of Streamwater/Groundwater Interactions in Selected Aquifers in the Danube Basin aiming to determine the influence of surface stream of the Sava River to the groundwater of aquifer used for water exploitation. 3H activity in precipitation showed slight seasonal fluctuation between 4 TU and 14 TU, with higher values in summer. 3H activity of the Sava River and groundwater of the Petruševec aquifer followed 3H of precipitation till May 2010. Significant increase of 3H activity in the Sava River was observed in June, (199 ± 20) TU, and in the next month it fell down at 6 TU. Increase of 3H was also observed in groundwater of all monitoring wells and production well but with damped response (maximum 60 TU) and with delay of 3 – 5 months related to the Sava River. This increase, both in surface and groundwater, was explained by release of tritiated water of total activity 1.6 x 10E12 Bq from the Krško Nuclear Power Plant in the first days of June. Releases of activity lower than 10E11 Bq during 2010 have not been detected in the Sava River near Zagreb. In this case 3H has been proven to be a good environmental tracer for determination of the transit time of the river water to the aquifer.

Tritium; Nuclear Power Plant Krško

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